Got my meal worms ready to make my farm--questions

[azygous]

Does anyone know how to get rid of grain mites in a colony of meal worms?

I'm cursed with an explosion of these mites in every tray of worms and beetles I have. The mites are white and seen with the naked eye, appear like grains of dust. If seen through a magnifying lens, they have legs and are on the move. When a carrot is placed in the tray of wheat bran and worms, the mites are drawn to the carrot, and after a few days, cover it, looking just like white fuzzy mold. Except they're all crawling around.

Is there anything I can do to get rid of these mites short of throwing out the entire colony of beetles and worms and starting all over with fresh worms and bedding that has been mircrowaved to kill mite eggs?

 

[laughingdog]

Does anyone know how to get rid of grain mites in a colony of meal worms?

I'm cursed with an explosion of these mites in every tray of worms and beetles I have. The mites are white and seen with the naked eye, appear like grains of dust. If seen through a magnifying lens, they have legs and are on the move. When a carrot is placed in the tray of wheat bran and worms, the mites are drawn to the carrot, and after a few days, cover it, looking just like white fuzzy mold. Except they're all crawling around.

Is there anything I can do to get rid of these mites short of throwing out the entire colony of beetles and worms and starting all over with fresh worms and bedding that has been mircrowaved to kill mite eggs?

switch to moist potting soil and they will die off. the mites can clog and hide in the breathing holes and crevices of the worms and beetles, so they need to be schlubbed off and killed by the moist dirt they cannot seem to take. your mealworms and beetles will actually do better in soil also, except need some what dry for pupating. i used to use mealworms for dry composting and they did too well, much much better than bran/meal ect, with just potato or carrots, and ate all the compost of every type of organic waste down to hardly nothing but fine "soil", orange peels until really hungry, bones exoskelotons/shells.