White mites in cricket bins !!!! Oh my !

[flybyferns]

Yikes !

I had white mites---by the billions, I'm sure--- in one of my three cricket bins and on the lids to the bins.
I store my bins under the vivs on the tank rack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a mess!

Problem is ...........I gave my poor frogs crickets from the bin for at least 2 nights in a row!
I saw 'a few' in the red eye and moreletii enclosures , ( not the froglets) which means these little - you know whats-
are likely there by the gazillions! They are no-see-ems !

I have gone through:
-4 gallons of de-chlor water
- I pulled every plant and rinsed
-pulled the substrate ( which I do on Saturday anyway)
-flooded the floor of the of the vivs w/ a solution of 250 mg metronidazole: 18 oz of water and let it sit for a few hours/rinsed
-then sprayed down and wiped down every inch of the glass.
-ditched every cricket (set free in the back yard !)
-hosed down the bins

hours -- HOURS - I just finished ! The enclosures are so clean - they squeak!

I am totally wigged-out!
I bet the little ( add word here ) are STILL in my enclosures!

[arielgasca420]

dont freak out yet, these mites may not be as bad as you may think. these white mites are decomposers, they do not care about blood. I had these in my worm bin and I didnt mind them until they started to overpopulate.
black and red mites are the kind you need to freak out about.
Use a melon rind or something watery. they will swarm around it and then you toss it away. no matter how much you clean, disinfect, and sterlize your area they still find their way back.

[flybyferns]

Thanks , very much for your reply ! I think !!
That's what I am afraid of .
When there is one - lord knows, how many are really in there!!!!!!!!!!!

[arielgasca420]

they do breed rapidly. Within a week I had hundreds in my worm bin. if you keep putting slices of fruit and then just tossing it outside that should keep the numbers down.
think of them as free labor. they are working to break down all the dead stuff and debris in your cricket box. To keep them out just make sure that you clean the cricket bin regularly. I clean mine at least once a week. no mites yet.

[GrifTheGreat]

Yep these are decomposers. Problem with them is that they multiply by the thousands. Even will cling to the crickets and get a free ride to your frogs enclosures and begin to multiply in there. Can be quite a nuisance.

[flybyferns]

Yep these are decomposers. Problem with them is that they multiply by the thousands. Even will cling to the crickets and get a free ride to your frogs enclosures and begin to multiply in there. Can be quite a nuisance.

Hi Grif,
Tell me about it. I'm NOT a happy camper !
I have been purchasing my crickets from a new pet store??????
One I like very much !

You know how I am w/ this stuff!
Remember , I do not use substrate !
If I have to empty my tanks , carry them out to the driveway and spray them down w/ with the hose , I WILL !
sigh !

[GrifTheGreat]

Hi Grif,
Tell me about it. I'm NOT a happy camper !
I have been purchasing my crickets from a new pet store??????
One I like very much !

You know how I am w/ this stuff!
Remember , I do not use substrate !
If I have to empty my tanks , carry them out to the driveway and spray them down w/ with the hose , I WILL !
sigh !

Yeah. Mites can be hard to get rid of. I've gotten them with my crickets before. Not fun.

[flybyferns]

Sigh!
Well this has turned out to be am absolutely tremendous amount of work.
I have cleaned the enclosures thoroughly 2 days in a row .
I don't see any. Ha! BUT I BET THEY ARE THERE!!!!
By the way, the mites die on contact when sprayed w/ my 250 mg of Metronidazole: 18 oz of distilled water concoction.
(0f which I use to clean the interior glass, bowls etc 2X a month anyway)

I removed the crickets bins form the area they were, for now.

We will see. It only takes a couple..................to make more of the mini beasts !

Lynn

[FrogLoving17]

Do mites fly? Lol because I had a couple of black bugs in my cricket bin about two weeks ago but I don't see any now

[Wicked frogs]

got a pic of the mites

[flybyferns]

got a pic of the mites

No, they are gone at the moment.
The were so small I don't know if I would be able to photograph them?
I acted very quickly, put the bins in lawn bags right where they we setting.
I did not want to take even one step with them through the basement.
Extremely small, the dot of a ball point pen.
White-ish.
Did not notice any jumping or flying.

[GrifTheGreat]

Do mites fly? Lol because I had a couple of black bugs in my cricket bin about two weeks ago but I don't see any now

No mites do not fly. Some can kind of hop, but they mostly just crawl.

[Murray of the Deep]

No, they are gone at the moment.
The were so small I don't know if I would be able to photograph them?
I acted very quickly, put the bins in lawn bags right where they we setting.
I did not want to take even one step with them through the basement.
Extremely small, the dot of a ball point pen.
White-ish.
Did not notice any jumping or flying.

i got bitten by those last time they hop and cling to your skin, so i just threw all my fishfood and feed some to the fishies.

[Heatheranne]

Oh geez Lynn! That stinks! Ugh! And I thought my baby cricket outbreak was bad. Hopefully you can keep them to a minimum. I have found that using nylon over my cricket tank lid keeps the little buggers out when I had fruit flies sneak in.

[sajane]

are these grain mites? from too much moisture?

[Frog Tropics]

Have you tried mite paper? Carolina Biological retails in some inexpensive mite paper I believe, which is very effective at keeping mites at bay...