Cant get rid of mites in dubia colony

Kaqpewqt

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 9, 2020
Messages
23
Hi,
Yes I used the search function and read almost every thread regarding mites in this forum, I just cant get rid of them.

There are mites on my dubias for months now. I keep them dry (40-55% humidity in my room) and at about 85-90 degrees, I remove any left over food daily and Also gave them no food for a week and even longer a few times. I also cleaned the enclosure and used new egg crates of course, more than 5 times the last few weeks. I used the flour method with my roaches.
Just nothing seems to help. I bought predatory mites (h. Miles), which eradicated any other mites and gnats inside my other roach enclosures which have substrate and are kept more moist, but not the ones on my dubias.

Im slowly getting crazy over here, I already started a new colony because of this in April.

The mites also seem a little bigger than grain mites, could they be from my hissers? The numbers never exploded, they are just visible and I dont want to transfer them to my spiders.
I also sell b. Lateralis feeders, not a single mite in sight, but I also plan to sell some dubias, I just dont want to sell them if they have mites.

Did anyone have similar experiences? What helped?
Thanks in advance
Janek
 

The Snark

Dumpster Fire of the Gods
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 8, 2005
Messages
11,046
Oh I've got plenty of first hand experience. Loads and loads.
For a start, you really have roaches in your mite infestation. Next, the mites are mightier than the mightiest roach. The solution is simplicity itself. You need a pesticide that works on mites. Which will of course kill your roaches. So you have to be very judicious in the application. Wet the tip of a sharp toothpick and dab a little Tea Tree oil on every mite. Stroll in the park. Don't forget to burn the babies! The little kids you need a microscope to see.
Barring that slow descent into madness you will have to determine an environment where the mites die or go dormant that won't DOA your roaches. That will depend on the exact species of mite.
And do keep in mind you may have more than one species.
Me? I became infested with four quite different species.

And be aware, some mites would like humans for snacks too.

Sarcoptes scabies
 
Last edited:

Kaqpewqt

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 9, 2020
Messages
23
prepping the mites on 2000 roaches with tea tree oil isn’t something id ever put on my bucket list lol

yes, thought i could make the environment less attractive through heat and less moisture, it just didn’t work at all. some small roaches already have molting issues, so its really really dry, and that for weeks now. the mites just don’t really seem to care.
 

The Snark

Dumpster Fire of the Gods
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 8, 2005
Messages
11,046
The only suggestion I can come up with is most mites go dormant in the winter. So you can try slowly reducing the temperature and closely observe the race. If the mites go dormant, will they before the roaches suffer a die off?
The other remote possibility is if the roaches can tolerate an environment heavily laced with Tea Tree oil? This is a very expensive experiment. It needs to be pure Tea Tree oil mxed 50-50 with some other oil and sprayed over the environment. That oil can set you back $20 an ounce or more. You could spray the substrate in a test chamber then introduce a few infested roaches. Survival of the most tolerant to a pretty extreme noxious substance. The oil is a highly irritating substance with a powerful noxious vapor. If even trace amounts gets in the animals lungs or is ingested they are very likely to die. The plus is roaches are much more environmentally aware while mites simply swarm everywhere.
 
Last edited:

AlphaTen223

Arachnopeon
Joined
Nov 15, 2021
Messages
41
Hi,
Yes I used the search function and read almost every thread regarding mites in this forum, I just cant get rid of them.

There are mites on my dubias for months now. I keep them dry (40-55% humidity in my room) and at about 85-90 degrees, I remove any left over food daily and Also gave them no food for a week and even longer a few times. I also cleaned the enclosure and used new egg crates of course, more than 5 times the last few weeks. I used the flour method with my roaches.
Just nothing seems to help. I bought predatory mites (h. Miles), which eradicated any other mites and gnats inside my other roach enclosures which have substrate and are kept more moist, but not the ones on my dubias.

Im slowly getting crazy over here, I already started a new colony because of this in April.

The mites also seem a little bigger than grain mites, could they be from my hissers? The numbers never exploded, they are just visible and I dont want to transfer them to my spiders.
I also sell b. Lateralis feeders, not a single mite in sight, but I also plan to sell some dubias, I just dont want to sell them if they have mites.

Did anyone have similar experiences? What helped?
Thanks in advance
Janek
My experience has been if you do make a new one to add some springtails. They eat the same stuff as mites and can be really good for keeping down the populations. Also maybe get some might killing powder. I forget what it’s called but basically mights can’t pass over it so you put it on a tray then put your colonies container on top of that and make sure that mites would have to go over it to get to the colonies container.
 

AlphaTen223

Arachnopeon
Joined
Nov 15, 2021
Messages
41
Hi,
Yes I used the search function and read almost every thread regarding mites in this forum, I just cant get rid of them.

There are mites on my dubias for months now. I keep them dry (40-55% humidity in my room) and at about 85-90 degrees, I remove any left over food daily and Also gave them no food for a week and even longer a few times. I also cleaned the enclosure and used new egg crates of course, more than 5 times the last few weeks. I used the flour method with my roaches.
Just nothing seems to help. I bought predatory mites (h. Miles), which eradicated any other mites and gnats inside my other roach enclosures which have substrate and are kept more moist, but not the ones on my dubias.

Im slowly getting crazy over here, I already started a new colony because of this in April.

The mites also seem a little bigger than grain mites, could they be from my hissers? The numbers never exploded, they are just visible and I dont want to transfer them to my spiders.
I also sell b. Lateralis feeders, not a single mite in sight, but I also plan to sell some dubias, I just dont want to sell them if they have mites.

Did anyone have similar experiences? What helped?
Thanks in advance
Janek
My experience has been if you do make a new one to add some springtails. They eat the same stuff as mites and can be really good for keeping down the populations. Also maybe get some might killing powder. I forget what it’s called but basically mights can’t pass over it so you put it on a tray then put your colonies container on top of that and make sure that mites would have to go over it to get to the colonies container.
 

Kaqpewqt

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 9, 2020
Messages
23
Thanks for the suggestions. Might try the barrier next time, springtails could be hard to keep alive with the Dubias, because i keep them bone dry.

I took a few Dubias out again and looked at the mites, most roaches have 1-3 mites on them. Just the adult roaches though. They really dont seem like grain mites, they look a loot like the ones on my hissers (G. Oblongonata). They are bigger than grain mites, maybe that’s the reason why the h. miles couldn’t eradicate them, they seem way too big for them.
 
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