Mite infestation

Model Organism: Worms Methods & Reagents
1

Dear fellow wormbreeders,

As of late, we have a very persistent, widespread mite infestation in our incubators. Our last cleaning didn’t result in a total eradication and within a month, the incubators were full of mites again. I would like to know some approaches people are taking to get rid of these horrible animals and to keep them mite-free. We do use mite paper on the shelves but this doesn’t seem to help anymore. I’ve heard of using mothballs. Does this help? Or cleaning with the chemical benzylbenzoate?? I would appreciate any suggestions.

Many thanks

Jerome

2

Jerome,

You might want to try taking all of your worms out of the incubator, putting mothballs in the incubator, and shifting the temperature up higher (we did 40 degrees for 2 days, although I have read that higher is better). After this, we haven’t seen any mites in a few months. Hope this helps!

Matt