Mites Infest Roaches

[ParabuthusKing]

Any advice on how to keep mites out of my roach colonies?.. they seem to just thrive on the leftover dog food and debris left by the roaches, and I am uncomfortable feeding these roaches to my spiders and scorpions for fear of drastically increasing the mite count in their enclosures and possibly giving a pet a mite infestation.. thanks for the advice y'all NAte

 

[Galapoheros]

I recommend you try Rove beetles. They knocked out small, white, fat mites in one of my cages super fast! They are only 1.5 to 2mm long and listed as "beneficial insects" in the gardening world when it comes to getting rid of small insects and mites. PM me if you're interested.

 

[Takumaku]

What you are descripting are grain mites, which are completely harmless to spiders and scorpions. Prevention is the best way of preventing grain mite.

Since grain mites need a humid area to survive, the easiest way to prevent them is to decrease the humidity. This is done by removing all water sources (including fruits and vegetables) from the tank. Roaches can survive a month+ so the lack of moisture is not going to kill them.

 

[ParabuthusKing]

What you are descripting are grain mites, which are completely harmless to spiders and scorpions. Prevention is the best way of preventing grain mite.

Sounds good thanks, but I have a little concern as to their effect on the arachnids as when one of the cockroaches dies in the container the mites literally start feasting and multiplying on the roaches which makes me think they are harmful to my pets as well.. thanks for any input. Nate

 

[ParabuthusKing]

those mites are everywhere!!

AHHH.. I am starting to despise those evil mites.. well in my turkistan roach colony there seems to be little ill effect even thought the mites are very prolific, as I have about 400 roaches that started from about 12 this last summer.. but my lobster roach colony is really suffering and I have had many adults and subadults die, I think as a result of the mites..I can't seem to get rid of them.. I removed all substrate and cleaned the cage thoroughly, but it seems they are back in ful force, and definitely attack the dead/ weak roaches.. any help is appreciated for my revived thread of a disaster.. and Galapoheros thank you very much for your help and kindness with the rove beetles, but they didn't seem to do the trick..arggghhhh!!

 

[Galapoheros]

With my experience with the Roves, that is really a surprise to me. With the Roves, I can keep the sub as moist as I think necessary. They live off of mites. What kind of sub are you using? I can see the Roves I have trolling the old moldy veggies for mites. This is confusing. Have any pics of the mites? Most people would starve the colony of moisture to get rid of mites. But the Roves like the moisture and would get rid of the mites in that moist environment. So the Roves would die or leave in a dry environment while mites might continue to hang on if there are old veggies hanging around. Let me know if you want to try the Roves again and use them as your only strategy.... no drying of sub or cleaning, etc. That's when they do their best. Wish you luck.

 

[cliff]

I recommend you try Rove beetles. They knocked out small, white, fat mites in one of my cages super fast! They are only 1.5 to 2mm long and listed as "beneficial insects" in the gardening world when it comes to getting rid of small insects and mites. PM me if you're interested.

How do you think the rove beetles would do on fungus gnats and other sorts of flies that propogate in substrate?

Cliff