Hi everybody,
For a long while now I’ve had these strange, white mites in my enclosures. They don’t seem to pose much of a threat, and I’ve never seen them swarming on any of my roaches or forming a cyst/dormant state (I forgot the name) on them, so I’ve been assuming that they’re harmless. For the longest time, they were getting out competed by springtails in most of my enclosures, but now the mites seem to have bounced back and the springtails have gone extinct in almost all of my enclosures. Anyways, I was wondering what kind of mites these are, their adults are about 1.5x the size of the largest Neoseiulus californicus that I introduced to control them (unfortunately haven’t seen a real reduction in the mite numbers, or any of the N. californicus for that matter). They are an off white, creamish color, and their heads are a darker color, closer to brown. They are easily visible to the naked eye, and up close it’s easy to identify their legs and mouthparts. In terms of speed, they are slightly slower than N. californicus, but they can run pretty quickly when they get agitated. Anyways, I’m not sure kind of mite they are, and if they are harmful or beneficial. They eat food waste and help clean up dead animals like springtails do, and they seem to occupy the same ecological niche, but I’m not sure what exactly they are or if they do anything extra that would be negative for my roaches/isopods.
Thanks for the help, and sorry for the lousy photos.
For a long while now I’ve had these strange, white mites in my enclosures. They don’t seem to pose much of a threat, and I’ve never seen them swarming on any of my roaches or forming a cyst/dormant state (I forgot the name) on them, so I’ve been assuming that they’re harmless. For the longest time, they were getting out competed by springtails in most of my enclosures, but now the mites seem to have bounced back and the springtails have gone extinct in almost all of my enclosures. Anyways, I was wondering what kind of mites these are, their adults are about 1.5x the size of the largest Neoseiulus californicus that I introduced to control them (unfortunately haven’t seen a real reduction in the mite numbers, or any of the N. californicus for that matter). They are an off white, creamish color, and their heads are a darker color, closer to brown. They are easily visible to the naked eye, and up close it’s easy to identify their legs and mouthparts. In terms of speed, they are slightly slower than N. californicus, but they can run pretty quickly when they get agitated. Anyways, I’m not sure kind of mite they are, and if they are harmful or beneficial. They eat food waste and help clean up dead animals like springtails do, and they seem to occupy the same ecological niche, but I’m not sure what exactly they are or if they do anything extra that would be negative for my roaches/isopods.
Thanks for the help, and sorry for the lousy photos.
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