Tiny, random beetle

[EulersK]

So, I cleaned my roach colonies last week and came across this little guy. He's perhaps 2mm long, and was found in the E. javanica colony. There were very few of them, I only managed to find half a dozen or so. I know that most hissers carry mites (mine certainly do), but what is this thing?

 

[BobBarley]

Perhaps Bostrichidae sp.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/18100/bgpage

 

[Hisserdude]

They are Oryzaephilus, common grain pests, either O.mercator or O.surinamensis, don't know how to tell the two apart.

 

[EulersK]

I can't believe that I forgot to watch this thread. Apologies for not checking in again. Well, as usual, @Hisserdude proves himself to be right. I found a small infestation of these guys in the chick feed that I use for my roaches, so they likely hitched a ride that way. I'm sure they're harmless, but I discarded the feed and bought a new batch. I usually go through the stuff quickly enough that they don't have a chance to pupate or multiply.

 

[Hisserdude]

I can't believe that I forgot to watch this thread. Apologies for not checking in again. Well, as usual, @Hisserdude proves himself to be right. I found a small infestation of these guys in the chick feed that I use for my roaches, so they likely hitched a ride that way. I'm sure they're harmless, but I discarded the feed and bought a new batch. I usually go through the stuff quickly enough that they don't have a chance to pupate or multiply.

No problem, I do that sometimes too, hard to keep up with every thread you make sometimes, especially on a forum as big as this one.

I doubt they are harmful to the roaches at all, and could possibly make good cleanup crews, still, there's possibly a risk of them infesting your food too, so getting rid of them was probably for the best.

 

[EulersK]

It was a full blown infestation there for a day or two... was.

That first beetle was the first of hundreds to come, and even the new food was soon crawling with these little things. I don't mind a few (and I doubt that I'll ever be able to get rid of them entirely), but that was a bit much. Well, once again living in a hot desert proved useful. I simply put all of the feed into a metal pan, and put that pan into my grill outside for a day. The built-in thermometer on the grill read 200F at the heat of the day. So now I just have a bunch of corpses that I'm sure the baby dubia will love.

 

[Tleilaxu]

Some of those beetles made the mistake of infesting my bird seed, I'm sure my cockatiel enjoyed them.

 

[EulersK]

Well, something that didn't occur to me is how prolific these things are. Their population has taken another boom, although since the last issue they haven't had any access to my supply of grain. They are breeding out of control in my dubia colony, feeding on the grains I'm giving them. I'm sure that they're a great cleanup crew, but they're starting to get everywhere.

Do these things live only on grain? Nothing else, such as debris in the carpet?

Here's my plan. I'm going to do a complete overhaul cleaning of all my colonies - new egg crates and all. I'm going to heavily vacuum the roach room and the surrounding rooms to gather the stragglers. Then I'm going to put food/water out on the floor overnight to attract them and then vacuum them up, which I'll repeat until I stop seeing results. Note that they are wildly attracted to moisture, which is why I came up with that plan. @Hisserdude, how does that sound to you? Any other ideas?

 

[Hisserdude]

Well, something that didn't occur to me is how prolific these things are. Their population has taken another boom, although since the last issue they haven't had any access to my supply of grain. They are breeding out of control in my dubia colony, feeding on the grains I'm giving them. I'm sure that they're a great cleanup crew, but they're starting to get everywhere.

Do these things live only on grain? Nothing else, such as debris in the carpet?

Here's my plan. I'm going to do a complete overhaul cleaning of all my colonies - new egg crates and all. I'm going to heavily vacuum the roach room and the surrounding rooms to gather the stragglers. Then I'm going to put food/water out on the floor overnight to attract them and then vacuum them up, which I'll repeat until I stop seeing results. Note that they are wildly attracted to moisture, which is why I came up with that plan. @Hisserdude, how does that sound to you? Any other ideas?

I'm pretty sure they are only pests of grain, nothing else. They don't seem as common as other grain pests, I'm surprised you are having a problem with them!

That plan sounds good, should hopefully exterminate them for good, gonna take FOREVER to sift through all of those colonies though, I don't envy you! Definitely be sure to sterilize all your chick feed/dog or cat food now too, to make sure they don't get in your collection again. Keeping them in airtight ziplock bags would help as well, to prevent any newcomers of any grain pest species from infesting your feed.

 

[EulersK]

I'm pretty sure they are only pests of grain, nothing else. They don't seem as common as other grain pests, I'm surprised you are having a problem with them!

That plan sounds good, should hopefully exterminate them for good, gonna take FOREVER to sift through all of those colonies though, I don't envy you! Definitely be sure to sterilize all your chick feed/dog or cat food now too, to make sure they don't get in your collection again. Keeping them in airtight ziplock bags would help as well, to prevent any newcomers of any grain pest species from infesting your feed.

Yeah, and my main worry is that they'll simply hitch a ride on the roaches and into the new containers. That would effectively make all of my work useless. As for the feed, I have a temporary solution - I bought one of those outdoor dog food containers that has a seal specifically to keep out pests. For the beetles that come along with the feed, I just leave that container outside for a few days in 110F+ weather to roast them. Come the end of summer, though, I'll be forced to use the oven.

 

[Hisserdude]

Yeah, and my main worry is that they'll simply hitch a ride on the roaches and into the new containers. That would effectively make all of my work useless. As for the feed, I have a temporary solution - I bought one of those outdoor dog food containers that has a seal specifically to keep out pests. For the beetles that come along with the feed, I just leave that container outside for a few days in 110F+ weather to roast them. Come the end of summer, though, I'll be forced to use the oven.

Yeah, hopefully no eggs or adults hitch a ride on the roaches, that would suck. Maybe try only feeding your cultures fruits and veggies for like a month or so after rehousing, so that any hitchhiking beetles will starve to death?

That's a good idea, should kill anything alive in there! In the winter you could also microwave your feed, that's what I did with mine, since it seems grain mites are common stowaways on chick feed, seemed to work well for me!