Are you sure the mites that are in the container with the worms will die quickly? I did the whole process and still see a few moving... although it's only been 1 day. I also put Vaseline on the rim of the container they are in so the remaining mites won't escape at the very least. I live in Canada and it's getting too cold to throw the worms outside considering I've left them out there a lot already. I may feed them some split peas to speed up the process.
@@AllHailSeizure90 The goal was to remove the mites by washing the mealworms, then keeping the mealworms in a washed container with (treated/microwaved) little to no media, so it stays dry and not moist. The mites love moist places. I've heard good things about split peas though, i would give that a try if you want to speed up the process. Using Vaseline is a good idea to prevent mites from crawling into the container. Best of luck with your worms
@@diy-projects gotcha' My whole computer desk, monitor, headset, etc had been infested a few weeks ago (looked like dust and nearly didn't realize at first) since the worms were on said desk, but I managed to eradicate them by sanitizing everything 3 times a day for about a week. I imagine it would not have been quite as successful if they had some form of food and moisture as you are suggesting. I'll continue monitoring the container for a few days and go from there. Thanks for the video and quick reply 👍
Hi great video I bought live food from a reptile shop which had grain mites in the bedding and the started getting out i removed the source it’s in my bed room I have been cleaning the area a few times a day only seem to be in one corner is there any tips to get rid of the I have kept the window open to reduce moisture is it just a case of eating for them to die off ? Thank you in advance
I would try to set some 'traps' in addition to what you're doing. Place some wet substrate in many places in the room, allow the grain mites to enter the substrate then once you see some, microwave the heck out of it to kill them all, and throw it away. Keep doing that and you can capture a good amount of them pretty quickly
That would probably be fine. Personally I would do both, as I saw no negative affects on the mealworms when soaking them in water for a short period of time, and that better separates the grain mites because they likely float while the mealworms sink
@@diy-projects I am going to give this a try tomorrow as Im doing the split pea flour but my baby colony is being smashed by the mites and I figure I either wash them or I throw them out into the paddock over a few days including the bedding and let my chickens eat to their hearts content. It’s been crushing to realise tonight just how many mites are actually in this one bin which I am sure populated when I sifted the frass to get out the little meal worms that had be born in the frass bucket. Ive already decided that from now on Im not keeping the frass for weeks to wait and see if babies are born Im just going to put it out into my gardens and not withhold it for so long. Rookie mistake but completely self taught and this was after the pet shop told me that the meal worms would all be sterile and not pupate nor turn into beetles or lay eggs.
Bake your wheat bran or oats in the oven You can look up how to do it There’s some good videos on RUclips aswell Just keep an eye on it and stir a good few times during
I would start by making a separate tank with baked/microwaved oats to kill the mites and then take the adult crickets, wash them off quick somehow with water to get the mites off, and then add them to the new tank. Keep the substrate sparce until you're sure the mites are gone. Keep 2 separate tanks till they all turn to adults and move them to the 2nd tank. That's my best idea for crickets, hope something works for you
Prevention for me has been trying to keep them dry with minimal substrate. I have heard that adding pea flower to their substrate deters the grain mites also. It is definitely do-able to get rid of them, but it sure aint fun
Yes, this will work for superworms too. They wont die in the water. Collect them into a bucket of water. Once you're finished collecting them, wash them out in a sink with a strainer as shown. The mites will all be washed away. After washing you can place them in a bare container to dry off. Then add a bit of substrate as I show in the video. This method worked great for me
@@diy-projects right now thinking to to actually collect all the baby worms I got there without throwing mites everywhere around … I guess the babies can be a few minutes in water also?
@@orenrez655 I would personally think the babies would be fine too, but I didn't test that specifically. I went the opposite route and grabbed all of the adult worms and beetles. Since they're larger, they're easier to handle and I would think more hardy. I left the tiny babies with the mites, and then a few months later, repeated the process with them since they grew.
