getting rid of mites in springtail culture

[jurgenph]

Hey all,

need some suggestions on how i can get rid of mites in my springtail culture.

been trying to bait them with food, and pick them out, but a week later they are back.

been feeding with some expired dry activated yeast i had left over in the fridge from baking.
but they seem to like it just as much as the springtails.

not sure where they came from either... any suggestions appreciated!

thanks!
J.

 

[Poonjab]

Pick out all food. Let that swamp dry out. The springtails can still survive in a slightly damp environment. What you got going on however is a full blown Florida swamp haha. Good luck, hope that helps.

 

[jurgenph]

hah. i just sprayed it
it dries out over time, and wet it every two weeks or so.


J.

 

[poizoni]

All I could think of would be dryness and time, or starting a fresh new colony. I had some grain mites one time that just went away with time

 

[Tarantuland]

Following because i got mites in my culture too

 

[jurgenph]

just updating this with some info...

i started two new containers with different substrate mixes.
i will leave these as is, without any springtails added, for about a month to see if they get mites or not.
trying to find the origin of how they got here.

J.

 

[The Snark]

De-mite your substrate: put in the freezer for 24 hours.

 

[Ponerinecat]

Try getting rid of food for a while and drying out the setup. You don't need to worry about the springtails as this particular group can go dormant for months at a time and come back when conditions are better. The mites however won't fare as well.https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/onychiuridae Heres a quick overview of this particular group, you can probably take advantage of some of their behaviors to outcompete the mites when resources disappear. (Don't stretch it though, some of these instances listed like seawater and anhydrobiosis are extreme conditions and will likely not apply to Folsomia candida.)

 

[jurgenph]

De-mite your substrate: put in the freezer for 24 hours.

i tried that with a small sample a while back.
killed the springtails, mites recovered i have freeze proof mites.


J.

 

[jurgenph]

Try getting rid of food for a while and drying out the setup. You don't need to worry about the springtails as this particular group can go dormant for months at a time and come back when conditions are better. The mites however won't fare as well.https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/onychiuridae Heres a quick overview of this particular group, you can probably take advantage of some of their behaviors to outcompete the mites when resources disappear. (Don't stretch it though, some of these instances listed like seawater and anhydrobiosis are extreme conditions and will likely not apply to Folsomia candida.)

nice link!

A number of Collembola are also capable of anhydrobiosis, that is, they can become completely dry without dying. In some (but not all) instances these animals form small ball-like capsules around themselves before entering this state. If wetted, the animal resumes normal activity in an hour or two.

do you think the ones we keep are capable of that? if so, this seems like something i can try next. let it dry out completely, and hope the mites don't do this


J.

 

[Ponerinecat]

nice link!



do you think the ones we keep are capable of that? if so, this seems like something i can try next. let it dry out completely, and hope the mites don't do this


J.

I'm not sure Folsomia candida are capable of anhydrobiosis, so it'd be safer to not take this to the extreme. They are able to survive drought and dry conditions like most members of their group, so you can still dry the enclosure out. Just don't make it bone dry. Keep in mind many mites are also able to withstand these conditions, so you may have to try something else as well. You can also cut down food completely. The site I linked lists an extreme case being an individual who survived a year without any sort of sustenance, and died prematurely by accident. I've seen this myself with my own cultures of the group, where all individuals burrowed to the bottom at the beginning of the hot season and stayed dormant there until the end of beginning of autumn.