Science Daily: hisser mites decrease mold on body

That is interesting reading.

Maybe we should all really be careful about breathing the air in the container and also the skin contact - perhaps use rubber gloves?

Would it not be natural to think that all the other hissers related to portentosa would have the mold more or less similar so that they should all be treated likewise...? <_<

What about the allergy that Bricktop told us about? Could that not be related to this mold infestation ?

- Slightest contact and the mold is causing reaction on the skin. From Bricktops description not even your enemy deserves that - so I guess it is not worth to take any more risks than necessary....?

The Pharmacy can expect a visit...

BR/

Ole

 
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Actually, the same authors also did another study before this one. A bit of foreshadowing...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/...80317123243.htm

I'd really like to have a look at their methods section because I'm a bit skeptical

- How often did they clean their cages?

- What parameters did their cultures have (humidity, temperature, ventilation…)?

- did they use hissers from multiple cages or better yet, multiple labs?

- What other nifty things do they have growing in their lab?

- In the paper did they get better ID’s then presented in the article? Some of them they listed are just as likely to be found in your fridge, dog, or houseplant depending on the species since they only listed the genus.

- How does the mold on the 'roaches compare to the background blizzard of mold spores that is in a constant rain in our environment?

If I can get a hold of the article I'll let everyone know. I think that until this is investigated more we should take note but not take off with this in a direction it wasn't meant to go.

 
Good points, Bugman!

New allergies to familiar things can surface anytime, but I'm happy to say that I've experimented on myself and family many times. We are not allergic to pet roaches! And like Bugman said, I think I have larger colonies of most of that stuff on my body already.

That being said, I do think I'll clean out the hisser tanks this weekend. It does appear that one form of mold is currently winning the race!

Can anybody confirm with a paper trail that each hisser species has its own mite and whether or not the G. portentosa mite can live on other hissers in captivity?

 
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Peter Clausen said:
Good points, Bugman!New allergies to familiar things can surface anytime, but I'm happy to say that I've experimented on myself and family many times. We are not allergic to pet roaches! And like Bugman said, I think I have larger colonies of most of that stuff on my body already.

That being said, I do think I'll clean out the hisser tanks this weekend. It does appear that one form of mold is currently winning the race!

Can anybody confirm with a paper trail that each hisser species has its own mite and whether or not the G. portentosa mite can live on other hissers in captivity?
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I'd assume that they can live on other Gromphadorhina species... When I got my oblongonata they had no mites. A few months later I noticed a few crawling around on them.

 
Peter Clausen said:
Can anybody confirm with a paper trail that each hisser species has its own mite and whether or not the G. portentosa mite can live on other hissers in captivity?
Click to expand...
I did a short lived "experiment" where I had some G. oblongonota I received with mites and then I housed they with a couple of G. portentosa (same sex of course, that's a new project) to see If I could get them to switch. They didn't but I definatly couldn't say either way. I'll look more into the mites though and see if I can pull up some articles for you.

 
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