# Small white mites in my roach bins? ways to get rid of them/prevent them from coming back?



## kev48584 (Feb 18, 2013)

so i went to feed my pets one night and noticed one of my roach bins (b. lateralis colony) had small particles, at first it was dust so i just wiped it off, the next day i came to check my room i noticed the particles again so i took a closer look and smelled it, (lol again i thought this was dust of some sort) it wasn't until i looked very closely i noticed they were small tiny white mites! i was freaking out because there were literally hundreds of thousands covering the whole bin inside out, so i cleaned both my b.lateralis & b. dubia colony (i noticed a few in there aswell but not terribly bad compared to the b. lateralis) just wondering how do you get rid of these guys? i heard you have to dry out the bins (no food/water for about a week or so) but what about the heating???? do i need to unplug their heat tapes aswell that keeps them warm???? any tips is much appreciated, at the moment they're both in new bins, i have a feeling i didn't get rid of all of them lolz thanks for any advice!


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## monostomatic (Feb 19, 2013)

You should be fine keeping the heat on just make sure to keep it clean and dry for awhile. If its just a grain mite you just need to make sure to watch the humidity around grain based food and you should be ok. Thats why a lot of people dont use substrate or are picky about the food they offer those little bastards are everywhere.


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## Entomancer (Feb 19, 2013)

Lol, welcome to the club.

Once you have them, they never really go away. They can revert to a dormant state if they run out of food. 

You can order predatory mites, or use isopods where they won't disturb anything. I just keep a close eye on my roaches, and I use soil collected from a nearby forest. I almost always wind up with naturally-occuring predatory mites, which, in combination with springtails and isopods (where applicable) usually keeps their numbers low.


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## Anonymity82 (Feb 19, 2013)

LordRaiden said:


> Once you have them, they never really go away. They can revert to a dormant state if they run out of food.
> 
> You can order predatory mites, or use isopods where they won't disturb anything. I just keep a close eye on my roaches, and I use soil collected from a nearby forest. I almost always wind up with naturally-occuring predatory mites, which, in combination with springtails and isopods (where applicable) usually keeps their numbers low.


I think they were always there! The second you add food they're there! Crazy little monkeys they are. IMO the only reason you would have so many is the high humidity mixed with food. Heat has little do with it as I find them whether it's 68 in here or 80. I haven't noticed a difference.  

You can order predatory mites and get quite a lot for around 40 bucks shipped. I know of a place, just PM me if interested. I can't say here as it is advertising. 

I've used them before and I'm still finding them around 5 months later. They're surviving in 4oz deli cups! For 5 months! You can just separate the predatory mite infested substrate into multiple containers. Sealed with a ton of holes in them or just leave the top off. They're fast for mites! The predatory mites can also eat other organic matter and other microscopic creatures! They don't dry out super fast or anything so as long as you keep the substrate damp they should make their way back. I saw them crawling all over everything on the hunt for food! 

Good luck and let me know if you want that business's information.

They also sell a half liter which is around half the price.

When I collected a couple of millipedes from outside I found some huge (in mite terms) predatory mites! They were so cool!


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## The Snark (Feb 20, 2013)

Neat trick the bug raisers around here use. Make or buy a small framed window screen. Say 1/2 foot by 1/2 foot. Place in on the wall of the cage/container with a sticky trap sandwiched between it and the wall. Only the mites can get through. It keeps mites in check and if enough such traps are used over a long enough period of time it can almost eradicate the invaders.

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