How do I avoid mites in oat mealworms?

[migdem]

I bought Quaker Oats for the mealworms collony bedding. Should I freeze them or what should I do?

Right now they are in the freezer. If this is the right method to kill any mites that I might have how much should I leave it?

Or else is there something else that I could do?

 

[clemsonguy1125]

When I buy oats, I have never had any issues with mites. I ust toss them in the blender and powder them, then toss in my mealworm container. If you have mites I would just through out the oats and buy another can.

 

[gothra]

I bake all grain products before I use them. If your relative humidity is lower than 40% then I don't think you need to worry. Otherwise, I strongly suggest you either bake or microwave them. Freezing might work too, but wouldn't it get moist when defrosted?

 

[fl_orchidslave]

Grocery stores that do a high volume business are much less likely to have bugs in their dry goods. For instance,stores like k-mart, may have that stuff for a much longer period of time, making it more leaving exposed to bugs during store shelf life. Same with dry beans, rice, sugar, cornmeal, etc.

 

[migdem]

Ok so I better bake them for 30 minutes right? Also should I blender them?

 

[TokayKeeper]

Grocery stores that do a high volume business are much less likely to have bugs in their dry goods. For instance,stores like k-mart, may have that stuff for a much longer period of time, making it more leaving exposed to bugs during store shelf life. Same with dry beans, rice, sugar, cornmeal, etc.

I've dealt with grain mites before from both stores that move product well and stores that don't. The grain mites are, in my experience, more so a supplier issue before the product even makes it to packaging that the actual store. This is even more so the case as products like oats and wheat germ are sealed air tight. Grain mite eggs can also survive freezing, tried that route too. Baking is about the only route to avoid them at the physical product level.

Gothra also hit the other issue -- relative humidity. You must keep your relative humidity low. I thought that simply drilling tons of ventilation holes in my tubs was going to be enough here in bone dry New Mexico and it wasn't. The ultimate remedy was cutting out about 50% of my sterilite tub lids and riveting screen mesh (I used 1/4 inch hardware clothe) onto the lid. The mealie tubs still stay high enough in humidity for the worms to undergo proper metamorphosis, but I've not dealt with grain mites in close to a year; that's also without me having to bake either oats or wheat germ, which equates to not losing any more nutrients* further due to baking.

*cooking/freezing are modes of food preparation that result in the denaturing of various nutrients within the food.