Mites

[Vonnie]

Hello all, I'm just double checking to make sure my assumptions are correct. In my moist roach enclosures, crawling along the walls are a decent amount of minute, white, semi slow moving "things". I say they're mites. Am I correct?

I've tried my hardest to take out left over food and have even avoided giving certain foods to my roaches to prevent another outburst. Help!

Signed, worried first time roach mom.

[Doc]

I'm pretty sure those would be mites. Can you get some pics of them maybe? They can be very difficult to get rid of. I had the worst time dealing with them in my discoidalis bin. I had left them alone for about a week and it just reeked of grain mites. Even when I dried out the enclosure or cut out certain foods they persisted. Since I added lesser mealworms I haven't seen any grain mites. They don't seem to bother the hisser mites which is good.

There is a bit of maintenance needed with lessers. Their population needs to be controlled or they may start eating your roaches. I just keep a couple shallow dishes in each enclosure to trap the excess beetles and larvae.

[lecole4]

Pictures would be helpful. Grain mite eggs are pretty ubiquitous in all grain-based foods. Nasty little things! What foods have you used, and what do you avoid now? A great trick for preventing the eggs from hatching is freezing any grain-based foods for 24 hours before use.

If you're going to consider using lessers, like Doc suggested, be cautious. It is a good suggestion and they are a popular colony cleaner, but if you keep any kinds of birds or intend to use your roaches as a feeder for poultry, they carry a whole lot of diseases, particularly avian diseases. Just something to be aware of.