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<blockquote data-quote="Stan Schultz" data-source="post: 145080" data-attributes="member: 28438"><p>I had to sit back and look at this for few seconds. When I looked up your profile I find that you live in Indonesia! I spent several months there in the mid 1970s; mostly Surabaya, a few days in Denpasar, and one day down the island chain in a place called Sumbawa. I liked Indonesia. The people were very friendly and I enjoyed the culture. Where, may I ask, do you live?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Not at all! With the tropical heat and humidity, you're living in a virtual mite incubator. And one important reason that you aren't ordinarily overrun with mites is that it's also a virtual mite-predator-incubator! Plus, humans ordinarily perform periodic housekeeping to remove most food sources as well as mite population explosions before they become a problem. Lastly, a little bit of drying out once in a while does wonders for killing mites. They have virtually no defense against mummification! And Indonesians seem to do a pretty good job of keeping dry in spite of the torrential rains and high humidity.</p><p></p><p>The fact that your climate conditions are nearly constant year round only means that the mites are not constrained by seasonal changes in temperature and humidity.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>It doesn't have to be. The reason that mites become a problem in a damp cage is that the dampness raises the humidity to a uniformly high level, thus preventing the mites' desiccation and death. In Indonesia, the humidity is almost always high. The only key issue is the timing. The humidity has to reach about 100% at the same time that the mites are ready to go on a reproductive rampage. A plentiful food source is also important.</p><p></p><p>Such reproductive rampages are often called "blooms," and there's a whole sub-branch of ecology and population studies that concerns itself with how blooms come about and how to control them.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>If that's the case, go ahead and do it. Wash the empty roach cage thoroughly with soap water and rinse well to remove all traces of soap. Adding a little chlorine laundry bleach is just added insurance.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>But I would be afraid that those "many" might only be the tip of the iceberg. It's almost impossible to assess just how many mites are hiding in crevices in the container's construction and the substrate, even on the roaches themselves.</p><p></p><p>Lastly, if you buy new roaches about once a month, you should be prepared to do such a thorough cleaning every time or every second time your roach population drops to zero as a preemptive means of control.</p><p></p><p>Cheers,</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Stan Schultz, post: 145080, member: 28438"] I had to sit back and look at this for few seconds. When I looked up your profile I find that you live in Indonesia! I spent several months there in the mid 1970s; mostly Surabaya, a few days in Denpasar, and one day down the island chain in a place called Sumbawa. I liked Indonesia. The people were very friendly and I enjoyed the culture. Where, may I ask, do you live? Not at all! With the tropical heat and humidity, you're living in a virtual mite incubator. And one important reason that you aren't ordinarily overrun with mites is that it's also a virtual mite-predator-incubator! Plus, humans ordinarily perform periodic housekeeping to remove most food sources as well as mite population explosions before they become a problem. Lastly, a little bit of drying out once in a while does wonders for killing mites. They have virtually no defense against mummification! And Indonesians seem to do a pretty good job of keeping dry in spite of the torrential rains and high humidity. The fact that your climate conditions are nearly constant year round only means that the mites are not constrained by seasonal changes in temperature and humidity. It doesn't have to be. The reason that mites become a problem in a damp cage is that the dampness raises the humidity to a uniformly high level, thus preventing the mites' desiccation and death. In Indonesia, the humidity is almost always high. The only key issue is the timing. The humidity has to reach about 100% at the same time that the mites are ready to go on a reproductive rampage. A plentiful food source is also important. Such reproductive rampages are often called "blooms," and there's a whole sub-branch of ecology and population studies that concerns itself with how blooms come about and how to control them. If that's the case, go ahead and do it. Wash the empty roach cage thoroughly with soap water and rinse well to remove all traces of soap. Adding a little chlorine laundry bleach is just added insurance. But I would be afraid that those "many" might only be the tip of the iceberg. It's almost impossible to assess just how many mites are hiding in crevices in the container's construction and the substrate, even on the roaches themselves. Lastly, if you buy new roaches about once a month, you should be prepared to do such a thorough cleaning every time or every second time your roach population drops to zero as a preemptive means of control. Cheers, [/QUOTE]
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