# Mites?



## dgerndt (Mar 29, 2011)

As I was looking at my beautiful male Ghost mantis molting to L5 this morning, I noticed something moving on his deli cup. It was an extremely tiny (less than 1mm in length) white oval with antennae running around that sides of his container. I then looked at the rest of my mantids' houses, to see the same thing! I wanted to take pictures, but my camera's quality is nowhere near good enough to capture clear photos of something so small.

So I'm wondering... are these things mites from my fruit fly cultures? Are they bad for my mantids? How can I get rid of them?

I use paper towel as a substrate, sticks from my yard for climbing/hanging, and fake plants for decoration.


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## hibiscusmile (Mar 29, 2011)

yeppers prob mites, but they won't really hurt anything, could be from culture, but also could be from sticks in the yard.


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## dgerndt (Mar 29, 2011)

So how can I get rid of them? It kind of grosses me out to think I have these tiny little mites running around my bedroom.


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## ismart (Mar 29, 2011)

If they are mites from fruit fly cultures, then i would not worry to much. I have given up myself in trying to eradicate them. I have noticed the mites i have are interested in the medium. I have yet to notice any ill effects they may have done to any of my mantids.


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## ismart (Mar 29, 2011)

You can try mite paper, but that never worked for me. You could also destroy all your cultures, and disinfect everything. You will have to get all new fllies though. You could place your new cultures on something surrounded by water. I don't think the mites can swim?


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## dgerndt (Mar 29, 2011)

If they're from my fruit fly cultures, how come they're all over my mantis enclosures? I only have one mantis that still eats fruit flies.


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## patrickfraser (Mar 29, 2011)

You might just be noticing them now, as they have grown. I noticed tiny ones in a culture and was "OMG!" I found out that the tiny white ones pose little to no problems. As the culture aged the mites were more noticeable and in larger quantities. No problems noticed from it with culture or with the mantid. Just give the enclosures a good cleaning and maybe start a fresh culture and get rid of the old.

PS...Your chinese take out is on the way


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## Colorcham427 (Mar 29, 2011)

They're absolutely harmless but can do devastating damage to fruit fly cultures, especially if you sell them! They take the moisture right out of the medium and leave the eggs all dried out so no more flies...


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## hibiscusmile (Mar 29, 2011)

They could come from anywhere, they are in the air we breath, if in the cultures, you would see them, the mites also hitch rides on the flies, mantis, roaches, crickets, or in other words on anything they crawl on including you and I! They settle in clean excelsior, twigs and plants from outside, cloth, in potatoe and rice bags, or in other words, everywhere. So no need to freak out over them, if they are in the culture you would see them easily. I have a mite spray that is safe to spray every where except inside the mantis container, it also is one of the only sprays used to kill bed bugs! Hospitals use it to spray mattresses and pillows after a "guest patient" leaves. But really, unless you have hundreds, get some mite paper and use it.


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## ismart (Mar 29, 2011)

Deby said:


> If they're from my fruit fly cultures, how come they're all over my mantis enclosures? I only have one mantis that still eats fruit flies.


There running all over your mantid enclosures, because they are looking for food!


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## Rick (Mar 30, 2011)

Look into your fruit fly cultures for the same mites. If they're not there then they came in another way. They won't hurt anything with mantids and I can bet most keepers here have mites in their mantis enlcosures. I only had mite problems in FF's one time. But I have always had at least some in the mantis enlcosures.


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## MantidLord (Mar 30, 2011)

+1 to what everyone said above. I freaked out too when I had mites. I placed the fruit fly containers in a bowl of hot water, of course that just killed the ones outside the culture. They are harmless to your mantids, and they didn't do any damage whatsoever to my cultures. I understand that you're grossed out though.


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## dgerndt (Mar 31, 2011)

Well it's good to know that they're not going to be harmful to my pets. I guess I'll just get used to the mites, just like I got used to having massive amounts of fruit flies in my room. :lol: Maybe I'll get fresh cultures one day if the mites get out of hand.

Thanks everyone!


