How do mites gain access into a dermestid colony?
Are they brought in by flies? Are they attracted to dog food and walk in? Does humidity spikes bring them in?
None of these are correct.
Mites are tiny creatures that can move about in their enviroment but they have limits. They are incapable of long distance travel on their own. They need a specific humidity to thrive but they cannot sense a colony that has high humidity.
They cannot 'find' dog or cat chow in a colony box and they certainly will not invade any colony that has high protein feed in it.
No matter what a person's experience is or what they assume none of the of the above have any place in reality!
I have spent a lot of time studying mites and know how they can infest a dermestid colony and none these scenarios 'attract' mites.
However, there is a connection to dog or cat food because many producers of dry pet food have an issue with dermestid beetles which mean they also have mites. These processing plants are not inspected as they do not process human food. In this case the animal food is infested at the processing plant with mites and possibly wild dermestids.
High protein, high fat dog or cat food is an excellent food for dermestids
but it needs to be treated like any other food item that goes into the box - but more than one person has probably infested their own colony by not knowing anything about mites so before you feed - freeze it or heat it to 120 degrees.
These insects can have threats to their lives but the biggest problem they have is user ignorance. Too many people utilize these interesting animals and yet know very little about them.
That is why I wrote the new book on dermestid beetles. There are answers to questions and ways to protect the well being of the colony.
