Mites with crickets...

[Alboy84]

Hi,

I've noticed that my cricket pet pal has been infested with mites (everytime I add a new piece of fruit for moisture it takes only a few hours before a whole batch of these mites attaches themselves to it). I'm just wondering, is it better to just get rid of the crickets and clean the whole thing out - or is it possible to keep removing these pieces of fruit daily (as I would do normally) removing the majority of the mites each time, and eventually clearing it that way. Also, I don't seem to see any of the mites on the crickets themselves so would it be safe to still feed them to my T's? (Don't worry - no crickets have gone near my T's since I noticed the problem, in case the answer's no).

Thanks for any advice!

Alan

 

[Wadew]

Alan,
It is important to clean your cricket cage daily and feed your crickets in a dish that is easily removable. I would ditch what is left of your crickets and start fresh.
Wade

 

[Becky]

You get mites on most cricket's you'll buy anyway. Remove the fruit and eventually all the mites will be gone. Then hopefully, breeding the crix without mites will mean u dont get any in future. Good luck

 

[Skypainter]

Ditch the crickets and buy some roaches. I have B. lateralis and mites never seem to be a problem.

 

[BinarySpider2]

Cricket Mites ?

Hi,

I've noticed that my cricket pet pal has been infested with mites (everytime I add a new piece of fruit for moisture it takes only a few hours before a whole batch of these mites attaches themselves to it). I'm just wondering, is it better to just get rid of the crickets and clean the whole thing out - or is it possible to keep removing these pieces of fruit daily (as I would do normally) removing the majority of the mites each time, and eventually clearing it that way. Also, I don't seem to see any of the mites on the crickets themselves so would it be safe to still feed them to my T's? (Don't worry - no crickets have gone near my T's since I noticed the problem, in case the answer's no).

Thanks for any advice!

Alan

I agree with what Wadew said. Start all over. Interesting and odd though, I have never ever had a single mite on any crickets in the past two or three years. I have ordered crickets from multiple places all over the USA and I have never seen a single mite ever. I feed mine a very fine ground up 50/50 mixture by volume of...

Pounce Chicken & Turkey Flavor Cat treats / Hartz Hamster Pellets

...and I give them some carrots. I also make sure they have fresh water. For pinheads I feed them the same 50/50 mixture but use oranges instead of the carrots.

Some species of insects do seem to become easily infested with mites. I have seen tiny pinhead size white mites just covering roaches and the giant millipeeds. I have heard of some people getting them on their tarantulas but I have never ever seen a single mite on any of my 31 tarantulas to date and never in the cages that I keep them in.

I do keep my cages cleaned out very well and I live in a dry and arid climate.

Owe, I probably do have to spray larger volumes of water and more frequently in my Avics cages than other Avic owners who may live in more humid climates such as Florida. I do NOT spray my crickets at all.

BinarySpider2

 

[BinarySpider2]

Other mites

I forgot, I have also seen mites on plants in my mothers outdoor flower garden but they looked more of a reddish brown color and are probably not the same species of mite that you have.

Owe yea more mites, when I was a child in Indiana I let my pet hamster out in the grass to play while I watched it. I brought it in and in less than a week it was covered with red mites and the cage was also infested with them crawling out the small open air holes. I had to get rid of everything.

BinarySpider2

 

[WARPIG]

I keep about 50 -80 crix at a time, and I feed them dry cat food (I don't even grind it up), and inexpensive fish flake food. No substrate and I have yet to have any kind of outbreak.

Once I have used most of the crix up, I will clean out everything with mild soap/water, and then restock.

Hope this helps-

 

[Sobrino]

Ditch the crickets and buy some roaches. I have B. lateralis and mites never seem to be a problem.

i have Dubia Roaches and they breed extremely fast, everytime i open their cage i say... "HOLY $#^%!" and start a new cage. They are cheap and awesome and feed good. Just see if u can pick up some at a reptile show or something like that.

 

[Moongazell14]

I have started to notice very small white things that are attached to the thoraxes of many of my newly hatched crickets. I know they are mites, but are they harmful bloodsucking ones? If I remember correctly, blood sucking mites are dark in color, and these ones are white. They are in the soil I used to incubate too. I want to raise the crickets up, so I need to know how to get rid of these mites and if they are harmful. Can someone please help?