# mites



## kermit70 (Jan 24, 2006)

what do i do about mites in my fly cultures? please help!!!!


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## bluedart (Sep 5, 2005)

Throw out the culture. Get some mite paper, and watch your other cultures.


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## Guest (Feb 19, 2006)

Or you can try running the mites. 
Make 7 cultures with half the amount of media and no paper or filling. Keep them apart form your other cultures. Put your flys in the first and then move it to the next day. Do this till your at the last of the 7 cultures. The next day move it to an 8th culture like you would normaly make them. This will be your clean culture. Keep this away from any cultures that may have mites and keep an eye on it. 

There's other ways on http://www.fruitflies.net but this has worked best for me.


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## bluedart (Sep 5, 2005)

There is always the chance of the mites continuing to travel. Save yourself some time and money, and just destroy the culture. Hopefully you still have some others, otherwise you'll need to get one soon for your frogs! But, I too hate mites. I've lost 6 springtail cultures to them. ugh.


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## kermit70 (Jan 24, 2006)

is there anything i can do to keep them from coming back? or at least slow them down. 

are we talking about throwing the container away? can i give it a bleach treatment?


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

Couple of things that helped me:

1. DO NOT keep cultures longer than a month.
2. Get some mite paper
3. Get some Benzyl Benzoate for in the cultures

From what I can tell paper towels soaked with Benzyl Benzoate seem to be a bit better than the mite paper. 

Ive heard of people microwaving the cultures before adding flies as well.

Something I want to know is where do the mites come from. In my case being in a basement I guess they could come from anywhere.

Also made this a sticky as it comes up from time to time.


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## Catfur (Oct 5, 2004)

McFly says the grain mites come from Anywhere/Everywhere, I.E. that they are already present just about everywhere and just need to find our cultures.


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## Darryl (Dec 2, 2005)

Another tip to minimise mites is not to keep your culturesnear your vivs.


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## kermit70 (Jan 24, 2006)

where can i get mite paper? 


this forum is great. it is an exceptionable resource!

james


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## Frank H (Nov 3, 2005)

Darryl said:


> Another tip to minimise mites is not to keep your culturesnear your vivs.


Are you worried about getting mites in your vivarium? Or do the mites come from the vivs to the cultures?

-Frank


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## kermit70 (Jan 24, 2006)

i don't think i have any in my vivs. i just do want them to get there.


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## bluedart (Sep 5, 2005)

You have mites in your vivs. You just can't see them. :wink:


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

Can you feed out mites to baby thumbnails and baby tricolor?


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## bluedart (Sep 5, 2005)

Rain_Frog said:


> Can you feed out mites to baby thumbnails and baby tricolor?


From what I hear, yep.


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## Guest (Feb 21, 2006)

I actually cracked open a mite infested culture and left it in a tank with my Auratus. They spent 10 hours eating mites off the container wall that were too small for me to see.


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## OneTwentySix (Nov 11, 2004)

Rain_Frog said:


> Can you feed out mites to baby thumbnails and baby tricolor?


I'm working on a project identifying the diet of newly metamorphed toads, and while I've only looked at the gut contents from four toads so far, mites are making up a large majority of their diet. Given this, I'd imagine that there's a similar diet in metamorphed dart frogs in the wild since mites are so common. 

Mites are in the same order as ticks, but I don't think the mites we encounter are going to be vertebrate parasites (or at least, harmful parasites.) Still, mites are a very diverse group and there are some parasitic mites that can cause problems in animals. Springtails are probably better feeder items, especially given that mites can be a huge pest to springtails and fruit flies.


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## Guest (Feb 22, 2006)

ok what is the deal with mites 
how do you know you have them in your culture 
and what do they do to a culture?


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

You can see them if you look really close. If the tiny white dots move then its most likely mites. If you get them bad you can see the top of the cultures start to look brown or off white.


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## Guest (Feb 22, 2006)

huh...

petco tried to sell me a culture with mites in it...lol
(based on your description)

some jst come like that he says
so i says it doesnt look right and i didnt buy it


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## JoshKaptur (Feb 17, 2004)

Several people, including myself on two separate occasions, have had success starting new [mite free] cultures from infested cultures. Dust the flies like you are going to feed, and then strain them through a wire collander or similar sieve (spelling??). Repeat several times, and then introduce flies to new culture. The dust knocks the mites off, which then pass through the sieve into the trash. You will need to place your new cultures on mite paper and preferably away from where your old cultures were. Throw away the old ones.

I purchased the three morphs of flies I keep once, and despite two mite infestations, have never had to start fresh.


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## Darryl (Dec 2, 2005)

FF kept near or on the vivs tend to exibit a higher degree of mite infestation than others. This maybe due to the fact that there will alwyas be a might population around nomatter how small. Conditins in the vivs are suitable for mites so they will migrate to nearby FF cultures.


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## Blort (Feb 5, 2005)

I would add that what Daryl is saying also applies to spring tail cultures. I was having some mite problems and noticed that the mites were breeding in the springtail culture and migrating to the FF cultures.

I simply separated the two and haven't had any other infestations (though I do get the occasional mites on FF cultures pushing 30 days). I would also add that I have in the span of about a year never reordered flies and reused the same cultures after 2 or 3 mite incidents. I simply dust them like Josh said, but don't even bother with a sieve. I just swish the FF around in a feeder cup with vitamin/calcium powder and start a new culture. There was a post on FrogNet that the dust asphyxiates the mites.

The key, I believe, is not allowing the cultures to age to much beyond 30 days. I don't use any chemicals and keep FF cultures in a plastic drawer box. If I do notice mites, I sometimes fill the bottom 1" of the drawer with water until I get around to dealing with it.

Marcos


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## sports_doc (Nov 15, 2004)

*.01% Benzyl Benzoate*

.01% Benzyl Benzoate or Tedion question?


So, I need some advice on how others have used Benzyl Benzoate to treat 'mited' cultures...?

I plan on making new cultures today (I make ~10/wk) and my plan is to cut 2x2 inch pieces of thin cardboard, soak them in a few drops (say 5-10) of the soln, let it dry and place the boards 'on edge' in the center of the cuture media...

Sound, sound? to you....other suggestions? or did I just describe how to use Tedion? or can both be used similarly INSIDE the culture? 

I use mite paper already, I have way too many cxs to 'run' the mites at this point....so I must resort to chemical warfare. 

Thanks

Shawn


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## stchupa (Apr 25, 2006)

I take it your using prepared media? Mites are no problem if your ffs culture is healthy or seeded enough to keep ahead.


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## ErikB113 (Aug 26, 2007)

the benzoate is not harmfull to the flies?


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## 311_dart (May 20, 2006)

I know that tedion can be used inside, but have *not *had success with the benzoate as an inside deterrent. 
I have had great success with 1) throwing away cultures older than 20-30 days 2) lining the shelf with cardboard which was soaked with benzoate, then dried 3) feeding my springtail cultures with only straight bakers yeast

I have also started mite free cultures from invaded ones, using the technique noted earlier by Blort. sorry for reiterating what everyone else said, but it is what works for me!


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## GSXR_MURRHEE (Sep 16, 2006)

Okay this is probably a very, very stupid question :roll: , but here goes anyway. Say you have an infested FF culture, could you just spray something like one of the commercial products (something like natural chemistry, or the four paws bird stuff) into the infected culture to kill the mites? Or would it kill the flies and/or harm the frogs? Just wondering (plus I have mites and am looking for an easy way out, lol).


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