Psocides Book lice problems

Temporary placeholder

Moderators: ooper01, Trusted User

Locked
User avatar
antsMAN
Posts: 15
Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2015 8:10 am
Location: Nova Scotia

Psocides Book lice problems

Post: # 17690Post antsMAN
Wed Mar 01, 2017 12:19 pm

I week ago or so I noticed some book lice in my formicarium. They were only in the nest at first but now have infested the out world. I am getting a little concerned with their population growth.

Upon better inspection I see less in the nest itself, and more in the out world. I let the nest dry out a bit so they are probably trying to keep hydrated by the water tower. I also noticed a few dead ones. But still a lot of smaller ones. I guess they shouldn't bother by worm bins as they stay dry and I remove the food every two days to replace with fresh to avoid mold. They aren't in any of my other formicariums.

I haven't found any in my worm bins so I'm thinking they are the moisture loving kind, hopefully I'm right.
I read that under 50% humidity they cannot reproduce or continue to survive. So I'm getting the dehumidifier out and getting my area down to 35-40% for a few a days.
I plan on leaving the infested nest right in front of it to keep it super dry, only a small bit of water for the ants. The Camponotus shouldn't mind to much as they like a dryer nest.This along with a very thorough cleaning, should do the trick. I haven't seen them anywhere but the infested nest and the two on the table exactly where the nest was after I moved it. I've been observing them and it seems they do have a bit of trouble walking on the fluon, so I put some on the under side of the lid to hopefully keep them contained in the rubbermaid container. I'm assuming if they were the dry loving sp. I'd already have them everywhere.

I am pretty sure they came off the firewood we bring in so I'll be washing up a lot better when working with my little critters.

I know some people love them in their nests, but from most of what I have read they get out of control very fast andcleaning them up can be a time consuming project. So better safe than sorry. If I continue to see population growth they will be set free come the warm weather.

Martialis
Posts: 1576
Joined: Mon Aug 08, 2016 5:30 pm
Location: Indiana

Re: Psocides Book lice problems

Post: # 17693Post Martialis
Wed Mar 01, 2017 3:26 pm

perhaps some form of predatory (NOT parasitic) mites would work..?
Keeper of

Selliing:

User avatar
antsMAN
Posts: 15
Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2015 8:10 am
Location: Nova Scotia

Re: Psocides Book lice problems

Post: # 17705Post antsMAN
Thu Mar 02, 2017 7:32 am

I have cleaned everything over a few times now and only found three outside of the formicarium. I have the infested nest sitting in front of a dehumidifier to keep the humidity below 50%, so they cannot reproduce. I have checked all the T's and worm bins and they are still free of them. So I'm hoping I caught it early enough.

Locked

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests