Ahh!!! Plz Read!! Mites!!!!!!!

[reptile boi]

Hello everyone,

Yesterday i was about to goto my mealworm breeding colony to grab a few for my leos when i noticed little WHITE bugs just crawling all over my mealworm bin!!!! OMG ARE THESE MITES? Will they harm my leos? Also, is there ANY way that i can eradicate ALL of these mites without throwing or killing all my mealworms? And I am UNFAMILIAR with NIX :( and i am thinking bout nixing my leos and everything that might harbour these bugs, but as i said i am unfamiliar with this stuff, and i heard that nix is pretty potent and i dont wanna risk harming my animals, so i was wondering is there ANYONE in or around the Ottawa area that can stop by and help me terminate these stinkin bugs with nix? :mad:





Thanks a bunch in advance to all the people who reply,
Ben

[V.hb]

Leos arent very prone to mites.. and if they are white they're most likely wood mites. i wouldnt bother with nix yet. what do you keep the leos on, are the mealworms in wheet germ?

[reptile boi]

Hey V.hb,

I keep the leos in rubbermaids with paper towel as a substrate and i keep the mealworms in dry instant oatmeal and wild game feed (turkey mash i beleive is the common name of the feed)





Thanks,
Ben

[V.hb]

reptile mites arent white, they can be either fleas (i doubt it) or wood mites which wont bother you.

[reptile boi]

Are you sure? Theyre all over my mealworm breeding colony, cricket bin, and i think i saw a few in my leos rubbermaids which i squished.





Thanks,
Ben

[Zoe]

are you sure they arent baby mealworms??

Zoe

[reptile boi]

Hey Zoe,

Ya im sure, my mealworms are kept in a blue bin and the "woodmites" are sticking on the side of the bin and arent shaped like baby mealworms and are allwhite, whereas mealworms dont climb on smooth surfaces and as u know are orangy in colour




Thanks,
Ben

[liltattyprinces]

Ben sounds like wood mites to me i had them a while ago i compleatly cleaned everything inside and out i would suggest just a through cleaning, i'm in Ottawa as well, pm me if you need some help, i havent had a prob since, but i vaccumed and dissenfected everything as well as gave everyone a nice bath , as i said if you want or need more detail pm me kids running around don't have much time at the moment

[Vanan]

Everyone seems to tell me not to worry bout wood mites, but no less than twice have I found them on my snakes congregating at their cloaca and nostrils, looking like they started chewing the anal plate. I had that happen to a garter and a king snake. This is aside from other occasions where I found them with no further consequence. But those two instances was just wierd. Watch out for them carnivorous substrate mites, I guess.

[reptile boi]

Clean everything? Like all the cages, or all the cages plus my bedsheets pjs,etc?





Thanks,
Ben

[V.hb]

vaccumm everything out, change the worm substrate and wash the container.. unfortunatly the bugs are probably going to harvest eggs so it wont be easy to clean that.. But your reptiles should be fine after a cleaning..

[reptile boi]

V.hb,

What do you mean they will "harvest eggs"? Do you mean they will harvest the mealworm eggs?



Thanks,
Ben

[Linds]

Are you sure they are not baby crickets? Hatchling crix are tiny and white and can climb up all sorts of surfaces. Wood mites are white, but I have never heard of an outbreak of wood mites in grain substrates before. Grain mites are brown. They are a pain to say the least, I just live with them instead of trashing all my colonies :(

[reptile boi]

Hey linds,
Im sure they arent baby crickets because they do not jump and i used a magnifying glass to check them out! Also, they are very slow moving, more like crawling then walking. Also, in my cricket tub i only have crickets that are about 1cm long which CANNOT produce.:confused:




Thanks,
Ben:eek:

[reptile boi]

Also,
Ill try to get some pics, I dont know how to post them in threads, but if anyone who wants to see some pics when i get some and are intrested in helping out please send me an email and as soon as i get pics ill send them straight to you.



Thanks,
Ben

[gonesnakee]

I'll comment just because. First off the "Nix" treatment is only for snake mites, therefore it only applies to snakes as the mites are host specific.
Secondly if you were foolish enough to use it around your crickets & spiders it would kill every single one of them & it could possibly make your lizards very sick. I don't know how they would react to it. They would probably get sick if they fed on "poisoned" crickets though & your spiders would die for sure.
Lastly don't treat them with anything until you are sure of what you are dealing with. I'd hate to see your animals suffer due to guessing what "bugs" they are & the treatment to remove them.
I'm more apt to suspect that they may be coming from the spiders enclosures as there is a type of mites that they can carry as well. I would make a post on the spider forum & see what the people there think. Remember NIX is death to all your crickets, spiders, cockroaches etc. & anything that might possibly be feeding on them, seriously Mark I.

[reptile boi]

Mark,

how come i always have to reiterate myself? LOL, i clearly stated that i am UNFAMILIAR with nix and that i was looking for someone with experience to help me out as i DO NOT WANT TO HARM MY ANIMALS cuzid hate to see my beloved animals suffer. Also i didnt say i was going to feed the crickets that were exposed to nix to my herp as i might be dumb but not stupid. Also, if i dont need to use nix for exterminating these buggies that i have then i wont.




Thanks,
Ben

[gonesnakee]

Hey Ben when someone gives you advice that will save your whole collection you should be thankful, not mouthy about it. I'm the onle one here that pointed out that NIX would off your whole collection. You asked for an opinion from someone with experience & I gave it to you. "Reiterate" that M.F. LOL Mark I.

[reptile boi]

LOL, well sorry mark, i mustve taken you the wrong way.



Have a good one,
Ben

[gonesnakee]

No probs here Ben, Cheers. Mark

[casacrow]

Ben,

I had millions of those little suckers at my old apt. They were in a room with high humidity and even started living on the walls. I tossed the mealworms which were on oatmeal and cleaned and dried the room out. I think they started because there was too much moisture in the oatmeal.( aborbed humidity from the room). I now keep the oatmeal dry as a bone and have not had any probs. The little bugggers didn't bother me too much but my lady freaked out dude so action had to be taken. If you have any q's give me a shout at home.

[reptile boi]

Hey Donny,
If you took a couple of the mealworms and washed them off (to start a new breeding colony, and cleaned out the bin, would the mites come back from the previous mealworms that have been washed? Also, i have another container of mealworms with real dry oatmeal in it, but i saw 10 of those stupid bugger on the lid! How come theyre there even when the oatmeal is dry as sand?:confused:




Thanks,
Ben