# Grain mites are driving me insane



## Aow123 (Jan 13, 2020)

During the spring I was out collecting some insects and made the biggest mistake of my life. I brought home a Bess beetle that had a few grain mites, which led to an infestation that I've been battling since. So far I've isolated my inverts (mealworms, dubia roaches, hissing roaches, discoid roaches) in a grow tent and am keeping temps around 100-120°F using heat lamps, which has also lowered humidity to a level that I hoped would kill off the grain mites, hoped being the key word. I removed all the substrate from all my invert bins to further lower humidity levels and to try to kill the mite eggs, but the little monsters have adapted and are surviving by clinging to the underside of my inverts.

I'm thinking about using a dehumidifier to further lower humidity levels, or ordering some predatory mites on ebay to see if they can get rid of the grain mites for good, but I'd like to see if anyone on here has any other suggestions first. I've already thrown out my springtail and isopod cultures, and honestly, if it means getting rid of these mites once and for all I'll toss out my roaches too, however I'm hoping someone here has something I can try before it gets to that point.

I know these mites arent going to harm any of my animals, but I hate them so, so, so, so, sooo much. I dont like interacting with my roaches because I dont want grain mites to crawl on me. I'm worried about feeding my inverts to my reptiles because I dont want to start an infestation in their enclosures. I just want them all to die a horrible death and never return, which doesn't seem like too much to ask.


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## mantisfan101 (Jan 13, 2020)

I remember when I had these little buggers literally everywhere...all I can say is reduce moisture/humidity levels and clean up any leftovers. The mites can stay in this weird phoretic state where they cling onto their hosts and wait for better conditions. They can spend months like this so your best bet is to first remove moisture levels till they either dessicate or enter this phoretic stage. Once they start clinging onto your beetles, you can use a tooth pick(I found a paint brush to be virtually useless for mites) and some water to try and scrape these mites off. Always be careful and make sure you don’r stab your beetles/bugs on accident. After you get most of them off, all you can do is wait and just leave them with as little moisture as possible(while there’s still enough for the beetles to thrive). This will take quite some time but all or most of the mites will eventually die off.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## mantisfan101 (Jan 13, 2020)

Also you can try placing pieces of dog food or dead feeders in small containers and hope that enough accumulates, then take the feeder insect/dog food covered in mites and place it in rubbing alcohol.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Aow123 (Jan 14, 2020)

mantisfan101 said:


> I remember when I had these little buggers literally everywhere...all I can say is reduce moisture/humidity levels and clean up any leftovers. The mites can stay in this weird phoretic state where they cling onto their hosts and wait for better conditions. They can spend months like this so your best bet is to first remove moisture levels till they either dessicate or enter this phoretic stage. Once they start clinging onto your beetles, you can use a tooth pick(I found a paint brush to be virtually useless for mites) and some water to try and scrape these mites off. Always be careful and make sure you don’r stab your beetles/bugs on accident. After you get most of them off, all you can do is wait and just leave them with as little moisture as possible(while there’s still enough for the beetles to thrive). This will take quite some time but all or most of the mites will eventually die off.


I cant believe they can survive for months, that's absolutely insane. I guess I'll wait and hope for the best though, thanks for the help!


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## Aow123 (Jan 14, 2020)

mantisfan101 said:


> Also you can try placing pieces of dog food or dead feeders in small containers and hope that enough accumulates, then take the feeder insect/dog food covered in mites and place it in rubbing alcohol.


I'm definitely going to try this, and hopefully with enough patience I can remove them all. Thanks for the help!


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## The Snark (Jan 14, 2020)

Welcome to mite apocalypse. Every year the rice harvester spread these putzes over the entire country. Only known effective solution is hermetically sealed containers, too dry or keep food sources in the fridge. Nuclear explosions would probably only serve to spread them around.
I had a jar of rolled oats hermetically sealed. Over the course of a year the mites turned it all into mite poop. The moisture in the oats was enough for them to survive and apparently they need no ventilation.

The perfect marriage of animal and machine. Rice harvesters blast air over the cutting to separate the straw then blow the rice into the hopper. They cover every inch of every field making certain every last mite gets blown high into the air.

