Invaders in B dubia colony

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patexan

Arachnopeon
Joined
Dec 9, 2006
Messages
47
While collecting roaches to feed today, I hit a roach carcass with my tweezers, and hundreds (seemed like it) of tiny insects came out of the body. On closer inspection, I saw them crawling on live roaches. This is the first time I have noticed them, but I really don't inspect the roaches that often, just open up their container to feed and collect.

1. What are they?

2. How do I get rid of them?

3. How harmful are they to the colony?

4. Do they pose any danger to the tarantulas which feed on the roaches?

Background on the colony:

I feed fresh fruits and veggies, canned dog food and dry. I use water crystals as the water source. I always have an IR heater on the colony.


Thanks in advance for your help.
 
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ric

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 26, 2009
Messages
18
mix one tblespoon of neem oil to 1 gal lightly spray enclosure,should kill mites but not hurt t's or roaches.spray a few roaches to test before spraying the whole colony.i tried this on some wc t's in 1992 and it worked without hurting the spiders.
 
cacoseraph

cacoseraph

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 5, 2005
Messages
8,325
neem oil has random terpenoids in it

i wouldn't suggest using it without longitudinal study over a generation or so
 
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skips

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 1, 2008
Messages
521
i'll try the neem oil thing. they're roaches, if I loose couple....not too worried.

They really sound like mites to me. they may not pose a huge problem though. In a good deal of cases the roaches may not actually be parasitized, they're just a vehicle. However, the mites become a huge problem if the roaches are kept in unclean condition and especially if its really humid. I can almost guarantee that drying out the enclosure a bit will lessen your problem. If there are a ton of mites...that's a problem.

As has been suggested over and over again you could look into H. miles, a species of predatory mites that eats other mites. I dont claim to be an expert. this is just always the way these conversations seem to go.
 
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Pacmaster

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 27, 2009
Messages
893
You guys are forgetting a key part of this puzzle . . .

Mites feed by being parasitic on a living organism.

From what patexan has described, it does NOT sound like mites to me.

I think you just have some springtails or similar that found their way in and have no substrate to hide in . . .
Those types of crawlies feed on dead roaches and frass, a much more likely scenario, imo.


As a side-note: in all my years of reptile-keeping, and having to deal with real PARASITIC mites at times, I have NEVER seen a mite that wasnt attached to a LIVING animal, and have NEVER seen one actually move . . .
 
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Ritzman

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 20, 2008
Messages
307
Pacmaster said:
As a side-note: in all my years of reptile-keeping, and having to deal with real mites at times, I have NEVER seen a mite that wasnt attached to a LIVING animal, and have NEVER seen one actually move . . .
Click to expand...
I have seen grain mites not on a living body, and they were moving around.
 
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skips

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 1, 2008
Messages
521
right, but that type of mite is very unique to hissing cockroaches. There was just a massive discussion on mites about a month ago I think. I think many people here have had experience with mites. One thing that is very important to note is that mites do not have to be firmly planted on the organism, they can just be hitching a ride. For example, almost all giant tanzanian millipedes have a species of mite associated with them that probably just serves the purpose of the mites on G. portentosa.

Mites most certainly do not have to be parasitic on a living organism, in fact only a subset are. Someone mentioned grain mites, and what about free living predatory mites?

Personally, on anything beside G. portentosa I would be appalled to see mites sitting at the joints of my animal as that is where they must feed. It's where the epicuticle is thinnest and the easiest place for them to feed.

I mean, really, its pretty easy to distinguish collembola from mites by eye site if you know what you're looking for. But, the dead giveaway is to put them under a low power microscope and see if the things have six legs or eight.
 
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