Grain mites!!!

[Ztesch]

So the other day I put a banana peal in my meal worm tupper ware bin and literally a day later I had a full infestation of grain mites. After removing the peal I noticed they had traveled from their enclosure all over the nearby Tarantula plus other bugs/ reptile enclosures nearby. I tried my best to get most of all the grain mites I could find off the enclosures and isololated them overnight. Well that didnt work and what actually was worse the next day. So after trying to remove the mites again and coming back after going out for lunch they were still all over the enclosures. The ones that had a noticeable amount of mites I rehoused and dumped the sub and cleaned the enclosure with hot soapy water. I have Isolated the ones I rehoused and although much of the mites are gone. There are still a few enclosures that have a small amount of grain mites on them. So my question is what is the best way to totally get rid of these guys?

 

[moricollins]

Dry things out. Mites need high humidity.

They also are more of an aesthetic issue than an actual danger to your tarantulas

 

[Liquifin]

If the mealworm bin is the issue and source for the mites you can just throw the bin in the freezer for 40 minutes to an hour. The cold temps will kill off the mites and the mealworms will just go dormant, after you take them out and let them warm back up to room temps, they'll just go back to normal and out of dormant state. If all the enclosures with mites have water or moisture of some kind then they'll just use it as a means to reproduce and thrive. So just dry out the enclosures a bit and they'll mostly die off over time. Not too hard to deal with, but very irritating work and effort to get rid of them for sure.

 

[Ztesch]

Im more worried about The T's but also my newly purchased Isopods are the last few enclosures that I have seen them on. The only problem with drying them out is they need the moisture. Like I said I got most the really bad enclosures cleaned out, I will just let all the leftover enclosures dry out a bit more then usual. I freaked out a bit because I really dont want to have to rehouse 30+ slings.

 

[Ungoliant]

Obligatory link to All you need to know about mites (by @boina, a microbiologist).

 

[Ztesch]

Thanks for all the help

 

[Polenth]

Im more worried about The T's but also my newly purchased Isopods are the last few enclosures that I have seen them on. The only problem with drying them out is they need the moisture.

You don't need to dry out your woodlice. Just leave them with their leaves and wood for a bit, rather than adding other food. The grain mites don't harm woodlice, but this will help you control your explosion. Once the grain mites are back to small numbers, start feeding the woodlice again. Also, add springtails in with the woodlice, as they'll clean up bits the mites like to eat.

I had a few grain mite explosions early on with my mealworms, mostly due to adding more moist food than they could eat in a day. Other than cutting back on extra food for the woodlice and millipedes, I didn't do anything to other enclosures in the room. I focused on the mealworms only, as they're the source of the explosion (drying out, substrate changes... whatever you like).

You'll always have some mites in your enclosures, so don't panic if you just see a few. It's the coating of mites on every surface which is less appealing (but not dangerous for the animals, so don't make more work for yourself).