# ? mites in roach colony???



## pinkyp (Jun 9, 2008)

I have a roach colony set up for me by a local breeder. It has been going for some months now and is rather slow going I suppose. I havent used it as a feeder as there just arent enough small ones yet.

Tonight when I opened to put some food in there I noticed absolutely tiny whitish critters. I can't believe they are tiny roaches but I don't know how big they are. They are so small, I need a magnifying glass to try and look at them to identify them. 

So what do you think, are they mites? The substrate, I think is a little dry and not sure if thats why as I have never seen them before in there.

Thanks


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## rosie&jim (Mar 23, 2010)

what roaches are they?


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## Tehanu (Nov 12, 2006)

Are they almost smaller than a grain of sugar? If you watch carefully do they crawl along superslowly?

My guess is flourmites, if there's any excess food lying around or moisture building up (could be just one slice of orange in contact with the plastic of the floor that does it!)

A thorough drying out is the answer.


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## imginy (Jun 14, 2009)

I keep 'lesser mealworms' in with my colony and it keeps them free of mites :2thumb:


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## pinkyp (Jun 9, 2008)

They are burrowing ones...hybrids and cant remember the other type. Will find out. They are like a grain of sugar size, wouldn't say they were superslow tho. They remind me in size and movement of those little blood spiders we used to get as a kid in the garden. They are mite sized for sure. I just wasn't sure how big roach babies were. They are in a peat style substate and I feed fruit/veg, fish flakes and some dried dog food. I have some little mealies, would they do? How does that work


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## imginy (Jun 14, 2009)

What roaches do you keep? 
Because I keep turks and dubs and I prefer to use no substrate and the lesser mealworms do wonders in my colony by eating all mites. Here is my guide to be breeding roaches this is for dubs and turks not sure how the lesser mealworms with work with other roach species. Also these little worms need to be kept away from any locust or cricket colonies because they will eat the eggs.
http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/feeder/552178-guineas-guide-roaches-lots-pics.html

Here is a quote for my friend on here Blaptica he is the best person ever at breeding roaches and is talking about the lesser mealworms or buffalo worms as they are also called, but he gives the latin name as well so there is no confusion as there seems to be more than one mealworm species going by same name:

'RE Buffalo worms. They are like a miniture stout mealworm. Latin name Alphitobius diaperinus. When you have high humidity mites can be a problem, and the buffalo beetles take care of those. The beetles are around 1/3 the size of normal mealworm beetle. They are great with roaches but should not be kept if you want to breed regular mealworms, crickets or locusts'


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## madavies65 (Jan 21, 2009)

they definitely sound like flour mites, just remove all food and give a good clean out, replacing the egg cartons etc... then place food back in but make sure the tubs stay dry afterwards.

Place some vaseline around the top of the tub to stop any mites crawling out and infesting your house. These mites can be a pain, my quarantine tub had these in a few months ago... I just made sure there was nothing wet in there for several weeks and fed the roaches with fruit and veg every day for their moisture.

I also used predatory mites as a second deterrent: Hypoaspis Miles

These will eat the flour mites and do NOT themselves cause an infestation as their numbers are dependent on their prey.

After a few weeks of this I successfully removed the mite problem. As a precaution I also treated my other tubs the same way though they didn't show any infestation. I now have a mite free zone!

Flour mites can come in your grain or along with bought Roaches and will appear where there is a source of food (flour/dog food) heat and moisture. They do not harm humans and do not bite but they can cause allergies and you could also be more susceptible to them than other people.

If you store your roaches in doors they can infest your house/bedding and cause sneezing/ hay fever like symptoms in major cases. They do die off though if you don't have anything for them to eat in your home. Normally you will see larger blooms of these in summer months due to heat and humidity.

A note: Sometimes these mites go into hibernation if they do not have favourable conditions called hypopus stage which is more resilient to moisture drop etc.. If you dont give them what they will never go out of this stage in their development and eventually die.

Hope this helps!


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## Blaptica (Jun 26, 2008)

imginy said:


> What roaches do you keep?
> Because I keep turks and dubs and I prefer to use no substrate and the lesser mealworms do wonders in my colony by eating all mites. Here is my guide to be breeding roaches this is for dubs and turks not sure how the lesser mealworms with work with other roach species. Also these little worms need to be kept away from any locust or cricket colonies because they will eat the eggs.
> http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/feeder/552178-guineas-guide-roaches-lots-pics.html
> 
> ...


Thanks Ginny for the nice comments. Also I should say the buffalo worms (i.e the larvae not the beetles) are fantastic food for baby lizards. Its possible to breed dubia, turks and buffalo worms all in one container with very little work.


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