# Mites in the Superworms - Help



## Guest

Don't know how they got there, Don't know how long they've been here, I sure know I didn't invite them. Noticed them the other day when I was pulling out the tiny baby worms from the beatle bedding for my frogs and there was these itsy bitsy tiny crawling white bugs. ICK GROSS:shock: . I don't know if they are grain mites or bug mites either way I don't want them. And I think they are eating my superworm eggs because my production is dropping way down. Maybe it's my imagaination :roll: but I don't care, how do I get rid of them? Do I have to toss ALL my superworms (beatles and all) and start all over again? Can I use that ProventAMite spray or will that kill my worms too? Please don't tell me these are going to do anything more then add a little extra protien for my darts and not infest their terrariums too. Help!!! :?:


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## AJ_Cann

Where did they come from?
Mites are pretty much everywhere, so could be anything.

Why are they there?
Moisture. They like humidity. Dry the cultures out and the will decline.

Irony is, I'm currently trying to culture mites as a food supplement for thumbnails, and not having much luck!


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## Guest

I'll send em all to you if you want, although they are so tiny I don't know how even a thumnail could find em. 

So does this mean they won't bother my frogs? Because that was my biggest concern.


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## JoshKaptur

I've had superworm mites twice in my life... both times I ended up tossing the entire culture. I did save the beetles, and gave them a through dusting in supplement, which I had heard knocks off the mites, and then picked them out and put them in fresh bedding.

These guys are harmless to everything else, but they can infest a whole room. I've had frog tanks crawling with them (outside of the tanks) and the superworms were a good 30 feet away.

I've been 100% successful at getting rid of them at the first attempt both times. I vacuum everything (including with attachments where I can see them on aquariums) and then wipe everything down, and don't forget to trash the culture and give the culture container a thorough washing.

If you search for "superworm, mites" on this board or on http://boards.aaquaria.com you can see related posts.


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## Guest

Well crap, and I was doing so good with them. :roll: 

Ok well I'm going to get me a couple of cans of mite spray and spray the crap out of the carpet by my desk (I kept them under it) and dump the cultures and start over again.

Thanks for the help.


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## khoff

I have mites, probably the same ones, in my mini-mealworm cultures. I had a horrible infestation. They also seemed to like my rice flour beetle cultures. What I did for now is just put the cultures in a big rubbermaid tub with about an inch of water in the bottom. This way the mites can't really spread, and I can still use my mealworm culture. There are literally millions of dead mites in the bottom of the water. They don't seem to be hurting the population of mealworms. I actually think the mites are attracted to the grain and wheat products more than the worms. Could be wrong though. Hope this helps.


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## JoshKaptur

FWIW I think they were feeding on the oatmeal... because I had them once in superworms (the only feeder insect I had on oatmeal) and the once in superworms and cockroaches (both in oatmeal). These were very small white mites that moved at a slow but steady pace.

I bought some insecticide paper and haven't had a problem since. Keep the container on some insecticide shelf paper.

Josh


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## Guest

Well I don't have oatmeal in there. I actually suspected they came in from the chicken feed I use for the beding. 

I think I'm going to try to pull as many worms and beetles out as possible dust them, clean the containers really REALLY good, toss the old beding and NUKE the new batch of beding (popcorn possibly LOL :lol: ) and see if that doesn't kill the damn things. 

I really hate to have to start all over again because it takes so long to get to the point where I'm at, and if they aren't going to hurt my frogs, rats or anything else I feed them too I don't want to have to do it. Just really creeps me out that they are less then 5" away from my feet as we speak. :?


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## khoff

Ha, I use chicken feed too. That is probably where they come from or at least what they are attracted too. I tried the whole dusting them and starting a new culture. It didn't work. I think your best bet is containing the mites like I previously posted, and continue using the culture like normal. Have your mites affected the cultures production?


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## khoff

PS. I also tried nuking them. Five mintues in a microwave and the damn things were moving around like nothing happened.


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## Arklier

Microwaves work by exciting the water molecules inside food (or whatever). Below a certain amount, there's not enough water in the item to make it heat up. Many small insects can survive nuking, and mites would be no exception.


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## Guest

Ok so nuking won't work.

But since I found the Neem oil I figured if I can't beat them I will control them. I'm going to mix a batch and spray the crap out of the carpet around the cultures after cleaning them out really good. I figure they mites really took off because I was using apples and other veggies for moisture for the beetles and worms. Gotta figure something out or kill the whole plan. Might just do that anyway and move to Confused flour beetles and micro mealworms and Meal Moths to supplement the frogs. I only liked the superworms because my rats went nuts over them, and I used them as a treat that was high in protein for the nursing moms (I breed rats for my snakes, I got the food chain running in my house) :lol:


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## Guest

Oh two other things I forgot to mention 

Yes the mites to seem to affect the production (too bad the frogs won't eat them.)

and

I also have Fruit Flies of all things breeding in my superworms too..... :roll: Too bad I can't figure out how to harvest the suckers.


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