Wait!! Don't throw your colonies out!
I've been researching this and it seems that we've merely created a proper breeding ground for something everyone has in their home already. All we can do is learn how to control them, not eliminate them...otherwise, if we've had them in our mealworm colonies once, we'll have them again.
I decided to write Ken (of Wormman.com) yesterday and he got back to me last night.
-----Original Message-----
From: Sybella [mailto:lady_sybella@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2004 3:14 PM
To: Wormman
Subject: Ken! Help!!
My meager mealworm colony has developed a case of book mites. How do I get rid of them without having to throw away everything and start fresh? I finally got this going...My first babies are almost big enough to feed to my geckos now. 
I have books everywhere so I think it would be pointless to throw it all away and start again since it will most likely happen again anyway. How do I deal with these things? Their masses are triggering my allergies too. Darn it! Please help.
Sybella
His reply:
The mites come from having the culture around too much moisture. Reduce the amount of vegetables your are feeding them so that the bedding does not stay moist enough from for them to breed. Move them to a room or area that does not have any type of moss or peat moss. The mites are drawn to that to breed
and then go to the bran to feed, and then the vegetables in the bran help them.
Between cultures make sure you wipe out the container and surround area with a rag with a bleach water mix. That will kill the mite eggs and help stop the cycle. If you have bran around that is still fresh ( no worms in it) place that in a freezer before using it. That will kill any invaders.
By reducing the humidity and the moisture sources that should help. You will still need to give the mealworms something to drink, so just use a couple slices of potato and change those daily. You will see mites on the potatoes for a while, but if you throw those outside in the garbage everyday you will deplete their numbers and they will vanish after continued work on it. This will be better than starting again. Let me know how this
works!
Thanks for writing.
Ken
