Future clean-up crew

[hundefrau]

Good evening

I am in the process of setting up a new box for my Archimandritas and... I am quite embarrassed to say... noticed that I apparently got mites in their current box. The mites are mostly in their food bowl, sitting in the dry food.

This angers me, as I tried a lot of tricks to keep the mites away (Only little meals for both wet food and dry food, clean the food out quickly, keep the food away from the corner I spray, etc.). It sucks :/

I read the lesser mealworm (Alphitobius diaperinus) is a good help against mites. Does anybody know how they like their substrate? I spray a single corner of my Archimandritas' box every so often but if the lesser mealworm needs super wet or really dry substrate, it wouldn't really work out. Also, what to do with the beetles I don't need (I have no animal I can feed them to)?

Another question regarding mites. I read in an archived German forum that one can carefully 'wash' their roaches before setting them over, as to not bring the mites with them into the new box. Is this a useful procedure? I imagine it would stress the poor darlings quite a bit.

Thanks in advance (and sorry for the stupid questions)

[Hisserdude]

The lesser mealworms would do well in your Archimandrita tank, but I worry about them stressing the roaches out. Springtails would be better for the roaches, and in combination with reduced feeding, can get rid of all the mites.

What do the mites look like BTW? Can you describe them?

[hundefrau]

Thanks for your reply, Hisserdude

Oh dear, I don't wanna stress out my poor babies...Springtails it is then! I'll see if I can get them somewhere. Do you have a specific kind of springtail in mind (and maybe the scientific name)?

As for how the mites look. Well, they are tiny but can be seen without any gear. There are tinier ones that are white and bigger ones that lean towards an off-white, sometimes nude-ish color.

[Redmont]

If the mites are just around food then there's a good chance they are grain mites just feed less and throw out old food after a day or 2. 

As for lesser mealworms I will never get them they can stress out smaller species and I've heard they may go after smaller roaches, and they can get in to other roach bins with out you introducing them

as for springtales they generally like it moist so I would probable increase the size of your moist corner, unless there are some dry tolerant species @Hisserdude ? 

[Hisserdude]

9 hours ago, hundefrau said:

Thanks for your reply, Hisserdude

Oh dear, I don't wanna stress out my poor babies...Springtails it is then! I'll see if I can get them somewhere. Do you have a specific kind of springtail in mind (and maybe the scientific name)?

As for how the mites look. Well, they are tiny but can be seen without any gear. There are tinier ones that are white and bigger ones that lean towards an off-white, sometimes nude-ish color.

Sinella curviseta is the species that I would recommend for Archimandrita, however I'm not sure they sell them in Europe... Any large, prolific species will do, maybe ask some of the roach breeders in Germany and ask if they have any good springtail strains available.

6 hours ago, Redmont said:

 for springtales they generally like it moist so I would probable increase the size of your moist corner, unless there are some dry tolerant species @Hisserdude ? 

I would definitely recommend increasing the size of the moist area, however some species are rather hardy, and as long as there is always moisture available in one area, they will spread around and live in the dry parts as well, (like Sinella curviseta).