Dust Mites in Dog Food Can Mean Trouble for "Spot"!

The next time you feed your dog Spot, you may be giving him more than just his dinner. There may be mites in his food!

Mites are arthropods--close relatives to spiders. They're usually smaller than most insects. And they're found just about everywhere on our planet--even as deep as 15,000 feet under the ocean, where no insect has ever been found.

In fact, mites can live on just about everything living and nonliving. They live on land, in water and ice, and in desert sands. They can live up to 32 feet down in the soil, in cold and warm springs, and at underwater temperatures as hot as 122 degrees F. They live in all types of streams, ponds, lakes, and seawater.

Mites are one of the oldest of all land animals. Mite fossils have been found that date back nearly 400 million years. There are many kinds of mites. In fact, mites are second only to insects in the number of species alive on Earth today. Scientists have discovered and described about 48,200 different kinds of mites. They think this may be only 10 percent of the total that might exist. That would be around 482,000.

Mites can be good or bad. Many damage plants by feeding on them and by giving them diseases. But other groups are predators that gobble up other mites. One day we may be able to use these mites to control the pest mites, instead of chemicals.

ARS scientist Ron Ochoa is an expert on mites. He is about to change the 200-year-old study of mites, called the science of acarology (Ak-ar-OL-oh-gee). In the past, studies of many mites have been difficult because of their very small size. Ochoa and two other ARS scientists, William Wergin and Eric Erbe, are using a new method to observe mites close up and in three dimensions--for the first time ever.

Some mites Ochoa found were little, white ones with long hairs. They are sometimes called "dust mites." These mites are often found in houses. Mites can cause allergies in people. They can also cause allergies in pets and other animals, and can spread diseases, get in their dried foods.

Ochoa wanted to know whether mites like to eat dry animal food. So he used the new technique to check out samples of dog and cat food and other types of animal food pellets that he got from several sources nationwide.

He found that mites were on many of the pellets, and he was able to see the mites just as they behave on the pellets. These types of mites-- called "stored-product mites" --often hang out in hay, grain, and products like baking mixes and dry pet food. They like warm temperatures around 80 to 90 degrees F and high humidity. Under these conditions, they can multiply from a couple of mites to several million in just a few days.

What can you do to keep mites out of Spot's food pellets? Keep the pet food cool and dry. Don't store it in humid areas. Vacuum the kitchen and the place where the food is stored a least once a week. Keep the area around Spot's dish clean, and don't allow water from his water dish to get into his food dish. During warm, humid days, don't leave food in his bowl. Vacuum the area where Spot sleeps. Spot will thank you by staying healthy.

To see a related magazine story about these mites, click here.

To see a different Sci4Kids story about mites —and even build your very own mite, click here.

This Sci4Kids story has been "selected by the SciLinks program, a service of National Science Teachers Association. Copyright 2001."

--By Hank Becker, formerly Information Staff, Agricultural Research Service

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