Mites

[fleurdejoo]

I was on that Joshsfrogs site, those vids are super helpful!

So do you guys use any mite spray for your fruit flies?

If so how do you use it and what do you use?

Aaaand in the video he says "You'll know you have them if your face starts itching when you work with them."

AaAAGhhgagghhh!!!

Now my face is gonna itch every time I look at them.

 

[sueb4653]

hmmm that doesn't sound good I'd be bying from someone who doesn't have a rep for having mites in cultures

 

[Mvalenz]

I bought a culture from Joshsfrongs before and it was filled with mites. However, they didn't bother me or my mantids. Either way; I would buy from someone that doesn't sell mite cultures. Like mantisplace.com or mantispets.com.

 

[hibiscusmile]

Carolina bio supply states in their booklet that mites are dangerous to the cultures and eventually will kill them off.

 

[selkielass]

Many mites are host specific.

Honeybee mites can't reproduce on insects other than bees. Bird mites don't like mammals.

I wonder what type of mite fruitflies have and how host specific they are.

 

[patrickfraser]

They are grain mites and they go for the medium in the fruit fly cultures.

 

[selkielass]

Man, those *must* be hard to control. I've only dealt with honeybee mites and watching for snake mites- those are bad enough.