Mites and ticks are tiny arachnids. They all have two body segments and eight legs. Mites live in soil, water and even inside other animals. Some feed on insects or blood, while others feed on plants. Many mites are too tiny to see without a microscope. All ticks feed on the blood of other animals. They may carry diseases.

Most of the dust that settles inside our houses is made up of flakes of human skin. Some of the remainder includes the droppings of dust mites. Dust mites cannot fly, but they are often wafted up into the air to join the dust particles. Dust mites feed on flakes of human skin and other particles in dust. They especially favour warm, moist places, such as beds.

Red velvet mite

The red velvet mite is just the size of a pinhead. Its bright red colour indicates to predators that it is poisonous, which stops them from eating it. It has small eyes on stalks and a furry body. It lives in the soil and among dead leaves, eating insects and their eggs. The mites' larvae attach themselves to other mini-beasts and feed off their body fluids.

Ticks

Ticks live by feeding on the blood of mammals (including humans) and birds. They are kinds of parasite. Ticks can neither fly nor jump, but wait to climb on to their host when it comes close. Nibbling a hole in their host's skin, they anchor their mouthparts inside and suck out the blood. Because they carry germs such as bacteria in the blood they suck, ticks cause diseases in animals and humans.