GliderCENTRAL

moving white spots in mealie farm

Posted By: Anonymous

moving white spots in mealie farm - 11/04/06 02:31 AM

we went a few thousand mealies from exotic nutrition, as opposed to buying them from a local source. we seperated them into 2 containers--we gave them oatbran and wheatbran about 1 month ago. there are now pupa, larva, and, beatles in the container. we are also assuming there are probably eggs. today we noticed thousands of small (.1-.3 mm) first we thought they might be baby mealies, but they are supposed to be 2mm in size, so that is definetly not it. they do not move the same as worms do.

we've never noticed these before.

does anybody know what they are? if nobody has any clue...Andrej will bring his microscope home on monday. Then we can have a better description of what they look like upclose.
Posted By: KattyM

Re: moving white spots in mealie farm - 11/04/06 02:42 AM

Wow, I haven't got a clue, but there are lots of mealie farm (and "bug") experts on the board. I'm sure one of them knows!
Posted By: CritterHill

Re: moving white spots in mealie farm - 11/04/06 02:44 AM

Could they be weavels? (I'm not sure if that is the right spelling.) Like you find in flour? confused
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: moving white spots in mealie farm - 11/04/06 02:48 AM

They could also be mites of some kind crazy

For now I wouldn't feed those mealies to your gliders until you find out what they are.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: moving white spots in mealie farm - 11/04/06 03:54 AM

It is always a good idea to put the oatbran and wheatbran in the microwave for a couple of minutes to kill off any grain mites if there are any before giving it to the mealies. But then, it may not be the grain mites.


Jen
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: moving white spots in mealie farm - 11/04/06 04:21 AM

shock worried

I dont know what they are, but I dont want to eat them. Momma always says not to eat something if you dont know what it is. It could be something that is not good for me.

Momma says they could be something eating the grain products or they could be some parasite eating the mealies. I dont want some one elses left over, half eaten mealies.

You are so smart to find out before you feed them to your suggies.

Suggie George
Posted By: SugarBlossoms

Re: moving white spots in mealie farm - 11/04/06 04:34 AM

I have a mealie farm, same one for over a year and have never seen anything like that. I wouldn't feed those mealies. I would toss them out and start over. Sounds like weevils from the bran or could be mites. Sounds like mites.

You really won't see the eggs. They are the dark stuff on the bottom. smile The mealies after hatching LOOK like mealies but are so so tiny you have to hold the container up and stare (or use a magnifying glass). They are just so teensy. They also tend to be underneath the oats (I don't use bran in mine) and you'd need to stir them up to find them when they are that tiny.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: moving white spots in mealie farm - 11/04/06 06:16 AM

If they are weevils I might bring them to an old entamology professor of mine. He is the worlds foremost expert on the weevils in the western hemisphere.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: moving white spots in mealie farm - 11/04/06 01:24 PM

Pixtrix, I had never heard to microwave what you are using for bedding to kill any mites. Thanks for the tip.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: moving white spots in mealie farm - 11/05/06 12:24 AM

It does sound like a mite problem, the eggs latch onto the product and hatch later, so you don't even know they're there until they grow.
Are you using Old Fashioned oats? Also, with wheat, most products will have an oil that turns toxic to your mealies if it isn't refrigerated.... sorry this happened to your farm, but you realy should trash the entire container, mealies and bedding and just start another one, but only use oat product this time.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: moving white spots in mealie farm - 11/08/06 05:17 AM

I had an infestation of grain mites in my mealie farm. I know they were mites cause I looked at them under a microscope and they had 8 legs. Eeeew just thinking about it makes my skin crawl! The mealies were safe to feed, its just another bug. But the grain mites break down the grains too fast and can lead to an over growth of fungus, bacteria and well it makes your grains basically decompose. I sepereated out most of the mealies, and put them into a fresh bed of grains. But once contaminated you can never get rid of them mites as some of the eggs are on the mealies and your fingers as you transfer the mealies from one container to another. I would wash and freeze the mealies you have left and just toss everything. I ended up giving up on my mealie farm because I could not get rid of them mites. Not sure that this is your problem... but it could be.
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