Mite Prevention in fruit fly and Dubia cultures

[MantisGirl13]

So, as you know, I discovered last night that I have mites in my ff cultures and my dubia bin. I have some ideas and experiments to try to prevent mites from infesting again. I have been told by several sources that lemon helps prevent mites, so I am using lemon juice in both experiments.

For the dubia bin, I put a thick-weave fabric on the top for ventilation and for substrate, I soaked a paper towel in lemon juice, squeezed the excess out and waved it in the air to dry it a bit. I put the paper towel, moist with lemon juice, on the bottom of the container as substrate. I will replace the substrate every few days to ensure that no mold forms. 

For the fruit flies I will set it up as more of an experiment. I will have a 'control culture ' and a 'subject culture '. Both will have about the same amount of flies and the same medium base. The flies will come from my already mite-infested culture.  In the subject culture I will add some lemon juice to the mixture. My hope is that the lemon juice will deter the mites from the culture but will not affect the fruit flies. 

I will keep updating this thread and I will let you know how this experiment turns out, but I hope that I have found a way to prevent mites! Wish me luck!

- MantisGirl13

 

[MantisGirl13]

Fruit fly experiment

Control culture:

Medium-

1 part Banana, 3 parts mashed potato flakes, pinch of yeast, sprinkle of cinnamon, 2 parts distilled water

Flies-

D. meloangaster, came from culture with grain mite infestation

Subject culture:

Medium- 

1 part Banana, 3 parts mashed potato flakes, pinch of yeast, sprinkle of cinnamon, 1 part distilled water, 1 part lemon juice

Flies-

D. meloangaster, came from culture with grain mite infestation

Object of experiment:

The object of this experiment is to find a way to prevent grain mites from infesting fruit fly cultures.

Hypothesis:

My hypothesis is that the grain mites will not like the lemon juice in the medium so they will not infest that culture. They will infest the culture with no lemon juice in the medium because there is nothing to deter them. The fruit flies will not be affected by the lemon juice and will reproduce as normal.

Data:

Day 1(Control): Culture fresh, no mites spotted, no larvae or pupae in medium.

Day 1(Subject): Culture fresh, no mites spotted, no larvae or pupae in medium.

Day 2(Control): No mites spotted, no larvae or pupae in medium.

Day 2(Subject): No mites spotted, no larvae or pupae in medium.

Day 3(Control):

Day 3(Subject):

 

[Aristalochia]

If you dont get rid of them easily, you might try predatory mites, they gobble up pest mites. Im getting some Hypoaspis miles to add to all my enclosures and I plan to add some to ff cultures to see if thats an efficient way to solve the grain mite issue. They can be annoying for sure..Good luck

 

[MantisGirl13]

If you dont get rid of them easily, you might try predatory mites, they gobble up pest mites. Im getting some Hypoaspis miles to add to all my enclosures and I plan to add some to ff cultures to see if thats an efficient way to solve the grain mite issue. They can be annoying for sure..Good luck

Ok, thanks! I think I got rid of them completely, so the experiment may have to wait until later. 

- MantisGirl13

 

[hysteresis]

Knew you'd win.

 

[MantisGirl13]

Knew you'd win.

Thanks!

- MantisGirl13