# Big cricket mite problem



## Erinaceinae (Mar 26, 2007)

Hi,
Just checked on my crickets (first time in a few days i have to admit) and some of them are about 90% covered in mites. Need to kill the lot i know, but because there are so many mites now in the tub and on the bark and stuff i don't know how is best to?
They are in a large pet pal with a bit of bark and abut an inch of subby and there are a fair few babies in there. Its too big to just put the lot in the freezer but if i try to catch individual crickets or even pour everything in a bag the mites will go everywhere.
Is it possible to put some sort of disinfectant i can put in to kill everything (inc. mites) so i can then throw the lot away without spreading mites everywhere,
Thanks,
Elsa

PS not used them for a while to feed anything and there were definitely not this number of mites on any i have used to feed with recently. Will check all T's over just incase though


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## rogersspider2007 (Apr 2, 2007)

if you are going to kill and it was me i would pour hot water over them or you could just let them dry out and let everything die. i take it there is just crickets in this tub and nothing else? but someone on here might have a different method.


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## Erinaceinae (Mar 26, 2007)

yeah it is just crickets in the tub. surely drying them out just means the crickets will be slowly eaten to death?


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## rogersspider2007 (Apr 2, 2007)

mites only go where it is damp as ive has this before with tarantulas which need high humidty, hope this helps.


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## benjo (Oct 31, 2007)

like roger said, either hot water or alchol gel (i use this but it is very expensive to cover the job)

i get the gel free but it is very expensive. tbh boiled water will instantly kill anything it touches and as said the mites go where its damp. id bang some thick clingfilm over the top of the tank and laggyband it once its cooled down. then turn the tank upside down (OUTSIDE) to boil the top part of the tank..

or just fill the tank to the brim with boiling water (do this outside) to save the hassle or if your paranoid like me.. let it overflow to clean the outside too

i basically repeated my self lol oh well


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