#grain mites

[tymons-purgatory]

Top 2 uses for Vaseline

Good for chafed skin due to blowing my nose too much (soothes it)

most invertebrates cant climb over it and fall back down (except for grain mites because they are one of the 5 spawns of satan himself)

[jennrosefx]

It never ends...

Fever is gone but the sore throat and general exhausted crappiness remains. I forced myself off the couch for the first time in a couple days to spritz and feed the spiders. I pick up the fruit fly container and find it SWARMING with grain Mites. Like, not just a few inside the culture... the outside of the container was covered. I just looked at it a few days ago and swear it wasn’t like that. Jesus Christ.

The container is now double bagged and in the freezer. But now I’m staring at my bug tower, home to 21 spiders and tarantulas and two crested geckos and realizing the very real possibility of having to quarantine everyone and put whatever cages I can fit in the freezer for the next week.

But my throat is killing me and I just want to sleep. I don’t see any obvious Mites in any of the cages (which I realize means nothing, but at least they aren’t obviously infested like the fly container was). I think tomorrow I’ll gut and scrub the geckos as they were closest to the container and keep an eye on everyone for now. I just don’t have the stamina to attack it all. Maybe this weekend.

I want to cry. I know they’re not harmful to my animals, but I also don’t want my house infested with mites. Yeah, I’m gonna let myself cry.

Stupid mites are stupid.

[ratfarm]

I’ve mentioned grain mites in passing but I haven’t gotten into the details, so here’s the lowdown on a problematic critter.

Grain mites are very small and insanely prolific insects that get into grain, feed, flour, etc. They can destroy a store room of livestock food and hitch a ride into your kitchen. These were the bane of my existence for the past year at the feed store.

Grain mites turn the feed and can make animals sick. The first sign of an infestation is an off or sour smell in the feed room, rather than the normal pleasant sweet grainy smell. To confirm mite activity look at the stitching on the ends of bags. At the holes where the thread goes through you will see mounds of fluffy tan dust. A little bit of dust is normal (feed is dusty) but mites will appear in fluffed up piles and if you examine these closely you’ll see them moving. The first image shows the bag stitching with piles emerging. The second photo shows a pile of mites that’s fallen onto a bag on a shelf below the bags they were initially infested. The third photo shows the mites themselves, they are easiest to see on the dark part of the label. They are very small specks, barely visible to the naked eye, apparent by their movement.

Grain mites are a royal pain in the ass. They are so small that they can be flung like dust and spread far and wide so sweeping them isn’t advised. They require a moisture source in their food and go after sweet feeds containing wet molasses or anything that gets damp. Their populations explode in hot and humid conditions and they literally move in waves from one location to the next.

The easiest way to deal with mites is to not let them into your storage. Inspect all bags and feed both when you buy them as well as routinely. Pull anything at the first sign of trouble and clean the area well. Vacuuming works best but be sure not to leave a vacuum full of mites in the same place you’re cleaning.There is not a single chemical you can spray that is safe to put in contact with feed and still effective at killing mites, making them difficult to eradicate from the environment, but knowing their living requirements will help slow them down. Cold and dry are key. Switching to feeds made with a powdered molasses also makes a big difference. I will share with you a method I pioneered that I haven’t heard of anyone else using and the exterminator I was working with called “brilliant”.

Get out the Diatomaceous earth and start dusting it everywhere! DE, a fine powder cheaply available from farm and garden centers is the fossilized remains of diatoms or marine phytoplankton. Any critter with an exoskeleton will be killed by DE, it damages it and causes them to dehydrate. It’s not dangerous to kids, people, or animals unless you breath it in (like any fine powder) and of course you would’t want it to get blown in your eyes (again, like sand or any fine powder). It can really dry your hands. DE is about as innocuous as they come. I like to add it to chicken dustbaths to combat feather mites and in a mote around the base of my house to keep carpenter ants out. It’s is safe to eat and can be mixed right into feed!