Reactions: Funny 1


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## Aow123 (Jan 17, 2020)

The Snark said:


> Welcome to mite apocalypse. Every year the rice harvester spread these putzes over the entire country. Only known effective solution is hermetically sealed containers, too dry or keep food sources in the fridge. Nuclear explosions would probably only serve to spread them around.
> I had a jar of rolled oats hermetically sealed. Over the course of a year the mites turned it all into mite poop. The moisture in the oats was enough for them to survive and apparently they need no ventilation.
> 
> The perfect marriage of animal and machine. Rice harvesters blast air over the cutting to separate the straw then blow the rice into the hopper. They cover every inch of every field making certain every last mite gets blown high into the air.


I think I've actually found a possible solution. There was a paper written (Efficacy of pea flour as an antifeedant against two stored-food mites (Acari: Acaridae) fed on
dried medicinal Chinese herbs) on the effects of legume flour (more specifically yellow split pea flour) on grain and fungus mite populations, and according to the study,

"_When 1% concentration of pea
flour was used to control A. ovatus, the mortality was 66% and 88% after 28 days on C. pinnatifida. The mortality of T. putrescentiae and A. ovatus was 100% as a result of 10% concentration of pea flour addition at 7, 14, 21 and 28 days on C. pinnatifida and C. lachryma-jobi._"

If this study is accurate, and I have no reason to believe it isn't, legume flour is extremely toxic to mites while being harmless to most if not all other inverts and reptiles. I'm currently doing some tests using my mealworms, which are infested with grain mites, in optimal and suboptimal conditions for mite reproduction, and hopefully within a month or so I'll have some idea of the toxicity of a more available flour, chickpea flour, which mite (pun intended) be an extremely effective method of treating and preventing the infestation of mites. If chickpea flour proves to be toxic, I'm going to conduct some more thorough and controlled tests using it to determine the quantity necessary for the eradication of mites in an area.

So far the only problem with using legume flour is that it can cause goiter in reptiles if overfed, however if the inverts you're feeding are lightly washed or sprayed off before being used as feeders I dont even see that being an issue.

I uploaded the study in case anyones interested in reading it.

Reactions: Like 1 | Informative 1 | Award 1


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## The Snark (Jan 17, 2020)

Aow123 said:


> If this study is accurate, and I have no reason to believe it isn't,


It is an accepted and credited clinical study: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01647954.2013.784354?scroll=top&needAccess=true

And there you go. Kudos to @Aow123  May I suggest you post this reference separately in this sub forum with an appropriate title where people can easily search for it?
Possibly also write a short summary?


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## Aow123 (Jan 19, 2020)

The Snark said:


> It is an accepted and credited clinical study: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01647954.2013.784354?scroll=top&needAccess=true
> 
> And there you go. Kudos to @Aow123  May I suggest you post this reference separately in this sub forum with an appropriate title where people can easily search for it?
> Possibly also write a short summary?


That's a great idea, I'll start working on a summary! Also thank you for the award(assuming you're the one who gave it to me)!

Reactions: Like 1


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## Crabitat Lady (Aug 31, 2020)

Aow123 said:


> I think I've actually found a possible solution. There was a paper written (Efficacy of pea flour as an antifeedant against two stored-food mites (Acari: Acaridae) fed on
> dried medicinal Chinese herbs) on the effects of legume flour (more specifically yellow split pea flour) on grain and fungus mite populations, and according to the study,
> 
> "_When 1% concentration of pea
> ...


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## SamanthaMarikian (Aug 31, 2020)

I would die before throwing out my isopod colonies I’ve put too much money into them lmao

Reactions: Funny 1


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## 0001 (Sep 12, 2020)

I can’t acces the pdf that contains the research. But would love to know how your testing went and if (and what quantities) of pea flour got rid of the mites!


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## Chrispunk04 (Dec 23, 2021)

Aow123 said:


> I think I've actually found a possible solution. There was a paper written (Efficacy of pea flour as an antifeedant against two stored-food mites (Acari: Acaridae) fed on
> dried medicinal Chinese herbs) on the effects of legume flour (more specifically yellow split pea flour) on grain and fungus mite populations, and according to the study,
> 
> "_When 1% concentration of pea
> ...



How did this turn out? Sorry to bring up an old thread

Reactions: Like 1


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