@Mystymantis The mites are small enough they actually climb on to the fruit flies and hitch a ride. Then when you feed a pet, the mites are transferred to that container, and the same when making new cultures. Mites are said to exist everywhere normally, typically in household dust, so if a food source becomes available they can become a problem seeming from nothing.
Some mites in old fruit fly cultures (about out of food) tend to be common, but active populations in new cultures is a sign of a problem. Below I'll list some common methods to rid yourself of them; however, with the expenses, time to get rid of them, and the possibility of still having a mite problem afterwards the simplest method is to freeze/throw away all cultures with mites (outside in the trash receptacle) and restart new cultures with new fruit fly stock. Prevention is the best method to stop mite problems from the start, as it can be near impossible to rid all cultures/pets/habitats/etc after a problem occurs.
I am in the process of setting up several more "bug" metal shelving units and moving everything to new homes, so I sat my fruit fly cultures on top of one of my cricket nymphs tanks for a few days - bad idea. As you can guess soon afterwards I noticed a mite population booming in my cricket nymph tank last week. Then to add insult to injury, the dang mites also populated in my nearby field cricket tank I set up about two months ago.
In the end to prevent further mite issues in my main cricket tank (2000+ new crickets), or any of my pet habitats I had to act quickly. I moved the infected tanks outside immediately, and got to work. I was forced to scoop out all material and crickets in the tanks, throwing away the material/food/etc and freezing the crickets. Notice it is a great idea to have a bucket of soapy water on hand, as they will quickly climb up hands/arms within about 10 seconds - just dip hands/arms in the soapy water to prevent them climbing all over you and it will kill them.
The large tubs were thoroughly washed with the hottest water from my tap with soap, twice (better safe than sorry) and dried in-between. The feeding bowls, waterers, etc. were all cleaned the same way, and several were simply thrown away to be replaced later.
Since then the cleaned items have been sitting empty in the basement to ensure there is nothing left alive on them, and I'll reuse them later on. Since then I have not seen anymore mites and it appears I stopped them in time before infecting anything else.
Here are some of the most common methods used to deal with a mite problem, and to prevent them as well.
- The best method agreed by many to rid yourself of a mite problem is to purchase predatory mites, they will search for and kill grain mites while leaving pets/feeders alone, and will die off when there are no more mites to feed on. I'm not sure of a good supplier of them, never bought them, but I do know they tend to run about $40 + shipping for the smallest amount available from most suppliers online. Many arachnid keepers though say the predatory mites can cause arachnids even more stress/eating problems/etc, so the effectiveness there seems about zero.
- Mite paper (aka anti-mite paper) - is laid under fruit fly cultures to prevent contamination to other cultures and spreading to anything within reach. One supplier is here.
- Mite sprays/liquids - used to treat mites directly, and to clean containers with. I will say many keepers recommend against it though as it is a chemical and can harm your pets.
- Mite powders - The powders can be sprinkled on tables/shelves fruit fly cultures are kept on, or as recommended poured into trays the cultures sit in. A supplier for the powder. Also see the next entry as it can be a problem.
- Diatomaceous Earth - The main (or even only) ingredient in the so called mite/anti-mite powders, and without the large cost markup. You can buy it at nearby garden centers/hardware stores/most store bug killer aisles - typical 70%-85% pure and in various pound sized bags. As with the mite powders, the diatomaceous earth is placed into pans/trays and the fruit fly cultures sit directly on it. Warning though - the powder basically causes numerous cuts in any soft/joint area of mites or any insects, and as such can just as easily kill your pets if the powder finds it's way to your pets.
- Water - I'm not sure of the effectiveness of this one. Using pans/tubs/trays about a inch of water is poured in, and the fruit fly cultures rest in the water (add more water as needed). Another variation is using pie pans or such, with water and the culture placed in the middle, and each cultures has it's own pan (this would have the best results of the two).
I've heard old wise/wives tales too that do nothing at all, or can actually make the mite populations larger so if you try something else search for the method before attempting.
For example smearing a layer of Vaseline (or any unscented petroleum jelly) around the rim of fruit fly cultures. The Vaseline does nothing to slow down mites (they cross it without problems - at least appear to when they are a problem anyway), they populate near the Vaseline edge (seemingly getting moisture from it), and the Vaseline traps and kills any fruit flies (inside the container, or loose ones outside). If kept warm the Vaseline will also creep down covering all of the container and anything below in time.
Again prevention is the only way to stop problems. Once a mite problem occurs the only true effective recourse is to treat pet tanks with predatory mites, and toss out cultures/feeders and start new ones.