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## babyfroggy (Apr 1, 2011)

I freaked out too when I saw them crawling around in my mite cultures, their in my bedroom too so it makes it even scarier lol I did a little experiment with the fruit fly cultures. Once everything in the cultures seemed to be dead because of so many mites, I froze one and microwaved another. Microwaving them killed all the mites and I started the culture over successfully. I didn't want to waste media that I just set up not even more than a week ago. Bonus- it made the apt smell like rotting hot dogs for a few hours. Hubby wasn't too happy about that :lol:


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## dgerndt (Apr 1, 2011)

Haha! What, he doesn't like the smell of rotting food? :lol:


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## babyfroggy (Apr 1, 2011)

Guess not. He's so picky!


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## dgerndt (Apr 2, 2011)

lol! :lol:


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## Termite48 (Apr 4, 2011)

Deby: If you are having a chronic problem with fruit flies flying all over, try this: Get a small container, about the size of a soda can and place a really well rotting piece of banana on the bottom and place this in the room where you are having the problem. The closer to a light,the better. Give it a few days to a day to get busy and take a peak inside. Then slowly approach it with a plastic lid that is large enough to completely cover your container and off to the freezer you go. If you want to use the freezer-stunned flies, then just shake them into the enclosure where the mantids are and presto- you have reclaimed some flies. If you are not wanting to feed them, then down the drain they go.


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## dgerndt (Apr 4, 2011)

Thanks! In the summer (when the loose fruit flies become a problem), I put some vinegar in a wide-mouthed vase and then roll a piece of paper into a cone and stick the small end into the vase. The fruit flies crawl down the cone to get to the vinegar, but can't figure out how to get back out. In just a few hours, there are dozens of fruit flies trapped.


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## Mr.Mantid (Jun 15, 2011)

Alright, so from what I have read the small white mites dry out the cultures so that the eggs dont hatch, but how about pupae?


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## PhilinYuma (Jun 15, 2011)

Mr.Mantid said:


> Alright, so from what I have read the small white mites dry out the cultures so that the eggs dont hatch, but how about pupae?


Interesting. I have never heard of this. Do you have a link?


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## Mr.Mantid (Jun 15, 2011)

PhilinYuma said:


> Interesting. I have never heard of this. Do you have a link?


Post #8.

The only reason why I am asking is because I have hundreds of hydei pupae with lots and lots of tiny white mites. About 2 dozen hydei have hatched in the last few days so I was curious to see if the mites were the reason or maybe I just need to be more patient.


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## PhilinYuma (Jun 16, 2011)

Mr.Mantid said:


> Post #8.
> 
> The only reason why I am asking is because I have hundreds of hydei pupae with lots and lots of tiny white mites. About 2 dozen hydei have hatched in the last few days so I was curious to see if the mites were the reason or maybe I just need to be more patient.


Yeah. grain mites are vegetarians, though they like a little yeast/mold on the side. Usually, though, they like very moist conditions. As a matter of interest, do you use oatmeal, masa flour or potato flakes as the basis of your hydei food? They should prefer the first two to the last, I'll keep my fingers crossed that the rest of yr flies hatch.


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## Mr.Mantid (Jun 16, 2011)

PhilinYuma said:


> Yeah. grain mites are vegetarians, though they like a little yeast/mold on the side. Usually, though, they like very moist conditions. As a matter of interest, do you use oatmeal, masa flour or potato flakes as the basis of your hydei food? They should prefer the first two to the last, I'll keep my fingers crossed that the rest of yr flies hatch.


I use oatmeal, applesauce, bananas, yeast, sugar and vinegar mixed together. I had hundred maybe even thousands of larvae crawling around the past several weeks but barely anything is making it past pupation.


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## Mr.Mantid (Jun 16, 2011)

Mr.Mantid said:


> I use oatmeal, applesauce, bananas, yeast, sugar and vinegar mixed together. I had hundred maybe even thousands of larvae crawling around the past several weeks but barely anything is making it past pupation.


maybe it mold idk


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## kmsgameboy (Jun 23, 2011)

Ive never noticed mites in with any of my mantids. (I guess that doesnt mean they arent there though.) If they bother you that much you might be able to clean out their containers and try using something other than paper on the insides. I dont know if it will work but cant hurt to try.


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