Dust & Dust Mites

Dust
Those little grey particles of hair, sand, and.. well, 'dust' that inhabits almost every corner of every house, and hides in those un-reachable nooks and crannies. Most of this dust, however, is made up out of the 30,000 to 40,000 dead skin cells that we lose every minute! There's also the mold, ash from smoke, bacteria, animal fur etc....
All in all, not everyone's favourite substance!

Yes, that's right. This is mostly dead skin!

It's found everywhere, from 'dust-storms' to abandoned buildings to just happily floating around minding its business. A lot if this is dead skin, too, as dead skin accounts for about a billion tons of dust in the atmosphere. Woo! You're inhaling human sheddings. :D

But enough about that stuff!

Let's talk about something even more skin-crawling! (literally)

Dust Mites

These are the little, teeny, microscopic arachnids that live happily in the stuff we so despise.

They are also one of the reasons my skin is perpetually covered in eczema! (Something they're quite famous for! But then again, my skin is just generally really keen to tear itself from me. XP)

In fact, it's these mites, not the commonly-believed pollen, that is one of the most persistent sources of allergic reactions! (60%!)

Though, in actual fact, it's not the creatures themselves that we're allergic to, but their fecal material and cast skins. 

These adorable (or not so) little less-than 1/2 a millimetre long creatures love to live and multiply in places where you humans spend most of your time!

...That's right!

I'm talking about your bed, (especially your pillow, as they love to eat dandruff) your sofa, and wherever you spend lots of time! 

They also like a bit of moisture and humidity - another reason why they love your bed, and live happily in highly-humid, warm places. 

Now you may think "I'm going to have to change my duvet / pillows more often now! D:"

...however, these mites spread very rapidly and will be found spread in a new mattress as fast as six months after purchase. Not to mention that they can move around airborne with simple activities such as changing bedding and shaking pillows, and so will just hop from one to the next.

There is SOMETHING you can do, though, as washing your bedding in hot water once a week removes dust mite populations. Not much point in doing this though, unless you are EXTREMELY allergic, or just really creeped out at the thought of the around 500,000 dust mites that approximately inhabit your home.

Yep. 500,000 of THESE.

Life-Cycle

These teeny spider-mites have a lifespan of around four months. The cycle from egg to larvea to adult takes about a month, with the adult living for about three.

In this short period, the female dust mite can lay as many as 100 eggs in her lifetime in small groups of three to five. 

Anywho!

I'm off to bed. G'night all, sleep well. ^^

Dragina, awaayyyy!~ ^.=.^