Dart Den
Serving the Dart Frog Community Since 2004...
Dart Den

Serving the Dart Frog Community Since 2004...

Best quick anti -mite prevention for Fruit Fly cultures
Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Best quick anti -mite prevention for Fruit Fly cultures
#1
1. Don't keep cultures longer than 5-6 weeks. If you really want to minimize mites, discard cultures after 4 weeks.

2. Always use fresh mite paper. Change the paper every 5-6 months. Common colour of paper is blue.

3. Do not stack the culture cups or even allow them to touch each other. Mites can walk from one to the other and congregate under the lid lip - waiting to fall inside when you open the lid.

4. Keep FF cultures seperate from other feeder insects and dry goods. Don't house FF's in closets or bins or other closed containers. Mites walk and can congregate in corners or on sides of containers.

MOST LIKEY source of mite infestation ?

A new culture, freshly made, using a mite ridden culture to seed it.
https://www.facebook.com/dartden/

https://twitter.com/DartDen


"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana".
Reply
#2
Where do you get mite paper?
Need a Website? PM Me for more information.

Recent Hobby Clients - DartDen.com, Rainforestherps.com
Reply
#3
First....remember, mites are common and are virtually everywhere. Show me the guy that claims that his cultures have never had a mite infestation and I'll show you a fibber. Everyone gets mites sooner or later. They are merely an inconvenience in the hobby, nothing more unless you develop an allergy to them and get extraordinarily itchy.

anyhoo...

Mite paper:

http://www.buyfruitflies.com/shop_antimite.html

http://www.carolina.com/product/life+sc ... ft+roll.do
https://www.facebook.com/dartden/

https://twitter.com/DartDen


"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana".
Reply
#4
Not sure where to post this but I spray the outside and lids of my micro fauna tubs down with Proventamite and have not had an issue since, this way the tubs can be stacked and kept all on one rack.

Michael
Everyday I meet someone I dislike, are you today's pick? If you dislike me it's because somethings wrong with you!

Don't Be A Hybridiot!
Reply
#5
I had mites get into cultures when I was keeping them in those plastic drawers. I filled about a half inch of water in each drawer thinking that would keep them contained. Eventually I just moved the whole set up to the garage and forgot about it. Eventually every drawer had a light brown mat completely covering the surface of the water. It was pure mites! I sprayed the whole thing down with mite spray and eventually tossed it. Now I just spray the outside of the container then wipe it down with a paper towel and then place the cultures on a paper towel that has been sprayed with mite spray. Haven't had a outbreak since (fingers crossed)
"He that is slow to believe anything and everything is of great understanding, for belief in one false principle is the beginning of all unwisdom" LaVey
Reply
#6
Ya know....my eye lids have been itching almost non stop for 9 months now. Its been, at times, unbearable, i figured allergies of some kind, but nothing the doctors have given me has worked. Reading your post about the light brown matt in the water, i know thats what i have. I better get some spray.
1.5 kids and a bunch of frogs
Reply
#7
yeah, I'm not a big fan of water for that reason. The grain mite, or most mites I would think, are so light that the don't break the surface tension of water and could form a raft with their bodies.
https://www.facebook.com/dartden/

https://twitter.com/DartDen


"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana".
Reply
#8
Bumping this.....my Buddy Captain Ron had a few mite related questions.

also

Blue mite paper is fairly safe. I would say it's proximity to frog Vivs would not be a problem. I wouldn't set a viv directly on it, on touching it....but as far as fumes ect....I don't see any issues.
https://www.facebook.com/dartden/

https://twitter.com/DartDen


"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana".
Reply
#9
Being a bug nerd I am going to add to this one...

Discard old cultures after 28 days. It takes about 28 days for most of the mites sp. we see in our cultures to reach sexual maturity. A few mites in a culture can lay hundreds of eggs so if you toss out your culture before the hatchlings are mature enough to mate and lay eggs, you can stop them from taking over a culture.

While this doesn't eradicate mites, it does keep them from BOOMING. I dont think it is possible to completely eradicate mites from cultures.

I create a new culture every 10 days and throw out cultures that reach 30 days, which is a few days after the mites have the potential to boom, but I keep extra cultures going so I'm not concerned. I remove and freeze all the FF's in 30 day cultures and wash them out with a bleach solution.
Reply
#10
I was just on josh's frogs not long ago. in their kit, they have vented lids. so, i'm guessing that this isn't a good thing as it'll let in mites?

also are you guys/gals reusing the cups?

starting to get scared of starting messing with bugs in the house to feed the frogs. i haven't started anything yet as getting as much research as possible before doing anything but it seems as though i'll be getting mites from the feeding cultures. not sure if i'll be able to do that. wifey will kill me.
Jon
1.0.6 D. Leucomelas
0.0.2 D. Azureus
Reply
#11
No....vented lids are awesome and that's what's needed for FF culturing. The vents on those lids are "fabric" / somesort of strong polymer stuff that holds up really well but is too fine and tight of a weave to allow mites to get thru.

cup use / re-use:

polls-f63/poll-plastic-culture-cup-use-t4642.html?hilit=reuse

Mites = no big deal.
https://www.facebook.com/dartden/

https://twitter.com/DartDen


"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana".
Reply
#12
EntoCraig Wrote:Being a bug nerd I am going to add to this one...

