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by Kristina Brown

Exactly what are dust mites? Are they alive? Exactly how many dust mites currently reside in my home? What is it about dust mites that cause people to have allergic reactions? When pondering the subject of dust mites many questions arise, but very few actually know any information pertaining to a creature that is found by the millions within almost every home.

How Would Someone Define Dust Mites? The existence of dust mites is obvious to many, yet only a small percentage of the population know anything else about dust mites. Dust mites are animals that stem from the arachnid or spider branch and even have 8 legs like a spider. They eat, breathe, and defecate similar to any other animal. A male dust mite will live for approximately 30 days, while a female dust mite’s life span will double a male’s life span by about 60 days. Within the entirety of a female dust mite’s life span, the dust mite will create and lay approximately 100 eggs.

How Big are They? Dust Mites are extremely small in fact you need a microscope or very strong magnifying glass in order to see one. They are about half a millimeter big.

How Many Are in My House and Where Do They Live? The exact amount of dust mites in your house is unknown however there are millions of dust mites in the typical mattress. They live in your pillow, sheets, blanket, couch, chair, carpets etc.

Why Do They Live In Bed and Couch of All Places? Dust mites enjoy places with a high amount of humidity and they receive that humidity when you perspire, breathe or drool. They also like to go into places where they are not exposed to the sun or vacuum cleaner. They dig down deep into the carpeting and grab onto the carpet fibers to prevent them from getting sucked out by a vacuum cleaner or beat out by the brushroll.

They Like Humidity But What Do They Like To Eat? You. Dust mites eat the dead skin humans shed daily. A days worth of shedded skin is enough for hundreds of thousands of dust mites. This is also why they enjoy living in the places mentioned earlier, because these are some of the most common places that a person sheds skin.

Why Call Them Dust Mites, Why Not Skin Mites? A majority of dust is comprised of dead skin. The dust you see in the attic, on your TV or in the air is comprised mostly of your dead skin. Because it contains so much dead skin dust mites pretty much consume what we call dust, therefore making them ?dust? mites.

Reading this article should have given you a clear picture on dust mites, hopefully this information has answered many of your questions about dust mites.

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