Help! Beetle mites.

[CustomNature]

I received an imago pair of D. titanus today and the male has a pretty bad case of mites. I tried to run him under some running water quick but those babies hung on for dear life. I was thinking about just keeping him in extremely dry conditions for a while, but I dont want to cause any damage to him. Any ideas or experience with this problem?? Any help would greatly be appreciated.

 

[KennyGee]

You cant just pick them off with some tweezers?

 

[Galapoheros]

I don't know much about beetles but I do know that some mites that are on beetles don't seem to do any harm. I've read that we haven't even figured out why some are there or even what they are eating. Are the mites walking around some or do they seem to be stuck like ticks? Maybe someone that knows can help out more.

 

[kraken]

I don't know much about beetles but I do know that some mites that are on beetles don't seem to do any harm. I've read that we haven't even figured out why some are there or even what they are eating. Are the mites walking around some or do they seem to be stuck like ticks? Maybe someone that knows can help out more.

I have heard the same.Some are even beneficial and eat other mites,and some even "clean" the beetles by eating the detritus that has gathered in their joints.

 

[CustomNature]

Yeah, I have kept some bess beetles and they had little fat redish mites on them that I later found were beneficial.... well not really beneficial, but they didn't harm the beetle. They basically just hitched a ride on the beetles for whatever reason. The same goes for some of the giant black african millipedes I've had before. These are different though. They're the kind I've seen infest tarantulas and scorpions before. They are tiny white ones that I can see moving about on the beetle and they gather in pretty big masses in certain joints and indentations on the beetles underside.

 

[bug_dude_1]

I tried the running water thing on my african giant black millipede -plus cleaned out and sterilized the setup and steam treated all the cage excessories- and it seemed to reduce their population. your mites are different from the milipede mites though, and since you tried running water, you'll probably need a different strategy. How long was the beetle under water, and does the female have mites too?

 

[Galapoheros]

Yeah, I have kept some bess beetles and they had little fat redish mites on them that I later found were beneficial.... well not really beneficial, but they didn't harm the beetle. They basically just hitched a ride on the beetles for whatever reason. The same goes for some of the giant black african millipedes I've had before. These are different though. They're the kind I've seen infest tarantulas and scorpions before. They are tiny white ones that I can see moving about on the beetle and they gather in pretty big masses in certain joints and indentations on the beetles underside.

The Bess Bettle example is just what crossed my mind when I posted earlier. I've had allot of experience with the BAD mites. They have killed several collections of mine in the past (I mostly have centipedes). I've had many heros centipedes before I found this site, ever since 1985. But they would all die from mite infestations. I figured out that I was getting the mites from mealworms at the commercial pet stores like Petsmart and Petco. I just don't buy mealworms any more. I STAY AWAY FROM THEM!!!! Since I found this site, I haven't had an infested arthropod long enough to see it go from having mites to not having mites. I had one but I mailed it to someone that knew it had mites and they were OK with it. But I have a centipede right now with the bad mites. Do your mites look like this? The other centipede I had with mites was put on plastic for two months but it still had mites when I mailed it! I think it works for these mites but I think it may take a few months for this species. But, I don't know that. I'm still trying to figure it out for myself. And with a beetle, I don't know because they usually like to dig around....get in the dirt. I don't know how they would take a really dry environment. Unlike a centipede, they aren't as likely to go to a little cap of water and get a drink. Dang!,...this is a problem! I hate vampire mites !!
The centipede in the pic is now in a very dry environment.

 

[beetleman]

getting rid of mites on centipedes...dry paper towel,small waterdish always worked for me,ofcourse it took alittle time but it definitly worked for me,as for mites on the beetles,again maybe dry substrate for them,not sure,that's if they are the bad mites i hate !@#$%^&*mites! period, good luck

 

[crashergs]

mites, even beneficiary ones are not needed in captivity, we; the human being, provided that we clean our pets aquariums, are the cleaning mites!.

I took mites off from my millipede using ear swabs, dip the end of the swab with water, and one by one take them off... works best, running water will not take them off, you will down your pet before you can take one mite off.

hope this helps, cheers!

 

[Galapoheros]

mites, even beneficiary ones are not needed in captivity, we; the human being, provided that we clean our pets aquariums, are the cleaning mites!.

I took mites off from my millipede using ear swabs, dip the end of the swab with water, and one by one take them off... works best, running water will not take them off, you will down your pet before you can take one mite off.

hope this helps, cheers!

Good strat with the roaming mites. It won't work with the vampires though. I put glycerine and petroleum jelly all over them after some reading. Then I thought I had killed them by smothering. So after a couple of days, I thought they were dead. I got a scalpel and scraped some off..even scraping them of is tough! I put the edge of the scalpel under a light. They were still moving around!!!!! Amazing. These are very different from the walking/roaming around kind. These are like barnacles, limpets, scale, bromeliads, coral.... Well......they don't anchor down that hard but almost. They can walk around but these tend to stay in one place, sit there and feed. They are a disease. Really bad things. If you get these in your food supply, it is likely your collection will slowly die off without some diligent work.