What is this on Macropanesthia rhinoceros female?

K

kurgar galatur

First Instar
This seems to be afflicting just the one animal. Whatever it is, it does not wipe off easily, meaning I have not wiped or scraped it off--don't want to stress her if I don't have too. 
Could it be damaged cuticle or a mismolt? Fungus? I don't think it's mites because none of it moves. There's a thriving springtail population in the enclosure.

Any suggestion as to what it is and what to do is welcomed. Thanks. K G

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Grain mites in their immobile hypopus stage. Some may come off on their own if you move the roaches to a new enclosure with fresh substrate. Long term you need to feed less supplemental foods and/or remove said foods every few days left they become a feeding ground for these mites. 

 
Thanks! Do I need to help these migrating larvae migrate off her? They certainly seem tenacious. Moved the roaches to a shallower, dryer enclosure. They huddle around the water dish now. Enclosure looks much like the one bugsincyberspace has in this vid:



 
On 5/27/2022 at 1:16 PM, kurgar galatur said:

Thanks! Do I need to help these migrating larvae migrate off her? They certainly seem tenacious. Moved the roaches to a shallower, dryer enclosure. They huddle around the water dish now. Enclosure looks much like the one bugsincyberspace has in this vid:

Click to expand...
You could try using a toothbrush or something similar to scrape some of the mites off of her backside, definitely don't try that on her underside though since you may damage her appendages that way. Overall it's usually best to let the mites come off themselves, and just make sure to reduce their breeding numbers in your roach enclosure.

 
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