I wonder if that first cactus is Mammilaria gracilis. The second may not be a cactus, those spines may be parts of a long gone flower. Humm...

Wow, bad news, looking at Mammillaria gracilis did not find exactly looking like pic 3 but stumble onto mammillaria heyderi which looks like pic 4. And those white stuff on the needles are mealybugs... Bought it yesterday, can't believe. Thanks for putting me on the track!

Awesome plants. I especially love the puyas. With all those mealy bugs it might be hard to save. Good luck! And be careful mealy bugs can beat on/in wood and become a huge problem in the future.

Your first cactus is not a Mammillaria, but a Rebutia. Google that for precise identification. Those mealies look cool ;-), but be very, very careful. To be honest, I would pitch it...

yeah it looked cool, very even distribution, one per spine almost at the same position, nowhere else on the cactus. It threw me off. I should take my magnifying lens when shopping from now on! The whole thing is in the bin (after a bath in alcohol :).

Those are meallies:)?!!! They remind me of lice.

Now for the id how about Mammilaria sphaerica or Mammillaria melaleuca:)?

Thanks Kara, given the number of needles, probably more like sphaerica. In any case I don't need a label for that one anymore :( The bugs looked more like mealies than lice under a magnifying glass but I could be wrong. Unfortunately I purchased a few others at the same place that day, they all came from Lone Pine Gardens. I have not spotted any bugs on the other cactus but they are in strict quarantine now!

Oh I wasn't saying they were lice, I think those need blood:). They look like them tho. I've never seen meallies do that, hang out on the spines. That's so bizarre. The bugs look like they belong there:).

Thought it was strange too, never saw this as well. But just read that some mealy bugs do localize specifically on the spines!! https://cactiguide.com/cactipests/ in the mealy bug section intro.

Those were mealybug egg cases. Mealybugs move about. The egg cases are kind of glued onto the spines. I think you would have found the live Mealys in the soil on that one. I don't use a lot of chemicals. I have grown to have more patience over the years. I have been known to sit there for long spells picking each case off with tweezers and then de-potting and washing off the roots. I then re-pot into new cleaned pot and new soil. Sometimes it works and you are rewarded. Sometimes you have wasted your time and either give up or do it again if it is a special plant. Plants can be rewarding and teach us life lessons or they can be sources of frustration. They were more of the latter in the early days, but now more of the former.

In regards to the Puyas, you might look into Dyckia and Deuterochonia to see if they fall into either of those. I'm no expert on xeric Bromeliads but they do look similar to some I grow.

Thanks aloebot, you are right, most of those fit your description of egg cases rather than bugs. Making more sense now! I had my share of fights against pests too, not so much mealies though. This plant was not so special (just bought it too) so I did not want to take the risk it spreads to the special ones. Have not used any systemic chemicals yet and did not want to start because of my oversight. Will see how it progresses.

Regarding the IDs, I also thought pic #2 could look more like a Dyckia than puya, I shall dig further in line with you suggestions. Thanks again

I always forget about Dykias for some reason. I like them too so it's weird:).

Have you found meallybugs anywhere else on the cactus? What a pain if they are way deep down in there.

I briefly looked at the roots and did not see anything obvious. I did not spend much time on it though as I wanted to avoid spreading anything and get rid of the whole thing ASAP (plant, pot, soil). The root was pretty big and meaty though, too bad :(

All be darn look what found lice/meallies;)

It's weird I do not see any other meallies on the actual cactus just the egg sacks on the spines.

I've never had meallies on cactus and I do not want to start.

Ok so little update. I must mention when I first bought this cactus a couple months ago it had the "normal" looking meallies on it. They were fluffy and on the actual cactus. It only had a couple. I've been able to keep them at small amounts, but today's check in was the first time I've ever seen them on the spines.

It's strange because when I did the whole q-tip rubbing alcohol thing just now the egg sacks looked more like adults. When the alcohol got to the bug it turned orange like normal. I could see a single orange bug too. Usually I don't see that with the eggs.

These are definitely different meallies than what I'm use too. They're not nearly as fluffy and cotton like. The white outer covering reminds me of paper mache. Normally as soon as I hit the meallybugs with the rubbing alcohol soaked q-tip it turns orange instantly. Not with these. These ones have an outer covering that protects them more I feel. Maybe they have a waxy coating idk. Very different tho.

Hmmm, interesting! Glad I got rid of mine, there were dozens on it. Sorry you had this experience too. Never saw this before on my cactus either. I could see some bugs but mostly what looked like egg sacs as suggested by aloebot earlier. Noticed yours comes from Lone Pine Garden too. Should we notify them with this thread, they might have some answers or not be aware.

Ya I guess we should. That sucks:(. I love that place. I wonder what their policy is treating plants.

ok I will shoot them an email for info.