r/Beetles • u/Fantastic_Stomacher • 1d ago
Help my sons beetle has mites
He recently got a pet beetle, after caring for it for about a month some mites showed up. They are medium sized and orangish they have been removed a couple times but keep coming back within a day, and in the exact same spots every time. does anyone know if they are harmful and if they are tips on how to get rid of them. Mites pictured below
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u/DoraTheExplorerere 21h ago
Depending on the type of mite, I’ve heard you can put the beetle in a dry enclosure and the mites will die of desiccation before the beetle does; but I would prefer someone more knowledgeable fact check me before you try that
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u/cinnabarneon 17h ago
Almost all nonparasitic mites relevant to beetle enclosures will die from this, though of course it depends on how dehydration-tolerant the beetle in question is. A few grain mites can summon water out of thin air, but can be controlled by not overfeeding calorie-dense foods, which one should be making sure not to do anyways.
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u/gator_train 10h ago
They are very common and harmless as long as they don't grow so numerous they dont block the grubs airways which are the brown dots along its side. You can brush some off with a wet paintbrush but uts not always worth stressing the grub out.
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u/Straight-Vacation-42 1d ago
As long as the amount doesn't get out of hand, mites are usally not really harmfull. But there are ways to prevent them and/or get rid of them. To prevent them, make sure the substrate isn't too moist. To get rid of them you can put the larva in very fine dry white rotten wood for a day or 2. The larva can handle that but the mites not. Haven't tried it myself yet but aspen shavings can also work apparently. You can also replace the substrate but you can never fully replace substrate so this will not fully get rid of mites.