Mandy, I wish I could help you - any pictures of the varmints? I came to this thread because I do have spider mites on many houseplants I bought in early winter from big box stores during distressed sales, and I've been fighting spider mites for the past few months. I'll be honest - they're all in a room where sometimes they are forgotten for a week or more at a time so they get dry and stressed, and the mites don't get noticed sometimes until they've gotten down and dirty. But when I have found them and use the spray I bought (can't recall the name, got it at WalMart, in a green bottle) really well and wipe the leaves down, it keeps them off for a while. Then they show up on another plant. I'm just tired of fighting the spider mites - already have enough on my plate (2 toddlers, I work, I'm not the best organized, and we got a bit flooded in the recent rains, so I'm in "purge" mode) and want to know your thoughts on my choices: First off, is there such a thing as a total cure, as in they're not coming back? Or will this be a constant battle now that they're here? I don't remember my mom ever having spider mites with her plants, but she didn't have a lot of plants either (maybe this is why). Can I give them a good treatment with the spray and offer them on freecycle to anybody who would want to try to rehab them (with full disclosure of what they might be taking in), or is that just giving the mites the opportunity to infect somebody else's stuff... and therefore I should just toss what I have in the trash and save everybody the trouble? I know I will be giving the heave-ho to some fancy ivies (two kinds of "King's Choice" and "Gold Baby" which I thought were pretty but look a little bit ratty now), two earth star plants (just had pups), a Janet Craig dracaena that is in very good shape, a Pilea (Moon Valley) that looks awful but not because of mites (I just don't know what to do with it - I think it needs pinching and re-rooting but I'm never good at that so it's got legs a mile long and a few leaves at the top), a couple of diffenbachia (no mites), and maybe some more if I can make myself let go of them (corn plant that has a lot of mites on it (getting treated tomorrow), couple of little dracaena marginata, another spotted dracaena I brought back from near death, and my three red sister ti's in a pot but I don't think I can give them up... yet. Thanks in advance for your input. Terri

Those are fantastic pictures of what is a very-difficult-to-photograph caterpillar!! Congratulations! When I raise them in my cages, some of them make their chrysalis right on the plant, and some of them wander to other parts of the cage - some go to the top, some attach themselves under the paper towels, and some even pupate on the container/s I put in the cage to weight it down. The chrysalis will start to turn dark the day before the butterfly emerges, and you'll be able to see some of the adult coloring through the translucent skin on the day - usually the morning - it emerges. I've never written down dates, but they don't take long, no more than about ?two weeks, I think. Congrats again on the wonderful pictures! Sherry

This one was in Texas... everything is bigger in Texas. She was about 3/8 of an inch long. Believe it or not, this is a Sony point and shoot. I bought it specifically for the super macro feature. I think it focuses down to about 1cm. ~james

My Passi' is next to a New Rose Bush (so it's small) and the Rose Bush is Next to a 3yr old Butterfly Bush. My Butterfly Bush is Bare for the first 18" or so because of Mite Damage; it got so infested no matter what I did that I just cleared out the whole bottom of the Plant. Now the Passi like I said is very close and the Mites don't seem to bother it. The only way I have found to get rid of Mites is Just Spray each Leaf Seperately to get the Mites off. Here is a suggestion someone else had about mites; take the whole plant and cover it with a Clear Plastic Bag; find a way to tie it off; this way it works to create it's own humidity and after 2 - 3 days all the mites will blow up; seems they fill themselves up with the Moisture and they don't stop so they blow up. I haven't tried it; but I may soon. Today though I saw a bunch of Ants crawling on my Margaret; I really don't like ants at all; they give me that deep shrill inside that grosses me out; I had some Bug Killer from Bayer that I sprayed it with and it killed all the Ants; and then I rinsed it with Water; I know I am not supposed to do that but I am not comfortable with that stuff sitting on my Plants.