Please tell me this is normal!

[Brontosaurus]

The nursery I work for has a ton of Mammillaria Rhodantha (not sure on variety) that all have dandruff-like flakes on the spines. I haven't heard of a cactus that naturally grows things like that. Is this a pest? If so, do you know what it is? Thanks!

[Nic]

Those are mealy bugs, they're like aphids, but are tougher. You should kill them before they kill your plant.

[CactusMad]

Hi can you get a closer pic please ?

[Brontosaurus]

Thanks for the advice!

We started treatment for mealy bugs a few minutes ago, so I can't get another picture at the moment. The pest guy at the nursery said it didn't look like mealy bugs, but we're going to treat them regardless. We'll see!

[iann]

Mealies would have been my guess, but I can't be sure from that photo. Look at a few internet pictures of mealies and I'm sure you'll recognise them - or not.