# Bean beetles and mites



## Marinarawr (Jan 14, 2009)

Ok so here's my dilemma... My only bean beetle culture that's still producing has started to mold over and is INFESTED with mites. As stupid as it sounds, I didn't even realize until last week that the little brown specks in my fruit fly cultures were also mites... so I'm in the middle of a huge war on mites. Anyway... Here's my question: How do I extract enough bean beetles from this culture to start a new one without getting the mites too? I know I should've had a few going in the first place so I can throw out the moldy ones but one of the two I had never produced at all, so I just kept waiting on it. If anyone has any additional wisdom on the best way to keep the cultures from molding, feel free to throw that in as well . Thanks in advance!


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## lamaster (Mar 22, 2008)

It is really hard to rid infected cultures of mites. It is almost worthwhile to start over.


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## Marinarawr (Jan 14, 2009)

On both counts? That would really be a pain but it surely would be easier than trying to "outrun" these mites.... I've been itchy ever since I caught on!


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

You need to be able to use a insect that has a life cycle shorter than the mites to be able to out run it. I don't think you can with the bean beetles. 

I stopped keeping my fruit flies in the same area as my other insect cultures due to outbreaks as the mites would seed in from the other cultures. 

You may be able to salvage the bean beetles by choosing non-mold beans and setting them up in a drier new culture to deter the mites from blooming. 

Ed


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## vrmarkii (May 20, 2009)

Marinarawr said:


> I didn't even realize until last week that the little brown specks in my fruit fly cultures were also mites...


These Brown specs... Is it real fine dusty looking stuff? If thats the case I got them too. I just assumed it was crap the FF larva got all over the sides of the culture.


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## frogfreak (Mar 4, 2009)

vrmarkii said:


> These Brown specs... Is it real fine dusty looking stuff? If thats the case I got them too. I just assumed it was crap the FF larva got all over the sides of the culture.


If it's not moving it's crap. If it's moving it's mites.


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## vrmarkii (May 20, 2009)

lol thanks.
Marinarawr I've not cultured bean beetles before but have you thought of adding some woodlice to the culture? Maybe just a few when you start a new culture as a preventitve measure. Just a thought.


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## Corpus Callosum (Apr 7, 2007)

I usually get mites from really old beans, so the best way to avoid this is instead of seeding new cultures with beans, seed them with just the beetles. Then you can eventually dispose of the beans (a good practice would be to freeze them first so you don't aid the spread of a pest in your local area).

If you seed cultures too strongly with beetles (i.e. they lay multiple eggs per bean) then the developing larvae will generate substantial heat (3 week old beans will be quite warm to the touch) and this leads to condensation in the culture which then leads to the moldy beans. This is only in my experience, but I've best avoided mold by seeding cultures lighter so they don't generate excessive heat. Instead of keeping the cultures in FF containers, I also keep them in jars with fine mesh lids that allows more air to ventilate than the FF container lids.


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## Marinarawr (Jan 14, 2009)

vrmarkii: Yep it looks like fine brown specs. I just assumed it was poop... Then I got a little 100x microscope for fun. I knew I had white mites but had read that they weren't really a problem. I thought I'd look at the white mites under the scope and when I did I got an eye full of tiny brown mites . I really can't even see them moving unless I look under the scope. As a side note: organic bug repellents do not work to deter mites from spreading .


Corpus Callosum: Thanks for the tips! I was wondering why my cultures were molding over so quickly even though I kept them in dry areas with no added moisture. I'll try keeping them in jars or at least something with much more air flow. I'm having limited luck getting new cultures going from fewer beetles. The last one I tried using only a dozen beetles or so just petered out. At least my frogs aren't very fond of them yet so I'm not at so much of a loss.... Thanks again!


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

A way around the heat/moisture issue may be to culture them in a container like a shoebox with most of the lid cut out and replaced with a fine meshed screen. That way it will have a greater amount of surface area and ventilation to disperse the heat and moisture unlike a culture cup. 

Ed


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