Mites in my FF's.

[Mvalenz]

OK. I may have made a mistake. I purchased a FF culture without checking the "Other Feedback" section of the forum. I checked the forum after the fact that I purchased the FF culture. What I found was the breeder had a reputation of selling FF cultures that had a lot of mites in them. Sure enough when they arrived it had a lot of mites in it. What I wanted to know is can the mites harm me or my mantids? Is it a bad idea to try to make FF cultures with these FF?

 

[twolfe]

I would not make cultures from your infested cultures. When you dump the flies from the cultures with mites, some mites will get in the new culture. This happened to me last summer. I would ask for a refund and buy cultures elsewhere. I ended up with mites in a lot of my enclosures, and it took me a few months to get rid of them. I haven't noticed any mites in my cultures or enclosures for 6 months. If I have them now, they are too small to see.

The person who sold me the mites told me this:

There are two types of mites found in fruit fly cultures. The first is white grain mites that are attracted to fruit fly media (wet or dry). These mites are in every culture, but are kept at bay by the fruit flies. They boom when the flies aren't competing with them for food. They are harmless to the fruit flies and your animals.

The other type of mite is red/brown and attacks the pupae of the fruit fly cultures. This type of mite will result in cultures with lots of larvae and pupae with every few fruit flies ever hatching. To ward off this mite, keep older cultures away from newer cultures. These are the mites commonly referred to as "fruit fly mites".

 

[CoolMantid]

They will jsut multiply so much its unbearable!

Should be fine for feeding themto a mantis if you want to do that. But you have been warned

 

[Mvalenz]

They will jsut multiply so much its unbearable!

What do you mean? Will they infest my house? Unbearable to who? Just thinking of them on me makes my skin crawl.

Tammy Wolfe, they infested your enclosures? Did they harm any of your animals? Did they get so bad that you had to exterminate?

 

[CoolMantid]

I mean if a mites get into your enclosure, good luck gettign thme out. Its incredibly hard! They wont infest your home just ruin enclosures and cultures!

 

[twolfe]

I didn't have the kind of mites that harmed my mantids, but they did get in my Idolo terrarium, and I could tell that something was bothering the mantids as they wouldn't hold still. I wasn't even looking for them because I wasn't using fruit flies in any of my enclosures that I keep on the porch in the summer months. But the fruit flies I got from a particular company were so invested with huge mites. I had no choice but to use one of them temporarily to feed my nymphs. And the mites got in the enclosures either from me dumping the flies or they were on the flies. I'm not sure. Weeks later I could see them crawling on the counter and on the lids of my enclosures. When I took a closer look and discovered them in my Idolo terrarium, I could see hundreds of them. I realized later they got there when I transferred a plant from an enclosure in the laundry room to the terrarium. It took me a couple of weeks of cleaning the enclosure every day. I made sure that there wasn't any food sources left in the terrarium for the mites. Once I did that, they were trying to escape to find food. It was a mess. I bleached every plastic and glass enclosure. I ordered new cultures in the summer that were fine and since then, I've been making my own. If I've had any since then, they are too small to see even with my magnifying glass.

 

[Mvalenz]

I clean my enclosures at least once a week. Are they that hard to get rid of?

 

[twolfe]

They were for me. I probably had 20 enclosures at that time in the room, and you really have to clean them all. Two more ooths hatched for me today. Right now I have 43 enclosures, and it would be really challenging to clean all of my enclosures at one time.

Some members don't seem to be as bothered by mites, but I don't like them, and I could tell my mantids didn't like them crawling on them either. I don't know if you got your cultures from the place I got mine, but those mites were huge compared to a minor infestation I had 6 months earlier. I didn't bring up the name because I think he gets notified when his company is mentioned. I will not buy cultures from this company, but I do other regular business with them and have purchased frogs from them.

Have your ordered new cultures yet? The place I've had good luck with is the Fruit Fly Shop. As I said, I've been making my own since the summer. And I have ooths hatching often enough to keep the cultures going...

 

[CoolMantid]

They breed like heck!

 

[Mvalenz]

Yes Tammy, I got them from the same place.

I dont have nearly as many enclosures as you do. I have five. I couldn't imagine having 43. That must take you ages to clean. Thanks for the new FF contact.

 

[Rick]

They won't harm you, your mantids, or your home.

 

[hibiscusmile]

yea, but we dont like em! mites! yikes!

 

[Solsticesun]

They won't harm you, your mantids, or your home.

They killed one of my ghosts and put two more in a very sad state... I had to manually de-mite them with a small paintbrush. I nursed them back to health and they were fine from then on. But they do harm. (they feed on moisture and seem to dehydrate/suck the life out of whatever they climb onto) They also killed my rose hair tarantula. And I can't get rid of them after dozens of bleach washes/microwave treatments/substrate replacement/mite spray...etc etc ... I haaaaaaaaate mites!!!! I hope somebody found a solution cause mine don't seem to work...

 

[hibiscusmile]

Mites will infest your house, just like any other pest. We all seem to avoid who the seller was, most probably it was Josh's frogs, he is famous for his mite cultures.

Question I prob shouldn't ask, I sell mite free cultures for 5.00 to any forum member plus shipping, well not really a question, maybe a statement. I have heard from a lot of customers about mites in their cultures, it is scary to us as we do not view them as useful, kinda like a flea or TICK! DONT get me started on ticks!

 

[hibiscusmile]

Forgotten to mention, I use a mite paper that I sell on my site. I have used it for years in my Bugatorium under my cultures and roach and mealworm containers, as of yet, I have not encountered any problems from using it around the mantis. fyi

 

[Mvalenz]

Mites will infest your house, just like any other pest. We all seem to avoid who the seller was, most probably it was Josh's frogs, he is famous for his mite cultures.

Question I prob shouldn't ask, I sell mite free cultures for 5.00 to any forum member plus shipping, well not really a question, maybe a statement. I have heard from a lot of customers about mites in their cultures, it is scary to us as we do not view them as useful, kinda like a flea or TICK! DONT get me started on ticks!

Thanks. That's good to know. I will keep you in mind when I need more. Oh, and by the way your house and blue bottle pupae are great.