I am in the process of constructing a tank for frogs, and im using several live plant species. I was planning on using baby tears as ground cover, and bout two pots from a store and placed them into my tank (Which i water daily and have lights over). Anyways, after about 5 days i began noticing a white web like substance around one group, which i was told (incorrectly) was a type of molding. The next day i realized it was much worse....spider mites...the weird thing is it nearly killed one clump of baby tears (which i just removed), and the other is doing pretty well still. So now to the hard part....i need these removed so i can place more plants in (im afraid to put them in with the mites, as these are more expensive plants than the tears). I do not want to use an insect/miticide as i will have frogs in it eventually and do not want them harmed. I also cant really afford predator mites, any good, organic ways to kill these off?
Spider mites only like very LOW humidity. I don't think they could survive very long in a terrarium that is humid enough for your frogs to thrive. I've never heard of spider mites being a problem in a terrarium. My suggestion would be to mist your plants for a few days before you put them in the tank and then be sure not to let your tank dry out. If it is humid enough for frogs it is too humid for spider mite. M.
OK, thanks, i dont have the frogs in yet, so i havent been watering really heavily yet, but i plan on having my waterfall and pond in the tank set up soon, which should contribute greatly to the humidity.