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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dave Jay" data-source="post: 144377" data-attributes="member: 27677">I've just had an explosion of mites, all coming from my Dermestid beetle tub, yesterday they were over the outside of a heap of my enclosures, today they are gone. The population explosion was because I put too much meat in for the beetles, once it was gone so were the mites.As already stated, most mites are harmless. In rare cases they can become a problem because when numbers are very high they can swarm  the mouthparts or book lungs of an invert seeking moisture. You can just brush them off with a paint brush, preferably out of the enclosure.Once the food for them is exhausted the population will go down and they won't be noticeable. I would guess you had roaches die off or fed them too much of a meaty food so the mite population boomed, it will soon go back to normal.There's a saying regarding mites on an invertebrate "if it moves around it's harmless, if it stays still it's a parasite". Most are just harmless mites hitching a ride or exploring, parasitic mites will attach themselves to feed on "blood" or other fluids so they stay still.</blockquote>