9469 little red spiders

Are they the size of a pin head like we get in the Uk?

Sounds like red spider mite. It's considered a pest but more threatening to indoor / greenhouse plants. Here's a link [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_spider_mite]Tetranychus urticae - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/url].

Those sound like what I am used to calling "chiggers". They are just spider mites like someone else already said. They like to be in warm sunny places and in or around wood or but also can live in damp areas where vegetation is heavy. They do bite and cause a nasty itch. I am not sure what damage they can do to plants though... sorry I am no help there!
You can go here for more info on them: [url=http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/IG085]Chiggers[/url]

[quote=PAS 55;88759]Are they the size of a pin head like we get in the Uk?[/quote]

Yes they are about the size of a pinhead although vary from minute to just smaller than an ant and they seem to go in circles and move like a crab. and ugh I just squashed one by mistake and it spurted red stuff!!!!

[quote=tessa myers;88786]Yes they are about the size of a pinhead although vary from minute to just smaller than an ant and they seem to go in circles and move like a crab. and ugh I just squashed one by mistake and it spurted red stuff!!!![/quote]

Yep we get these in England & Sardinia look as if they're always chasing their tails.

are they the biting things someone else mentioned or can i ignore them?

We are inundated by these every may (S. Umbria) - they last for about 3 weeks and then disappear. Never had any probllems (no bites etc.) except that when you walk over them - which is unavoidable - you end up with about a litre of orange bug juice stuck to the soles of your feet - best to avoid walking over the persian rug thereafter.

We have had several problems with Red Spider Mites - usually called Greenhouse Red Spider Mites in the UK. They can be lethal to some plants, so it is best to take the problem seriously rather than just hope. The usual sign of a Red Spider Mite problem (rather than a few pasing through) is that the leaves of your plant start to go brown and drop. We have lost a potted Oleander to the little ... mites... and one of our magnolia trees was also badly affected. The courses of action open to you are a bit limited as the usual insecticides (including systemics) don't seem to do very much. A water mist sprayed over the affected plant can sometimes be effective, though, as they are not keen on high humidity. Failing that, a horticultural grade of soap - i.e. not scented, etc - sprayed liberally on the plant should drown them. although you will have to do it every week or so as the eggs keep hatching. If none of that works, you have a problem! The only solution if the mites are slowly killing your plant is to remove the plant and burn it, although I did use Cillit Bang on the magnolia which was OK the following year!.

If you type "red spider mite" into Google, you will see that it is not quite as harmless once they get comfortable on your plants - just try to avoid them spreading to other plants.

I just looked at google images for "red spider mite" and that beastie is not the little red spider that so loves my roof terrace ... the mite images look like a mite - my beasties look like a spider (the legs are longer than the body). I have no idea what he wee red thingies on my terrace are, but they're nothing like the mites pictured on google (which have big fat bodies and stubby wee legs).

Mine appear to love the sun, and as Isaid before they come out in a wave around the start of may and seem to have dispersed within the month. Mind you my 'garden' has nothign worth eating so that may be circumstantial evidence at best.

The red fellows you see scurrying about on hot surfaces are harmless and you can ignore them.
Red spider mite in your greenhouse etc is different and not particularly red and a right old pest.
Chiggers are mites sometimes known as harvest mites and are v small and grey and cause itchy bites and are particularly prevalent on land with thin soil over limestone. They have either six or eight legs depending on the stage in their lifecycle - there's a good trick.
They usually bite when they encounter an obstruction eg knicker elastic, belts etc. Hydrocortisone cream twice daily is the best treatment and the best prevention is a repellent/ killer applied round ankles , wrists before entering the undergrowth/meadowland. Don't forget to wear a hat when picking olives etc as they are partial to trees and will bite your scalp.

here's the little spiders that I get in my place:

as I said before, it doesn't look (to me) the same as the spider mites that i saw on google images. They are though about pin head size and do cuttle crazily about as described on any flat, sunny, paved areas of my house in early may. We don't (yet) have any vedetation to be devoured, but I'd be interested to know if they really are the spider mites that others previously suggested?

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while we're on the subject of red beasties ... here's a handsome fella that I spotted in Bagnaio, I was quite taken with his big red "moose antlers"! anyone know what he is (about 1.5 cm's long in real life).
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I think your (excellent) photo of the "moosehorn" beetle is an example of Melolontha melolontha, sometimes called the cockchafer (great name).

yep, that looks about right, and Cockchafer is pretty good as bug names go.

Think I'll avoid the 19th Century French recipe for cockchafer soup as reported by wikipedia though: "roast 1 lb (500 g) of cockchafers without wings and legs in sizzling butter, then cook them in a chicken soup, add some veal liver and serve with chives on a toast".

Perhaps more palatable would be (same article) "And a German newspaper from Fulda from the 1920s tells of students eating sugar-coated cockchafers"

I loved the Middle Ages trials against cockchafers.... That article from Wikipedia is very interesting to read. As for the soup... I'd rather stick to French Onion....

We had a cockchafer fly in through the French windows here in the UK a week or so ago - never seen one before and it caused quite a lot of squealing in the house, I can tell you!

If there was ever a thread that was surprisingly funny it is this one. I've laughed out loud several times at the above. I mite have to read it again.

...sorry!