MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

I like to know if anyone has seen a dust mite though
Their microscope and if so what power ?

There was a similar series of postings some time ago about how to find dust mites. Best recommendation was go through your vacuum cleaner bag. I didn't because of the potential mess and no one else ever posted a photo.

The answer to your specific question is they are 0.2-0.3 mms so your 4x is probably as big as you should go. At most, 10x for "Up close" detail.

If you find some please let the forum know and post some photos.

Sorry for the long response.

JimT

Another place is ac duct

I use the stereo microscope for such specimens. At 0.2-0.3 mm in size they are easily seen with the lower powers. The stereo gives a nice 3-D image. Using a variety of illumination techniques makes it easy to highlight points of interest. Professional entomologists use stereo microscopes for most of their work.

What about those other mites that is on you and
Eats dead skin cells?
It takes a electron microscope to see an atom.

I looked in my vacuum for them as well but I didn't find any. I took a large sample of dust and carpet fibers and put them in a petri dish and then looked at it through the stereo scope at 10x and 20x. I didn't find any, which really surprised me as most houses have them. I may try looking in other parts of the house as the sample was taken after I vacuumed the basement (which is finished and all that). I'd like to see some images of these guys as well -- I won't be able to take any as my stereoscope doesn't take a camera.

Just to clarify: I should be able to see these guys at 10 or 20x, right (total magnification)?

They are surprisingly hard to find, despite the fact that they are relatively large. As Jimtey suggests, a 4X should find them easily but the couple of times I tried, I came up empty. Part of the problem might have been the opacity of the total subject, dust included, which obscured significant details.
I thought about this approach but never got around to trying it: perhaps if you floated out, or rinsed a good blob of dust that might likely contain them in a small amount of water , you could image the rinse residue in a well(( depression ) slide, with a 4X to see if you found any. Once located, you could then transfer some to another dry well slide and cover. If you didn't drown them, they might perform for you in their little hovel. Toss in a few fragments of dead skin and offer them picnic. To get really good images of them, a 10X would be best or 100X.

Oliver should publish the image of whomever finds and photos the first dust mite. And..., that person should give us all a detailed write-up on how to find them and prepare them.

Like many of us, I tried and gave up.

JimT

I'm just amazed that something so common is so elusive. I'll just have to keep looking!