Mite Explosion !

[Chuck4th]

So I moved my P. truncatus trio from the breeding chamber to a larger habitat for egg laying and was greeted with an explosion of mites. There are clusters of reddish brown mites on the beetles and whitish ones in the condensation up the sides of the enclosure.

I plan to isolate the adults in small boxes and try brushing the mites off of them. What should I put in with them? Damp paper towels, cardboard tubes, etc? I don't want to expose any more of my substrate to this infestation, or reinfest the beetles with infested substrate.

I also plan to heat treat the substrate. Should I bother looking for eggs? They have only been in there about a week.

Are there any natural controls available? Hypoaspis were suggested, but i guess it's hard to maintain a large enough population for effective control.

Also, can anyone point me to a comprehensive, step by step guide to dealing with this explosion? There is a ton of mite references on the forum, but I want to get right to dealing with this, not spend all night reading.

HELP!

Thanks,

Chuck

 

[Beetle-Experience]

Chuck,

Tell us about your setup, specifically the substrate and what additives / food you added.

Move them to any kind of dry substrate - like a container with paper towels. Move the breeding container away from any other containers. You can do a quick check for eggs but I doubt there will be any - they usually oviposit in the fall.

Orin has done a lot of work and a lot of writing both on mite problems and on breeding P.t.

http://www.angelfire.com/oh3/elytraandantenna

https://sites.google.com/site/dynastinaebook/

Here is a mite brush specifically designed to remove mites from beetles:

http://beetlesource.com/index.php/supplies/product/5-mite-brush

 

[Ratmosphere]

You can use a children's paintbrush to get them off and then squash them. Replace the substrate but heat treat it first. You can do this in the microwave but make sure to put it in a ziplock container that is microwave safe. After doing this for a while my mite infestations were eradicated.