Mites
How do I get rid of grain mites?
1. Lower your humidity down below 30%. If you don't know what your humidity level is, get a hygrometer:
- General Amazon Options (affiliate link, thank you for your support)
- SensorPush HT1 Sensor - this is what I use, I love them! (affiliate link, thank you for your support)
2. Remove all moisture sources from the bin.
3. Utilize Split Pea Flour. Per this published study, split pea flour is effective at killing mites. Original study link.
- Put split pea flour in the impacted bins.
- Use a "10% split pea flour to substrate" ratio. If you have one pound of substrate in your tray, add 2 ounces split pea flour directly into the bin.
- If possible, place a split pea flour barrier around your trays. I even spread split pea flour on the floor, but I'm on concrete.
- Split pea flour is available at specialty grocery stores or online. If you have a grinder, you can try buying dried split peas and grinding them, but it needs to be a very fine powder.
- Amazon (affiliate link, thank you for your support)
4. Follow a new moisture feeding routine:
- Every two days, add your moisture source to the impacted bins.
- Wait 2 hours to let the mealworms feed.
- Remove ALL remaining moisture sources.
- Repeat for two weeks or until grain mites are gone for one week.
Prevention:
Treat your substrate.
- Deep freeze your substrate for 48 hours.
- Bake your substrate at 175 for 20 mins. The internal temperature needs to be 175.
Maintain humidity around 50%. You can run higher humidity if you are very disciplined about treating your substrate, and have split pea flour ready.