Ive been keeping turks as feeders for about a year now. Not to long ago I posted about my first problem with them... ants decided to invade my turkistan tub. I cleaned it out, replaced everything and all was well...

About 2 weeks ago the cold hit us bad and I moved them to an artificial heat source and also to a relatively dark room. I noticed something that looked like white specs and thought it could be mold. I would wipe it clean and think nothing of it... not to long later it will be back and also will have a funky sharp smell to it...

After close inspection I found that it is mites... thousands of these little buggers. They also invade the water source in the tub and then drown.

We had some sun again so I moved the enclosure to the old spot and they are far less then they use to be (not completely gone yet).

What I would like to know is as follows... what is drawing them... how do I get rid of them... how do I keep them gone as I know colder days are ahead of us and I will have to move the roaches from the laundry room that gets tons of sun.

Any advice will be appreciated. Thank you.

Sent with Uncle Charlie's Pokie machine

Hi Mr Uncle Charlie sir.....

I had the same with one of my colonies.
As soon as it got a bit colder and I added a heat source, invasion. Tried different foods, different hydration sources, cleaning the bin more often, nothing seemed to help. I never had too many of them, only had about 200 or so roaches, but it was enough to be irritating. Also had a really funky, musky odour. As soon as I put them in the sun, they- the @#$#@! goggas- disappeared again.

I have since changed over to a mix of pallid's and lobster's, and no problems.
You have to put a layer of vaseline as a barrier, but they have no smell, size from about 1 mm to about 40 mm and breed like crazy. I started with 100 about 3 months ago and probably have close to 500 or so.

Sad though, cause turks, imo, are the best feeders.

Good luck


Sent from my GT-N7100 a long time ago and far, far away.....

Can you post pictures of your setup?

When last did you clean your container out?
When last did you replace your egg trays?

@Mr Happynoodleboy sir... hehehe... whats up with the formalities...

I agree that they are brilliant feeders and I have some orange spotteds in there for my bigger pokies. I dont like the rest cause the freaken climb!!!

@Cascade... will take photos as soon as I can and remember... egg trays changed when I had the ant problem and also did a proper clean then.

Sent with Uncle Charlie's Pokie machine

Cool. :thumbsup:

How much ventilation do you have, and what do you use for moisture?
How many roaches are in your colony?
I take it, you cleaned the mess at the bottom of the container when you cleaned everything out?!


As happynoodleboy said, a nice thin layer of vasoline and you wont have issue's with the climbing species.
They tend to breed faster than the turks do, well I tend to have plenty nymphs of the climbing species, it is the turks that make me work for the babies.

I find the climbing species perfect for the arboreal species, as they tend to explore and climb around.

@cascade

Ventilation is not as much as it maybe should be.... dont know where to look for the plastic mesh people are using... maybe u can tell me.

Humidity is in a water dish with those squishy balls in them that swells from water and then another container with holes at the top filled with water.

Regarding the climbing buggers... feeding will just become so much more difficult

Amount in my colony.... maybe 500 to a 1000... maybe more... I dont know.... there is alot.... lots of nymphs were born about a month or two ago

Sent with Uncle Charlie's Pokie machine