# Mites in my woodlice...



## Janos (Oct 26, 2009)

Hey all.

I've got a woodlice colony going (after getting a starter colony from dartfrog) and it's been about 3-4 months now and I'm just starting to see tiiiny little white woodlice about, but I also noticed the other day that there's a lot of little black dots moving around both the woodlice themselves and the substrate..
But I was told by someone that they eat the mites...not sure how true that is, but in either case, what I want to know is: Can my colony be saved. It'd be a damn shame to have to bin it when they're finally breeding..


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## Janos (Oct 26, 2009)

Anyone?


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## lungz (Dec 30, 2009)

It's nice when no one replies........

I've never seen black mites on woodlice (white yes) but am interested to know the outcome. 

Are they running about the set up or attached to the lice themselves? If they're attached I assume things wont go well but if they're running about the enclosure they may have come in on the substrate / leaves etc and just be loving the conditions.


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## 123dragon (Jan 15, 2011)

i would say the same as above, 
as long as woodlice arnt dieing it should be fine


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## Janos (Oct 26, 2009)

Thanks for the replies. And na, they're about the whole substrate. And I think they arrived after it was setup, some point in the last month. Though the colony itself is doing great, there's loooads of little woodlice, and some of the little ones are even starting to get bigger, so I reckon it's all good really.


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## jartok (May 13, 2009)

id like to know if these are ok im setting up 2 new 50litre rubs for grey and orange woodlice and no doubt ill get something -

maybe predatory mites will work im sure they die once mites have been consumed


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## spencerburgo (Dec 1, 2010)

jartok said:


> id like to know if these are ok im setting up 2 new 50litre rubs for grey and orange woodlice and no doubt ill get something -
> 
> maybe predatory mites will work im sure they die once mites have been consumed


try contacting marc at dartfrog about he may no,

cheers spencer.............


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## Janos (Oct 26, 2009)

One bit of advice, make sure the RUBs are in complete darkness, woodlice only mate in complete dark. I've actually got my colony in an opaque plastic ice cream tub with a few holes in the top at one side, and the whole thing is at the back of a cabinet shelf. The ones I have are common and striped woodlice, got the original culture from dartfrog (high recommended btw).


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## jartok (May 13, 2009)

i have hundreds tiny little orange woodlice about i got 50litre rubs removed 1 square hole about 10cm square on either side then i got insect netting wrapped it around multi times so holes smaller and hot glued gunned it on . then made sure the soil was in middle and gap on sides as 1 i went a bit low on .


mines by window but i cover them

also i got told to buy an 

 butterwort plant

and put it near them


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