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Does anyone know what these things are? I found them all over the orange cubes I use for my mealworms. They're whiteish, almost transparent. And they crawl around like bugs. I managed to get pictures of them, although they aren't very good. Could they be harmful to the mealworms?

Thanks,
Jenn
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1.3.0 Leopard Geckos (Butch, Cassidy, Sundance, Nieve)
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Hi.
I'm guessing the orange big thing is a carrot, the light tan stuff gutload? If it is, it could be cricket eggs... maybe high concentrations of beetle eggs.. maybe just water droplets?

Michael

The orange stuff is Orange Cube, the tan stuff is gutload. I don't have crickets, and there weren't any beatles in the container, only mealworms. And they're definately not water droplets because they move. They have to be some type of bug or something. Thank you, tho.

~Jenn
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Current
1.3.0 Leopard Geckos (Butch, Cassidy, Sundance, Nieve)
1.1.0 Doggies (Breckin & Cashew)
0.1.0 Cat (Chloe)
1.0.0 Peach-Front Conure (Gimpy)

Missing You
0.0.1 Ribbon Snake (Vincent)
1.1.0 Cockatiels (Buddy & Cuddles)

Hm, thats strange. I dont know then. You might want to waitand see who else may know.

Michael

hmmm magots maybe?
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I've seen them in old fruit fly cultures. They seem to like humid conditions and eat about anything. I believe them to be a type of mite. If left to go out of control, these guys can devastate insect cultures.

I can't say for sure because its only a picture but are they very very small?

If so i would say they are booklice. They are a member of the mite family and feed on the shed exoskeletons of insects. They got the name booklice from being found in books, mainly libraries where the humidity was high. I'm pretty sure they would eat the bindings of the books...but its been a while since i read up on them.

They aren't particularily dangerous to your leos but they will do lots of damage to your insect colony. And once they take hold they are a real pain to get rid of.

Red

>>I've seen them in old fruit fly cultures. They seem to like humid conditions and eat about anything. I believe them to be a type of mite. If left to go out of control, these guys can devastate insect cultures.
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Crested Gecko Zeek:1.0, Ziggy and Zeus
LEOS: Boo: 1.0 normal , Bronx & Nala: 1.1 blizzard,
Lily: 0.1 patternless, Abby: 0.1 albino, Zoe: 0.1 reduced pattern, Dot: 0.1 hypo
New Girls: Flame, Karma, Bubbles and Bell pics coming soon
Chip: 1.0 papillion (small dog)

They are very, very small. In fact, I would have never noticed them if I hadn't seen the gutload moving when there were absolutely no mealworms in the gutload.

~Jenn
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Current
1.3.0 Leopard Geckos (Butch, Cassidy, Sundance, Nieve)
1.1.0 Doggies (Breckin & Cashew)
0.1.0 Cat (Chloe)
1.0.0 Peach-Front Conure (Gimpy)

Missing You
0.0.1 Ribbon Snake (Vincent)
1.1.0 Cockatiels (Buddy & Cuddles)

Then i'd have to say throw out all of the infected gutload as quickly as you can. Ihad an infestation of them that required a full cleaning of the room....meaning i washed everything with bleach and various bug sprays....needless to say my house smelled really clean but it was very aweful too!!!

Goodluck
Red

>>They are very, very small. In fact, I would have never noticed them if I hadn't seen the gutload moving when there were absolutely no mealworms in the gutload.
>>
>>~Jenn
>>-----
>>Current
>>1.3.0 Leopard Geckos (Butch, Cassidy, Sundance, Nieve)
>>1.1.0 Doggies (Breckin & Cashew)
>>0.1.0 Cat (Chloe)
>>1.0.0 Peach-Front Conure (Gimpy)
>>
>>Missing You
>>0.0.1 Ribbon Snake (Vincent)
>>1.1.0 Cockatiels (Buddy & Cuddles)
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Crested Gecko Zeek:1.0, Ziggy and Zeus
LEOS: Boo: 1.0 normal , Bronx & Nala: 1.1 blizzard,
Lily: 0.1 patternless, Abby: 0.1 albino, Zoe: 0.1 reduced pattern, Dot: 0.1 hypo
New Girls: Flame, Karma, Bubbles and Bell pics coming soon
Chip: 1.0 papillion (small dog)

Bookmites or booklice are present everywhere. They live off of wood fiber, shed exoskeletons, etc. When we keep mealworm colonies, we provide an excellent breeding ground for these things. It's good you caught it early because all you need to do is let the mealworm colony dry out a little bit. The mites need much more moisture than the mealworms do.

http://www.ext.vt.edu/departments/entomology/factsheets/booklice.html

My mealworm colony had a major infestation and I was able to get rid of them by swapping out fresh pieces of potatoes several times a day. The mites would climb onto the potatoe and I would throw them away each time I put new potato wedges in.

N/P

~Jenn
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Current
1.3.0 Leopard Geckos (Butch, Cassidy, Sundance, Nieve)
1.1.0 Doggies (Breckin & Cashew)
0.1.0 Cat (Chloe)
1.0.0 Peach-Front Conure (Gimpy)

Missing You
0.0.1 Ribbon Snake (Vincent)
1.1.0 Cockatiels (Buddy & Cuddles)