Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,

i tried searching the forums, but to no avail, if anyone else has had this problem. I just noticed today, on the shelf i keep all my mealworms and superworms on, a bunch of little teeny tiny white bugs crawling around on it! they were literally covering the outside of my worm containers, the shelves, and my spray bottle. they LOOKED like they came from the worm containers. i threw em all out and wiped everything down but im sure i didnt get them all. in fact i know i didnt, i just went and saw a few more crawling around. They didnt leave the shelf though, and i have several tanks right next to this shelf, but none of the animals have these little white things on them at all, nor are they in the cages. what are they? did they come from the mealworms? are they harmful to my reptiles? anyone else see anything like this? Thanks for any info guys!
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~Melissa~
1.2.3 Leopard geckos
1.1 Bearded dragons
1.0 Hog Island Boa
0.1 Western hognose
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Savannah Monitor
1.1 Ferrets
0.1 Chinchilla
1.0 dwarf hamster

1.0 Psycho cat

Melissas Menagerie

I think the "Itty bitty white bugs" you're talking about is grain mites. With the right humidity, the mealworm bedding will attract these; and they'll multiply real fast, within weeks, you'll see moving 'dust particles' all over the shelf. I've had my mealworm colony infested couple years ago, I threw away everything and cleaned the shelf and the surrounding area with bleach water. Make sure you clean them out really well, or they'll come back and re-infest your colony.

Now I put my mealworm tubs in a pool of detergent water, so even if the oatmeal attracted the grain mites, they can't get in and multiply.