Dont know where to start.... MITES!

[Talkenlate04]

Ok this may sound strange but I keep both my tubs of roaches next to my bed...... and the T's are on shelves behind them.

Last night I had the lid off and was laying there watching a pair of the dubia mate and I kept getting tickled on my chin. I though it was a piece of hair and tried to grab at it and rested my chin back on the tub...... it happend again, I grabbed again...... then looked down and to my horror there are maybe 6 trillion mites everywhere, and I mean every where. On the lid inside and out on the container inside and out gathering in large groups in the corners. I have never seen this many mites...... I dont see any on the roaches or the Ts that are near by.....It seemed to happen over night!


My question is there an easy way to tackle this? There are maybe 2000 roaches and 50 Ts near that area. I feel sick.... this is crazy town stuff. Every T owners nightmare.

Thank you for the responses in advance.

 

[syndicate]

first off start re-housing those roaches and moving any infected items out of your room.the best way to locate mites in my experience is to probe your tanks with a flashlight at night or with the lights turned off.start gettin rid of them now before they spread.no time to waste

 

[mr_jacob7]

sorry, i have no advice to give, :? but i just had to say something.

EW!

Okay, i'm good...

good luck with the mites.

 

[Binky/Carol]

Double that!!
Ewww...
I gather I am lucky and feed crickets, I keep them separate, and catch them with a plastic gerber baby food square container.
I keep their enclosures clean, and in the last couple of months, with the multiplying of T's that I have gotten... I have yet to get them.

I would seriously re house your roaches, and put some tape in a cup around the rim, make it double sided... and I think perhaps put some oil around the edge as well. And put some food in the end of the cup.

I would put that in and around the containers, and on the floor, make a couple of them...
And put boiling water and wash your containers.
Then spritz them with a 1% bleach water solution and then let them air dry.

Just some thoughts...
Carol

 

[Talkenlate04]

Ok I have a plan... somewhat.... I am going to take out all the roaches...... rehouse them. Bleach the containers.

What can I do to keep them from getting out should there be another breakout like that? I mean wow they exploded... There was nothing one day and a few days latter they had an army and were plotting to take over my house.

And the weird part is they mites dont seem to be on anything that is alive.... just in the frass and food some of the food items.

 

[Cirith Ungol]

Are you using substrate in your roach container?

 

[Talkenlate04]

No... I am just using a plastic container with a lid no substrate.

 

[tospace]

hmmmm if they are all inside the container how about take all the roaches out and put the container into the freezer, but be careful mites might go on the food.

 

[Talkenlate04]

Oh the mites are inside and outside and upside and downside and aroundside and underneth side they are everywhere.... I am going to handle it when I get home. They are not on the roaches that I can tell. But they are all over the food. Looks like I am going to be keeping them a little on the dry side till this all blows over.

 

[Anastasia]

what kind of mites?

 

[Cirith Ungol]

Sure it's mites, not springtails? I have loads of springtails with my tartaras but they don't bother me or the roaches.

 

[Alice]

i had kind of the same occurance with my small crickets - it seems that this happens when centilation isn't sufficient and humidity raises. they multiply to millions in the matter of one or two days :wall:

what i did: ich threw away the crix (ok, you cannot do that with the roaches), bleached the containers and disinfected every surface in the room. problem solves - now i keep my crix well ventilated and it hasn't happened again.

the strange thing is: i didn't see a single mite on the crix or ts as well. but it seemed to have no ill effects on the ts, so as long as you get rid of them you should be fine. btw: after my mite invasion, i got hold of some predatory mites. they have not survived in the really dry cages, but ordinary mites aren't likely to do that either. and they really keep the more humid cages clean! h. miles is a good predatory mite to get.

 

[starmaiden]

Has anyone considered using the beneficial mites, Hypoaspis miles, to control the bad mites in your insect colonies? I use these with my hermit crabs and have had great success. But they are not cheap, they cost about $50 including shipping over the net. They eat the eggs and larvae of the bad mites, then they die off when there's no more food.

 

[starmaiden]

:8o Oops I see that Alice has already mentioned H. miles!

Alice said:

btw: after my mite invasion, i got hold of some predatory mites. they have not survived in the really dry cages, but ordinary mites aren't likely to do that either. and they really keep the more humid cages clean! h. miles is a good predatory mite to get.

 

[Talkenlate04]

Sure it's mites, not springtails? I have loads of springtails with my tartaras but they don't bother me or the roaches.

100% positive its mites..... they are plump too. lol Must be enjoying that roach food. Thats the only place the mites were was the roach food. The food looked alive when a light was shined on it.....

as a precaution I changed all the surounding T cages too..... i did not sleep much last night!

 

[Pyst]

What you have are probably just grain mites. They make it look like the container is dusty. You either need to provide more ventilation or keep your food source separate from your water source. When I had a breakout I rehoused my roaches to another tub and didn't provide them with any food or water whatsoever for over two weeks. The roaches were fine but the mites died off. This should work.

 

[Talkenlate04]

So is there a difference between grain mites and mites that infest Ts?

 

[hcsk8ter]

Get some bug-bombs and get out of the house! j/k. Good Luck! :worship:

 

[Pyst]

So is there a difference between grain mites and mites that infest Ts?

Yes there is. They're two different types. Grain mites just feed off different types of grains. I honestly don't know what type it is that will attack tarantulas. Below is a link about grain mites.

Grain Mite Link

 

[Talkenlate04]

I am not talking about the ones that kill Ts I meant the ones that infest T cages and have been seen on Ts. Are they different then the ones that you are calling grain mites?