Mite prevention

UncommonRoachBoy

UncommonRoachBoy

Fifth Instar
Ive recently received some new hisser species and have noticed mites. I have only had mites once before and wasn't able to remove them by drying out the substrate/ container. I did; however, completely remove them by dropping my hissers into a bag of flour and when I removed them lightly spraying them off using a spray bottle from home depot. This took ages for only 11 adults and I was wondering if there was a faster method. Im keeping E. Javanica and its just too many to powder and no matter how dry it gets, still mites. I keep T's so I can't have this problem spreading. Help? Tips? Anything?

 
It's normal for hissers to have mites. Hisser mites are different from grain mites. They're beneficial and clean the roaches. I've never had a problem with the hisser mites affecting my tarantulas and I keep them right next to each other.

If they aren't swarming all over the enclosure/food, then they're likely not grain mites. Can you take some pictures?

 
I've got grain mites and the large red ones. Ive seen the grain mites eat away at small nymphs mid molt. Ive heard this happens with T's as well.

 
Yep grain mites are terrible. They're right up there with ants and gnats. I use lesser mealworms to prevent mites. Some people have also suggested predatory mites. I don't know much about those. They can apparently be bought in the garden section of some stores and kill other mites.

 
whats the expense and needs of the lesser meal worms??? Thanks for responding btw, much appreciated!

 
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I give away lesser mealworms for free. All you have to do with them is leave a dish to collect extra ones as their population grows. If there's too many and not enough food, they might try snacking on freshly molted nymphs.

 
i just realized I have these in my lobster roach bin. I had no clue they helped with mite prevention. Ill move some over right now! Thank you

 
Yea. I use them in nearly all my roach bins and haven't had a problem since. There's just a little bit of maintenance involved with them but it's worth it.

 
Shaking the hissers in flour won't get rid of grain mites, that only works on the communal hisser mites. Yeah, lesser mealworms are supposed to work great against mites, the tropical pink springtails from Roachcrossing also work really well against grain mites, speaking from personal experience. I would also suggest you only feed your roaches as much as the will eat in two days, as leftover food is the most common reason for grain mite explosions.

 
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