# Culturing...Mites?



## jwthought (Oct 30, 2004)

Hey, 
So, this time of year, every year, my FF cultures become the bane of my life, with mites playing a large role. In addition to my darts and other critters, I also have a worm-compost bin that I keep in different room than the frogs. In the compost bin, there are at times, a large population of the white and the reddish/brown mites, both of which are detrivores eating the decomposing food. I notice that when I add new fruit to the compost, for the first day or so, the fruit will crawl with mites. 

So being that my FF cultures are hit or miss, do yall think I can just set a piece of mite ridden fruit into my frogs tanks from time to time and let them eat the mites? 

I figure, if you cant beat em, feed em! (Lame, i know. Couldnt help myself...)

Thanks in advance!


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

yes you can feed the detritovore mites to your frogs. Mine love em. I put a leaf in my "mite culture" and wit 10 minues, then remove it and put it in the frog viv


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## jwthought (Oct 30, 2004)

Thanks for the response. I put a piece of cantalope that was loaded with mites in my azureus tank. Took them a minute to figure out what was going on, but then they were all over it. Looked funny too, like they pulled up a chair to the buffet table!


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

mites make up a significant percentage of their natural diet. I think its neat to be able to offer them as a food source.


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## merk1_99 (Apr 19, 2009)

So how and where do I find the detrivore mites? I would like to try feeding them to my darts. The only mites I have are the tiny flying ones. I am assuming these are not the same type?


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

mites do not fly! No arachnid has developed flight. You have something else. 
To culture them, a compost bin is a good place to find them. Im not aware of anyone who sells them.


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