breeding mealworm question

[dmreptiles]

to day i checked one of my shoe boxes with mealworms in it and found a whole bunch of little bugs. has anyone had this little white bugs crawling around. i threw it away :main_thumbsdown:

 

[hopingforbabies]

If they were beetles,they were adult mealworms that would've bred.

 

[dmreptiles]

bugs

no they were not beetles . these are really small unless there is a swarm of them i wouldnt have noticed them.

 

[Bridget1569]

I read a post awhile ago where someone found small bugs in their mealie tub. I think it turned out to be some kind of grain mite.

 

[dmreptiles]

bugs

:main_thumbsdown: i think that is what it is

 

[hopingforbabies]

What did you use for bedding?

 

[acpart]

I had some problems with tiny white bugs a few summers ago. They were so small that a bunch of them just looked like white fuzz. They seemed to do in my mealworms in that container. I think they came because the containers were too humid. I had to get rid of all the mealworms in that container.

Aliza

 

[bitterbeauty]

I had the same problem not to long ago. I first noticed them on the potatoes that I put in there for moisture. They gave me the creeps. Here is was I did to rid them. I got a kitchen colander/strainer and shifted out the mealworms from the bedding. I threw the bedding away and took and rinsed off my mealworms for about 30 seconds with lukeworm water. I got a new container and set it up with new bedding and put the mealworms in it. I have not yet added a moisture source to that bin because grain mites are attracted to moisture. The mealworms will be okay because they can survive with little to no moisture. That seems to take care of the problem. Be careful not to contaniminate your other mealworm/beetle bins. I recommend doing this whole process outside as well. GOOD LUCK.

 

[Emu]

most of the time when people get grain mites they have to throw the whole culture out, but hopefully bitterbeauty's method will work, i've never had to deal with grain mites myself. if you feed your mealworms livestock feed like i do (bulk wheat bran or oats, way cheaper that way), there's a good chance you could have introduced the grain mites with the feed, a good way to avoid that is to microwave the food before you give it to them, i doubt there would be any grain mites in a container of oatmeal if that's what you're using. grain mites can pop up out of nowhere if it's humid enough though, some people keep their mealworm contains in a dish of soapy water to avoid them, others just keep a few separate mealworm cultures so that if one gets infected they can dispose of them without killing all of their bugs.