Red Spider Mite? Silly Question but Please Advise!

[maisondecactus]

Hi,
I found these red spider mite (or could be clover mite) around my cacti. It's been driving me mad! I have two questions:

1) I attached images and please let me know if they are really red spider mites? I squished one of them and it left a bright red smear... (sorry to be a bit gory!).
They were crawling over my Mammilaria and then barrel cactus and the other smaller one (I don't know the name).

2) I bought Bug Killer and it has 5% acetamiprid (0.05g/L) in it. Do I just pray it all over the cacti from top to bottom? Some of them are flowering and I don't want to ruin them...

Thank you for viewing my post and any advise would be greatly appreciated!

[greenknight]

Red spider mites are not that large, or that red - they're just tiny, moving dots; you need a magnifier to see them clearly. Look for webbing and damage to the plants' epidermis. See - http://www.cactiguide.com/cactipests/#spidermite

Those larger, very red mites in the photos are harmless to your plants, may even be predator mites which are beneficial. Don't spray at all unless you find actual pests - spraying if it's not needed can encourage an infestation by wiping out predators, and increases the chance of pests developing resistance to that pesticide.

If there is a need to spray, you do need to cover the entire surface of the cacti.

[hegar]

I agree with greenknight. That mite is way too large to be a pest. It is a predatory mite and will not harm your plants. "Red Spider Mites" are not truly red, but do have a reddish splotchy body, not a bright red one. They also do produce webbing. That is where the name "spider mite" is derived from. They also do move rather slowly, while the predator mites move rapidly, at least for a mite.

Harald

[maisondecactus]

Thank you so much for your replies!!! So glad they were not red spider mites!
BUT OMG, I squished quite a lot of them!!! I hope some will survive to get the bad insects.
Now I can sleep. Thank you!

Kyoko