@@diy-projects I wanna get rid of all lol. Can’t keep them mites here. So far been trying few things to fight them: 1. Double sided tape - works a bit but some of them climb pass through it 2. Put Vaseline - same but it’s a second barrier so it helps some also 3. Cocumber traps - put few slices in for 2-3 hours and the mites are rushing it and cover it by thousands. Then I put them in boiled water and kill them straight. So while I’m doing this, I’m thinking how to move my worms into a safer bin and just throw all the substrate from the large one. It’s an 80liter bin so the mites can be by millions here…
How long did you put them in for? Most insects can be waterlogged for quite a while and then come back to life and be just fine. Ants for example can be submerged for up to a day and then be fine once dried out. I guess that the temperature of the water also matters, was it room temp? Hot water would likely kill them.
@diy-projects as my other comment states, within five minutes many of them died when I tried your method. The water was room temp, but I'm giving them some time to see if they are just waking. Some of the dead looking ones did start moving, but many of them are still very dead looking.
@@NØVA-ARTZZS It may take hours to a day for them to come back "to life". Some that are not strong enough may die (although a very minimal amount in my experience), but this was personally a better outcome than all of them being infested with nasty grain mites. Be patient and best of luck with your colony 😊🙏
@diy-projects thank you. After waiting, only one of them died but they still have grain mites, I don't know what to do, I isolated the ones that had a large amount from the ones that I didn't see any or very minimal and am keeping them away from oats and moisture, will they die on their own, or will they just kill the beetles for moisture?
Yes, I have heard that is a great method. For me, it was important for them to be gone 100% immediately and this method works great. With split peas I was not certain it would work immediately, I've heard it takes some time to take effect
Are you sure the mites that are in the container with the worms will die quickly? I did the whole process and still see a few moving... although it's only been 1 day. I also put Vaseline on the rim of the container they are in so the remaining mites won't escape at the very least. I live in Canada and it's getting too cold to throw the worms outside considering I've left them out there a lot already. I may feed them some split peas to speed up the process.
@@AllHailSeizure90 The goal was to remove the mites by washing the mealworms, then keeping the mealworms in a washed container with (treated/microwaved) little to no media, so it stays dry and not moist. The mites love moist places. I've heard good things about split peas though, i would give that a try if you want to speed up the process. Using Vaseline is a good idea to prevent mites from crawling into the container. Best of luck with your worms
@@diy-projects gotcha' My whole computer desk, monitor, headset, etc had been infested a few weeks ago (looked like dust and nearly didn't realize at first) since the worms were on said desk, but I managed to eradicate them by sanitizing everything 3 times a day for about a week. I imagine it would not have been quite as successful if they had some form of food and moisture as you are suggesting. I'll continue monitoring the container for a few days and go from there. Thanks for the video and quick reply 👍
This is what I’m doing today! Thankyouuuuuu
Best of luck! 🙏 Still no mites for me after doing this!
Hi great video I bought live food from a reptile shop which had grain mites in the bedding and the started getting out i removed the source it’s in my bed room I have been cleaning the area a few times a day only seem to be in one corner is there any tips to get rid of the I have kept the window open to reduce moisture is it just a case of eating for them to die off ? Thank you in advance
I would try to set some 'traps' in addition to what you're doing. Place some wet substrate in many places in the room, allow the grain mites to enter the substrate then once you see some, microwave the heck out of it to kill them all, and throw it away. Keep doing that and you can capture a good amount of them pretty quickly
@@diy-projects that sounds good I’ll give it a try thank you 👍
Would it work just as well if I just rinsed the meal worms in the colander rather than putting them into a bowl of water?
That would probably be fine. Personally I would do both, as I saw no negative affects on the mealworms when soaking them in water for a short period of time, and that better separates the grain mites because they likely float while the mealworms sink
@@diy-projects I am going to give this a try tomorrow as Im doing the split pea flour but my baby colony is being smashed by the mites and I figure I either wash them or I throw them out into the paddock over a few days including the bedding and let my chickens eat to their hearts content. It’s been crushing to realise tonight just how many mites are actually in this one bin which I am sure populated when I sifted the frass to get out the little meal worms that had be born in the frass bucket. Ive already decided that from now on Im not keeping the frass for weeks to wait and see if babies are born Im just going to put it out into my gardens and not withhold it for so long. Rookie mistake but completely self taught and this was after the pet shop told me that the meal worms would all be sterile and not pupate nor turn into beetles or lay eggs.
