1st mealworm colony question

[jmntlbn]

I have gotten my first batch of worms and they are eating and growing. I have noticed that the dirt(poo) moves. looks like there are millions of very small bug like critters moving about in the dirt and moving up the side of the container. Is this normal or something gone wrong. Again this is my first attempt at growing mealworms . Any help would be appreciated. I dont want to feed anything bad to my leo's.

 

[acpart]

Hate to say it , but it's probably grain mites. They tend to show up when it's hot and humid and they really infest. Do a search on the forums for grain mites and you'll find some other fellow sufferers. Short of throwing out the colony, you could try this (though it's tedious):
--pick out as many worms as you can and try to rub them off in case they have some mites on them
--dump everything else
--wash the container, the cover and everything around where it was with really hot water
--dry everything and set up the container again with new gutload and the worms
--pray that they don't come back.

Aliza

 

[jmntlbn]

thank you for the info. I just dumped the whole thing. I hope these things wont infest my house.

 

[sunshinegeckos]

this is why I wont have my own mealworm colony. Its too hot and humid in Florida I would be afraid that I would get infested with mites. Sorry you had to do that!

 

[fl_orchidslave]

I have worm colonies in an 85-90 degree room (in Florida) and have never had a mite issue. Here's why humidity issues occur- worms generate a lot of heat moving around constantly, and when kept in a closed container (even if it's ventilated) moisture builds up. And that's the humidity issue. Simple solution- don't use lids. In a drawer system, leave the drawers at least 1/3 completely open. If there are other animals (cats or dogs) that would get into open containers, put them on a high shelf. The worms cannot escape as long as there's not too much bedding.

 

[acpart]

I think that the lid issue leading to humidity causes the problem a lot of the time, but I've had intermittent problems with crickets kept in critter keepers (or faunariums) with those really well ventilated lids as well.

Aliza