war against 'mites'

[Geo]

I have to admit that I am a bit confused over the issue of mites and PDFs. My mantellas love the red mites that colonize my compost pile bin. It seems to be like candy to them. Do not other PDFs enjoy eating them as well? Is it just a matter of the mites continuously taking over the food cultures (which I can understand of course)?

[Bruce]

It is mostly a matter of mites in the cultures, yes. But I wouldn't necessarily want mites in my vivarium either (I'm sure most are harmless, but still...)

Also.... couldn't the consumption of mites that are on the fruit flies potentially give a small percentage of the frog's toxicity back?

[Geo]

From what I understand from what I read a while back it is only certain mites/ants found in the PDFs natural habitats that contain the alkaloids that PDFs can convert to toxins although don't quote me on that (someone here may know better). I don't let the mites take over the housing. I usually remove a piece of avocado skin from the compost pile that is covered in the red mites. I place it on the "feeding rock" after which the mantellas quickly arrive and consume them all fairly quickly then I remove the avocado skin. Its been my method for a year now and it works fine for me. No mites showing up anywhere else (yet). In part the mantellas are too diligent in paying attention to what food sources are around them to let them escape/take over. I can't see any small/soft bug lasting long in the habitat along side them. If the toxins did return because of their diet (very unlikely from what I read) I have no worries as I almost never handle the mantellas directly, I use hypo surgical gloves when I handle them and I believe their natural toxin levels are not as drastic as other species. As of yet I have never seen any mites on the melanogaster FF that I feed the mantellas. My FF stock has been constantly bred from the original shipment I received from Understory in August. The best and easiest food source I have ever dealt with. I find springtails, meal worms, and crickets a bit more involved when raising them for food.

[tylototriton]

I wouldn't be all that concerned about mites and the frogs. Like Geo said, I think they would be a great food source if nothing else. It has been suggested that poison dart frogs sequester their toxins from mites, but i'm not sure that the mites infesting FF cultures are the same (I think i've found 3 different types of mites in my invertebrate cultures!). I would also be really surprised if captive animals were consuming enough mites to regain toxicity (assuming those they're eating contain the necessary alkaloids).

The biggest problem with having mites in tanks is that they pose a problem for springtails. They notoriously infest springtail cultures as well and can cause them to crash.

Mostly, the biggest problem with mites is that they cause problems with invertebrate cultures. Unfortunately, I think it is nearly impossible to avoid them.

Cheers!
Alex

[kev48584]

from what i hear you can add some distilled white vineagar to your new cultures to kill the mites but i never tried it so i'm not too sure if it works. i usually buy the mite powder which you can find on joshsfrogs site. pretty neat because you put it around the culture and it acts as a barrier.

[Angela P]

I bought some of the mite powder. Does that go on the inside or outside of the container? It just says sprinkle around the base.
Also, where do I get mite paper? Just lost all my cultures to mites. Not a happy camper.

[Angela P]

Never mind where to get the paper. I see the link.

[flybyferns]

I bought some of the mite powder. Does that go on the inside or outside of the container? It just says sprinkle around the base.
Also, where do I get mite paper? Just lost all my cultures to mites. Not a happy camper.

The powder is a good choice ( IMO)
Lightly sprinkle it into a flat/ lid type container such as the lid to a big storage bin.
Cover the powder w/ paper towel . Set the cultures on the paper towel.

Wipe down the entire area where you store the cultures w/ rubbing alcohol.

Remove ALL mite infested cultures - far away- to a completely different area.
Start all new cultures. You DO NOT want to use the ones with with mites to make new cultures.

Old cultures are more prone to have mites.

Get in the habit of moving old cultures to a different location after 1 month.

Make new cultures with those that have been producing for about 10 days ---- this will insure the flies are mature enough to reproduce.

Hope this helps

[Angela P]

Big help! Thanks!!

[Angela P]

All I have is infested cultures at the moment. I'll order new flies and start over. Thanks again.