Hi I thought I would solicit some opinions and help regarding keeping mites from harming my roach colonies.
My B bolivensis colony was recently overrun and nearly destroyed by mites. I'm pretty sure it started with a dead roach that I neglected to remove. I kept the roaches on a moist substrate (part of an experiment with worms), at normal room temperatures. One day I noticed a dead roach and it had mites on it. I buried it hoping the worms would eat it. Later I saw a lot of mites on the oatmeal in their food dish. Some time later I checked back and there were mites literally everywhere in there. All the oatmeal had been powdered and there were mites on every surface, including all over all the roaches. The roaches were trying to scrape the mites off and many of them were moving very slowly, laying on the ground etc. Anyway I freaked and moved all the roaches to a new enclosure that was bone dry. There was a water dish but that was it. Most of the roaches died some time later with just a few survivors. I haven't noticed any mites in the new enclosure but it was a very traumatizing experience.
Strangely my lateralis colony right next to it was unaffected by mites, although it was in the same conditions. However, it had a red lamp on it for warmth which I'm sure dried things out somewhat.
I was just doing maintenance on my laterals and I noticed some mites beginning to congregate in various parts of the enclosure, especially in the food dish. I haven't noticed any on the roaches, but I'm scared. My lateralis colony is important to me from a feeding perspective. I really don't want mites to kill them off.
I don't know what all the types of mites are, and which are dangerous to roaches. It's really hard to distinguish them because they are so tiny. I'm pretty sure they are off-white and very, very small.
Anyway, how does one control mites? The most obvious answer is to keep the enclosure dry, but when I did that I got no reproduction from the lateralis. On this moist substrate they are reproducing like mad, whereas when I had them on no substrate and when I had them on dry substrate I had no reproduction whatsoever.
Can you enlighten me on the different types of mites and how, if at all, they can be controlled? Are there any insects I could add to the colony that might eat the mites or something?
My B bolivensis colony was recently overrun and nearly destroyed by mites. I'm pretty sure it started with a dead roach that I neglected to remove. I kept the roaches on a moist substrate (part of an experiment with worms), at normal room temperatures. One day I noticed a dead roach and it had mites on it. I buried it hoping the worms would eat it. Later I saw a lot of mites on the oatmeal in their food dish. Some time later I checked back and there were mites literally everywhere in there. All the oatmeal had been powdered and there were mites on every surface, including all over all the roaches. The roaches were trying to scrape the mites off and many of them were moving very slowly, laying on the ground etc. Anyway I freaked and moved all the roaches to a new enclosure that was bone dry. There was a water dish but that was it. Most of the roaches died some time later with just a few survivors. I haven't noticed any mites in the new enclosure but it was a very traumatizing experience.
Strangely my lateralis colony right next to it was unaffected by mites, although it was in the same conditions. However, it had a red lamp on it for warmth which I'm sure dried things out somewhat.
I was just doing maintenance on my laterals and I noticed some mites beginning to congregate in various parts of the enclosure, especially in the food dish. I haven't noticed any on the roaches, but I'm scared. My lateralis colony is important to me from a feeding perspective. I really don't want mites to kill them off.
I don't know what all the types of mites are, and which are dangerous to roaches. It's really hard to distinguish them because they are so tiny. I'm pretty sure they are off-white and very, very small.
Anyway, how does one control mites? The most obvious answer is to keep the enclosure dry, but when I did that I got no reproduction from the lateralis. On this moist substrate they are reproducing like mad, whereas when I had them on no substrate and when I had them on dry substrate I had no reproduction whatsoever.
Can you enlighten me on the different types of mites and how, if at all, they can be controlled? Are there any insects I could add to the colony that might eat the mites or something?