I have that problem , there starting to go into my cricket bins now too what can i do to prevent that?
Bake your wheat bran or oats in the oven
You can look up how to do it
There’s some good videos on RUclips aswell
Just keep an eye on it and stir a good few times during
I would start by making a separate tank with baked/microwaved oats to kill the mites and then take the adult crickets, wash them off quick somehow with water to get the mites off, and then add them to the new tank. Keep the substrate sparce until you're sure the mites are gone. Keep 2 separate tanks till they all turn to adults and move them to the 2nd tank. That's my best idea for crickets, hope something works for you
Got rid of them and my crickets are safe :)
What a nightmare, I hope my chickens appreciate this. Anything for prevention?
I found another video that said pea flour kills the mites but doesn't harm the mealworms. I haven't tested it yet but I plan to.
Prevention for me has been trying to keep them dry with minimal substrate. I have heard that adding pea flower to their substrate deters the grain mites also. It is definitely do-able to get rid of them, but it sure aint fun
Will it work for superworms also? They won’t die in water? How much time should put them to lose the mites?
Yes, this will work for superworms too. They wont die in the water. Collect them into a bucket of water. Once you're finished collecting them, wash them out in a sink with a strainer as shown. The mites will all be washed away. After washing you can place them in a bare container to dry off. Then add a bit of substrate as I show in the video. This method worked great for me
@@diy-projects right now thinking to to actually collect all the baby worms I got there without throwing mites everywhere around … I guess the babies can be a few minutes in water also?
@@orenrez655 I would personally think the babies would be fine too, but I didn't test that specifically. I went the opposite route and grabbed all of the adult worms and beetles. Since they're larger, they're easier to handle and I would think more hardy. I left the tiny babies with the mites, and then a few months later, repeated the process with them since they grew.
@@diy-projects I wanna get rid of all lol. Can’t keep them mites here. So far been trying few things to fight them:
1. Double sided tape - works a bit but some of them climb pass through it
2. Put Vaseline - same but it’s a second barrier so it helps some also
3. Cocumber traps - put few slices in for 2-3 hours and the mites are rushing it and cover it by thousands. Then I put them in boiled water and kill them straight.
So while I’m doing this, I’m thinking how to move my worms into a safer bin and just throw all the substrate from the large one. It’s an 80liter bin so the mites can be by millions here…
Hey, i put my mealworma in water for different purposes not long ago, and most of them drowned, how come yours dont?
How long did you put them in for? Most insects can be waterlogged for quite a while and then come back to life and be just fine. Ants for example can be submerged for up to a day and then be fine once dried out. I guess that the temperature of the water also matters, was it room temp? Hot water would likely kill them.
@diy-projects as my other comment states, within five minutes many of them died when I tried your method. The water was room temp, but I'm giving them some time to see if they are just waking. Some of the dead looking ones did start moving, but many of them are still very dead looking.
@@NØVA-ARTZZS It may take hours to a day for them to come back "to life". Some that are not strong enough may die (although a very minimal amount in my experience), but this was personally a better outcome than all of them being infested with nasty grain mites. Be patient and best of luck with your colony 😊🙏
@diy-projects thank you. After waiting, only one of them died but they still have grain mites, I don't know what to do, I isolated the ones that had a large amount from the ones that I didn't see any or very minimal and am keeping them away from oats and moisture, will they die on their own, or will they just kill the beetles for moisture?
want a better method? grind up some split peas into a flour sprinkle that over your grain it will kill the mites.
Yes, I have heard that is a great method. For me, it was important for them to be gone 100% immediately and this method works great. With split peas I was not certain it would work immediately, I've heard it takes some time to take effect
Just use lemons ☝️
How is lemon used?