To deal specifically with grain mites I rub it into all the wood shelves/surfaces that contaminated feed was stored on and nearby, into the outsides of bags to keep infestations out or to keep infestations already present from migrating to others, dust it under shelves and hard to reach places where mites can hide and make motes/barriers between affected and clean areas. I use a broom and gloved hands to spread it around. You can buy DE in bulk 50lb. bags and apply it with a cup or similar vessel, shake it carefully so you don’t get a face full of dust and wear a pair of work gloves because it will really dry out your hands. You can also wear a face mask and googles for extra protection. The powder is very fine and soft and will adhere easilly to surfaces. It can be swept or vacuumed later, just give it time for mites to come in contact with it. Unlike pesticides, DE application means your organic feed is still organic and poses no risks to animals. It is also safe to consume. If used outside it won’t be effective when wet, but will start working again once it dries out. It poses no risks to soil but it can hurt beneficial insects like bees (anything with an exoskeleton) so apply it in strategic areas, at the source of problems and not far and wide. It can also be sprinkled in carpets and across thresholds of homes and swept or vacuumed later and makes a great addition to animal/livestock bedding to stop the spread of parasites.

May 17, 2017.

[ratfarm]

Our poor leopard gecko lost his planted tank twice this winter due to grain mites hitching a ride on mealworm substrate, two different sources. I’m down with a lot of bugs but grain mites are so gross and troublesome…

The first time I was on my way to bed when I noticed a wave of those little bastards going up and over the side of the tank. I had to get the whole thing outside and clean the area like crazy but I kept them from invading the other tanks nearby or my food storage pantry in the same room. Had I noticed even a few hours later or the next day after going to sleep, I would’ve had a major problem to deal with.

February 21, 2017.

[deadstardro]

OH NO! GRAIN MITES! At first I saw these little white dots in the water bowl and I would just clean them out regularly thinking it was just dust kicked up from the oats when the beetles were running around the enclosure. After a few days I noticed it getting way dustier all over in places the beetles could not reach. Ultimately, I took a closer look and you wont believe what I saw!!! 

[ejacutastic]

any tips on getting grain mites the FUCK out of my house? I thought I had them gone when I culled all the insects in my house but nooOooOoooo I just walked in on the familiar site of a mite infested insect collection and I’m so pissed?? they were in my calcium dust too which I replaced last time bc of grain mites!!!!!!! FUCK GRAIN MITES

for now I bleached everything I had that could be and I’m not gonna mess with the ones in the environment and just let them die off bc even if you vacuumed them up it wouldn’t kill them so????? they’d just be crawling in the vacuum then?? I guess I can vacuum after the ~2wk period for any eggs. I’m sure I’ve already tracked them all over the house anyways.

gonna have to get new gutload and calcium powder and fucking fuck I’m so itchy too they can’t hurt humans just cause mild dermatitis sometimes but they look so gross it doesn’t even matter

help if u can plz idw to deal with this skin crawly mess anymore times ugh

[recovering-dungeon-lord]

Lizard problem please help????

So as I was feeding my gecko this morning I noticed a lump on the side of one of the mealworms I had put in his dish. I poked the lump with a pin and a bit of puss came out. Freaked, I threw out the worm in question and googled what illnesses and parasites mealworms can get.

I've read that grain mites can infest mealworm bedding, and also spread to other grain products in the house???? I also read that they look like tiny reddish-brown sand, but this is exactly the same description of mealworm  poop that I've seen from various sources??????

How do I tell if I have mites or if it's just mealie poop??? I don't want to throw away perfectly good worms (especially bc I don't have much time this week to go buy more), but I also don't want to hurt my lizard by feeding him sick mealies and/or infest mine and my roommates food with mites??????

HELP

[joanneschix]

So today I found what I think are grain mites in the chicken feed and all over anything around the vicinity. These tiny bugs are so minuscule that, if they stood still, one would not be able to differentiate between them and dust (which is what I mistook it for in the first place). I wanna say there are millions! I feel so grossed out and keep shivering at the thought of them. I cleaned up as best as I could and discarded the old food. There was no saving it. I bought a new bag and I have no idea how I want to store their feed anymore. I am NOT dealing with these mites anymore ruining the food and just plain grossing me out! I feel so defeated