Tiny bugs in Dubia Bin

[brezofleur]

Hi everyone,

It's been a while since I've been on but hope that you can help me. I have two bins (feeders and breeders) and the feeder bin has these teeny tiny little white bugs crawling around on the egg cartons. I have not introduced anything new in there for over 6 months, with the exception of new egg cartons and food. I tried taking a picture, they didn't show up (they're smaller than a pen tip).

I do have the little eater beetles in there but have never noticed the teeny bugs before so I don't know if this is the pre-worm form? I can't imagine since they're so small and they're only showing up in the one bin. I may be able to take a video but I don't know if they'll show up.

It only appears to be in the feeder bin and NOT with the breeders.

Does anyone know what they can be?

 

[WoolyMarmot]

It sounds like you have mites. I heard they can be very detrimental to your colony. Act fast because they will multiply fast and they are pretty hard to get rid off.

You have 2 choices to get rid of them:
1. Buy Predatory Mites
2. Dry them out and starve them(they are in your bin for the moisture). Keep in mind that they probably have already laid eggs....

Also, you might have some husbandry issue that's causing these mites to multiply. You need to keep your bins as dry as possible(but also OK for the dubias) or else theyll just keep coming back.

 

[vampy]

Sounds like some sort of mite, maybe grain mite. You can try keeping the enclosure dryer and not feeding any grain based food for a few days and see if that kills them off.

 

[brezofleur]

I was hoping they weren't mites. :/

Thanks for the tips though, I'll try drying them out.

 

[randommonks]

Sounds like some sort of mite, maybe grain mite. You can try keeping the enclosure dryer and not feeding any grain based food for a few days and see if that kills them off.

Try for a few weeks if not a month. I've had mites infest my roach colony before and they can go weeks without moisture.

Keep the lid off your dubias and feed only veggies. Wipe the edges of the enclosure and kill as many of them as you can find. When you feed anything with grains in the future after you've gotten rid of the mites, microwave it first for a minute or two to remove all mites.

 

[charlie476]

What are you feeding them? If its from the feed store more than likely you have some sort of grain pest. Are they fast moving or slow moving. A lot of people mistake grain mites for whats called booklice another grain pest. If you are getting your feed source from the feed store its a good idea to place some in the freezer for a week. That away you will kill any possible grain pests that might have came with the feed. Some people also bake it in the oven however this will hurt the nutritional value of the feed.

Another thing they could be do you see any gnats flying around. You might be seeing gnat larva.

 

[TeachersPetDragon]

Does anyone know if Dermestid beetles will control/prevent mites? Or perhaps springtails?

 

[Drache613]

Hello Teacher's Pet,

Go ahead & make a new thread here in the Feeders area, so more people will see your question.
Thanks!

Tracie

 

[brezofleur]

Yes, I'm getting chick start from the feed store - bet that may be it. They're white and they don't move as fast as the roaches but they're not slow.

Thanks for the tip for the freezer! We got rid of our microwave.

I've definitely noticed a decrease in the little buggers. Couple more weeks to go, I'm sure

I have a ton of dermestid beetles so either they're not doing their job, there's not enough of them, or they're not eating them. Alive, at least.