Discard old cultures after 28 days. It takes about 28 days for most of the mites sp. we see in our cultures to reach sexual maturity. A few mites in a culture can lay hundreds of eggs so if you toss out your culture before the hatchlings are mature enough to mate and lay eggs, you can stop them from taking over a culture.

While this doesn't eradicate mites, it does keep them from BOOMING. I dont think it is possible to completely eradicate mites from cultures.

I create a new culture every 10 days and throw out cultures that reach 30 days, which is a few days after the mites have the potential to boom, but I keep extra cultures going so I'm not concerned. I remove and freeze all the FF's in 30 day cultures and wash them out with a bleach solution.

Craig, I have been doing the same thing, as well as, only using the newest cultures to make additional cultures. I have not had any ff realted mite issues since starting this method 1 year ago and my cultures seem to do very well. I have heard the only using th newest cultures to make additional cultures can result in a crash, as you are essentially selectively breeding the ff's but I have not seen any evidence to support that claim.
Reply
#13
The ones that make you itch are the red mites and they are a bitch to get rid of.
Keep your cultures on a countertop or other surface that can be wiped down often.
Dust your flies and tap off the extra dust before using them for a new culture. This is the same as chickens taking a dust bath to rid themselves from mites. The dust knocks them off their ride.
Don't keep your cultures in rooms w/ rugs. Linoleum or something easily mopped is best.
Don't buy the cheap potato flakes that aren't sealed in a bag. They are open to contamination in the worst places for who knows how long.
Using these methods I've been mite free for years.

I don't think that using flies only from fresh cultures results in cultures that can't handle hi nitrogen loads. If HW theory is correct and you start w/ enough flies to capture the alleles present then they shouldn't change. It's the same alleles that should be there 3-5 generations later if you'd select from the later generations. I haven't had it happen in 10 + years that I know of. If it does then you can dust a later generation that can handle higher nitrogen and keep going from there. Although I don't know why anyone would want the flies that can clean up the waste at the end. Personally for the cost of $.10 a culture I'd rather double the medium and throw it out halfway thru if I want more flies out of my cultures.
"I don't want to believe, I want to know" Carl Sagan(my fav. stonerSmile
Reply
#14
Just to be sure I understand -- we should be dusting our flies when making new cultures (in addition to dusting them to feed)?

I've somehow totally missed this step...
Reply
#15
Some people dust their FF prior to making a new culture, and as Aaron said, it knocks off the mites and they dessicate quickly when covered and contained in powder.

I've never used this step and many hobbyists do not either. It's totally up to you, as with the four other suggestions above.

All precautions and procedures are good to employ or experiment with.
https://www.facebook.com/dartden/

https://twitter.com/DartDen


"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana".
Reply
#16
Thanks Phil!

I think I'll try dusting one of my cultures and marking it the next few times I prep flies, and see if it makes a difference in my production. All I'm doing for mites so far is using mite paper, and trying to make sure I don't use my oldest or newest producing cultures to seed new ones.

I'm also curious about the "double the medium and throw it out halfway through" part -- I've never tried changing the volume of my media (I just use the directions on the media I'm using) -- does increasing the media increase production? Also, does this mean the culture crashes sooner? Production in my cultures seems to drop off sharply at about three weeks; it'd be nice to extend this out another week or so.
Reply
#17
I have been doing the dusting method to rid my cultures of mites as much as possible for awhile now and I have to say it works good. I had to learn how to do this, because i ordered about 100 dollars worth of fruit flies and they arrived infested with mites. Big ones at that! Once those cultures reached my other cultures, it was just a downhill effect. Every culture crashed because of the mite infestation. I am now as mite free as possible. I also use mite paper and the spray to help control any mites that are lurking around my cultures. I cant stand mites. Its a never ending battle.


@ Chuck, I have tried doubling the media and personally i hate to waste things and eventually it will get mites as well. You will notice your cultures lasting longer, but at the price of mites. I re-use my personal FF cups and if you leave any left over media in the containers it will just be a mite breeding ground.
Reply
#18
Thanks Sam!

I'll have to do some tests increasing the media too, I guess. So far, I've not been re-using cups, so that's not ben an issue for me...
Reply
#19
doubling the media was for the supposed effect of your flies not being able to handle hi nitrogen loads because you always used the first boom of flies to make new cultures. No one has been able to confirm this. I just said you could use more medium if this happens. you wouldn't want to do this normally as one preventative to mites is not keeping them around for more than a month.
"I don't want to believe, I want to know" Carl Sagan(my fav. stonerSmile
Reply
#20
Chuck, thanks for asking that question. I, too, never heard of dusting FFs when making a new culture. I will do that now, and see if there is a difference. I'm also confused about......I had read on here that to make a new culture use the newly hatched flies...............it's worked for me so far! But now I see that you don't use either new or old flies? I've used the first hatch flies and so far, I've never even seen a mite. So what's up? OK to use the 2nd round of flies in a FF culture for new cultures?
P. Terribilis orange, R. Imitator Cainarachi Valley, D. Leucomelas, D. Auratus, D. Azureus, P. vittatus, D. cobalts, D.Oyapok, Bombina Orientalis
Reply



User Panel Messages

Announcements
Announcement #1 8/1/2020
Announcement #2 8/2/2020
Announcement #3 8/6/2020