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Answer
May 03, 2020 - 03:41 AM
First, let me say that you will likely not find Hissing Roaches that are 100% free of mites. We do our best to examine our roaches and ensure that any with an abundance of mites are humanely destroyed.
The mites that live on Hissing Roaches are Androlaelaps schaeferi This species is extremely specialized and lives on Hissing Roaches, and though it used to be thought they were parasites it has since been found that they eat any food that sticks between the roach's plates on its underside and legs as well as any harmful fungus. While they may drink some hemolymph from other arthropods (for example tarantulas) they are not considered to be harmful to Hissing Roaches from most entomologist's opinions. They are a commensal type organism and only live on arthropods and in fact, have been shown to increase the roach's life when present:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01647954.2012.662248?src=recsys&
;journalCode=taca20
The mites that live on Hissing Roaches are Androlaelaps schaeferi This species is extremely specialized and lives on Hissing Roaches, and though it used to be thought they were parasites it has since been found that they eat any food that sticks between the roach's plates on its underside and legs as well as any harmful fungus. While they may drink some hemolymph from other arthropods (for example tarantulas) they are not considered to be harmful to Hissing Roaches from most entomologist's opinions. They are a commensal type organism and only live on arthropods and in fact, have been shown to increase the roach's life when present:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01647954.2012.662248?src=recsys&
;journalCode=taca20
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