# Not AGAIN! (pest bugs in with feeders)



## elmthesofties (Aug 24, 2012)

I've tried researching but nothing relevant seems to be popping up.

Anyways. A while ago I posted that there were tonnes of tiny little bugs in with the mealworms. I didn't really like keeping them anyway so kind of took the pests as an excuse to discard them.
I've got a small tub of dubia roaches, and a while ago I saw a couple of the tiny little bugs that used to be in with the mealworms. Each day I'd see more and more and now the tub is crawling with them. Any ideas for what they are?
Little bugs... wat r u doin.... little bugs... STAHP - YouTube (they're most visible in the white bit of the food bowl)


----------



## Emma30 (Apr 18, 2008)

They will be flour/grain mites Bloody pests they are, you get them when over feeding moist foods and you have to clean out your roaches every day as these buggers will be everywhere!! I had them last year in my mealworm colony had to throw them out, got them again this year and decided I wasn't throwing them out again! I kept sifting them everyday and placed the tub of mealworms in another tub with water in so when the mites climb out they will drown. I managed to get rid of them and save my colony by doing this everyday. These mites breed like wild fire so try to sort the problem out asap,


----------



## elchopchop (Nov 23, 2008)

elmthesofties said:


> I've tried researching but nothing relevant seems to be popping up.
> 
> Anyways. A while ago I posted that there were tonnes of tiny little bugs in with the mealworms. I didn't really like keeping them anyway so kind of took the pests as an excuse to discard them.
> I've got a small tub of dubia roaches, and a while ago I saw a couple of the tiny little bugs that used to be in with the mealworms. Each day I'd see more and more and now the tub is crawling with them. Any ideas for what they are?
> Little bugs... wat r u doin.... little bugs... STAHP - YouTube (they're most visible in the white bit of the food bowl)


I had this a while back, there is a website (cant remember the name or find link sorry) who sell cultures of bugs to combat this problem. I bought some and it was simply a matter of putting the culture kit in the roach colony and the mites from the kit crawl all over and eat the pest mites, once all the pests are dead the culture mites die off and problem solved!! maybe someone else can provide a link...? :2thumb:


----------



## REDDEV1L (Nov 27, 2008)

They seem too fast, and too big to be mites to me.

They're not fruit flies are they ???


----------



## elmthesofties (Aug 24, 2012)

REDDEV1L said:


> They seem too fast, and too big to be mites to me.
> 
> They're not fruit flies are they ???


To tell you the truth, I've never seen fruit flies in real life, so I can't say.

I've got a bit of a dilemma because if it's a lot of effort to kill the things off, then I'd like to just feed the rest of the dubias off ASAP, but I don't know whether it's safe.


----------



## jarich (Mar 23, 2012)

Ya, I was going to say fruit flies(drosophila) as well.


----------



## elmthesofties (Aug 24, 2012)

I just had a look at how to make fruit fly cultures and it seems that the larvae are easily visible when they're breeding. There didn't seem to be any larvae in with the roaches at all, yet the little things are clearly breeding.


----------



## Emma30 (Apr 18, 2008)

Hmmmm I never watched your video when I posted it could be flour/grain mites lol they are defo not mites, not sure what they are but they have freaked me out :gasp::gasp:

they kinda look like small crickets, if you can get a close up of one might help to I.D them


----------



## elmthesofties (Aug 24, 2012)

Aha, I was a bit stupid really. I decided to try and record the video on my iPod and I didn't think that maybe it would film the wrong way round. *facepalm*

Unfortunately I doubt I'll be able to get a close up as none of my cameras are really suitable. But don't crickets usually jump around a bit? Those bugs are pretty pathetic, really. They can't climb, they can't jump, and they're super squishy so I'm managing to keep their population at bay by just wiping all of the visible ones down every day. (which is a lot of them as there isn't really anything for them to hide in) Somehow, they manage to bounce back within 24 hours.
I just can't figure out what's happening because I disposed of the mealworms before I got the dubias, yet there seems to be exactly the same problem.


----------



## eightball (Jan 1, 2011)

You'd know if they was fruit flies, at least a good number would have been flying about around the place, especially when you disturb them : victory:


----------



## elmthesofties (Aug 24, 2012)

In that case, it's not fruit flies. I honestly thought they didn't fly because I heard that captive ones were wingless. Clever me. C:
Might just let this thread die now, but thanks everyone for your concern and help!


----------



## vukic (Apr 9, 2010)

Did you sort out your problem??

Tiger

Sent from my LT18i using Tapatalk 2


----------



## GirlyEvo8 (Jan 13, 2013)

Emma30 said:


> They will be flour/grain mites Bloody pests they are, you get them when over feeding moist foods and you have to clean out your roaches every day as these buggers will be everywhere!! I had them last year in my mealworm colony had to throw them out, got them again this year and decided I wasn't throwing them out again! I kept sifting them everyday and placed the tub of mealworms in another tub with water in so when the mites climb out they will drown. I managed to get rid of them and save my colony by doing this everyday. These mites breed like wild fire so try to sort the problem out asap,


I think i got these things in with my locusts so i just hoovered out all of oat meal or whatever it is, they were everywhere, solves the problem though haha, i now keep the oatmeal in a low cup and hoover the viv with the live food daily, obviously make sure not to hoover any up haha


----------



## GirlyEvo8 (Jan 13, 2013)

elmthesofties said:


> In that case, it's not fruit flies. I honestly thought they didn't fly because I heard that captive ones were wingless. Clever me. C:
> Might just let this thread die now, but thanks everyone for your concern and help!


We had a mass outbreak of fruit flies this summer, if they were breeding in there they would be all over the food you have for the dubais and they would be all over youre house trying find a new food source, the ones i have are like tiny little maggots about a millimeter long (if that) the first time i noticed them was when i disturbed the locusts and the substrate started moving, at first the looked like tiny little meal worms until i looked closer and they were an odd shape, so i hoovered them up an voila no more, well atleast not until i get my next order in


----------



## elmthesofties (Aug 24, 2012)

vukic said:


> Did you sort out your problem??
> 
> Tiger
> 
> Sent from my LT18i using Tapatalk 2


Well... yes and no.
I switched to a different cat food brand (Royal Canin - those roaches are bloody lucky!) and the numbers of the little bug things have dropped dramatically. Like... there's barely any left. I think sieving them should work as they're even smaller than dubia poop but as the numbers are still dropping and there's no pressure to start feeding them off yet, I think I'm going to wait a little bit longer.



GirlyEvo8 said:


> they would be all over youre house trying find a new food source


Hm... not sure if it is them, then. I'm not sure if it's even possible for them to escape from the ventilation holes which are directly above them and would require a long time crawling a smooth surface and then walking upside-down on a smooth surface. Even if several thousand were put on the kitchen floor right now, I'd be surprised if they did anything.


----------

