Thanks Todd! I'll definitely get a couple in there.Hey Jared I've had pedes lose those hypopus stage mites over time but it can take some months. You have to try to not miss a cricket leg or the tiniest dead part, a few pillbugs help a lot, I wouldn't use the faster sowbugs though. Those fast ones are a little too aggressive imo.
I lost 2 slings to mites last year, two of them molted at the same time and when I checked they had both molted (The same night), dead and covered in mites.i personally use the dwarf white isopods for all my centipede enclosures. they don't harm even my the baby pedes that i had and the baby pedes were about an inch long... that's really small, pretty much the same girth as the adult white isopods. they didn't harm them when the lil guys were molting. a few of them actually killed and ate the isopods.
If you don't plan on using the isopods, then i recommend changing out the substrate after each molt (wait until the pede harden up for a couple of days, otherwise you might injure it when it's still soft).
but definitely put some types of isopods in there, they help a lot. I have about 44 centipedes and not a single one of them have mite.
True, but prevention is better than cure as they say...Try to get some H. miles predatory mites. I am not sure how perfect they work, as i had some pedes die while using them. But as the last pede survived after i changed up the humidity (i was given incorrect information on how to keep them in the first place), the last one survived and is now mite free. The others were also mite free before they died, but since i kept them wrong, they didnt make it :wall:
I have even seen the predatory mites go on the pede to look for food, in contrast to what i have heard from other people. They are quite cheap, and definitly worth a try, they wont do any harm.
Regards,
Jan Philip
I am really going to try that, next time I have (well, not me of course ) mites, thanks! I have hordes of these in my garden, just have to lift tiles or debris....isopods. isopods. isopods!!!
They were quite fresh cb pedelings, they came to me with the mites. With an adult pede I might considder removing the mites by hand, but with 1-2cm plings its another story..In the event you get mites, pop your pede into an ICU (intensive care unit) which consists of damp paper towels and a plastic temporary tub.
Use a damp cotton swab to dab the mites off of your pede you 'mite' have to use small amounts of vaseline on the tip to capture the mites.
Now with the soil I put mine on a plate and nuked it for 1.20-2 mins and that should do the trick, the soil should be sanitized.
Alternatively purchase new soil.
This is off subject a bit but for some reason it reminded me of a local pet store who had a wonderful giant millipede that I thought about getting until I held it. Poor baby was INFESTED with mites. Not a speck of it was mite free and the guy told me they all have mites like that. That it was completely normal. My BS alarm immediately went off (I mean I'm no expert but that poor baby was in bad shape). I guess I'm just saying it's horrible how pet stores have people that are supposed to be "experts" on exotics (especially insects and T's) who know absolutely nothing about the animals in their care! Infuriates me!I hate mites with a burning passion!
They killed my first giant pede I owned back in 03 it was an 8" brown and orange pede I got from virginia cheeseman.. sorry it was never identified.
Within a couple of weeks the mites had swarmed it and stuck in the tergites and segments until it was dead.
I have had no problems with mites recently (so far touch wood) with my current pedes, which are kept damp.
I am now so meticulous about removing remains so they do not establish themselves, it's a little harder with slings but I just nuked the soil in I was keeping it on yesterday and the mites are gone.
They are super hardy little buggers, I tried going at the soil with a hairdryer at first with NO EFFECT! they carried on as normal.
---------- Post added at 09:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:54 AM ----------
I lost 2 slings to mites last year, two of them molted at the same time and when I checked they had both molted (The same night), dead and covered in mites.
I got so angry I flushed the soil with the mites down the toilet.
Mites target what they can access easily.