Quick Tip About Dry Food

Hey folks! So, I thought I would just share something I just recently discovered. Now, I've been feeding both my millipedes and roaches dry reptile food for quite some time. I noticed almost immediately when I introduced it into their diet that it would inevitably succumb to fungus or mold, usually in a few days, but sometimes with 24 hours if the enclosure was particularly humid. Initially, this didn't strike me as much of a problem, since you should change out the food every few days anyway, right? However, after many months of dealing with this, I started to have some suspicions. I have had very little problem with fungus or mold in the enclosures themselves, so I began to wonder if the dry reptile food itself might contain spores that were germinating once exposed to humidity. Having some background knowledge on microbiology and what not, I decided to conduct a little test: I microwaved the dry food for 60 seconds to see if I could reduce or kill any potential hitckhikers. I left the food in the enclosures for over a week and checked it today. Lo and behold, no fungus or mold grew at all! And the millipedes still seem to eat it just fine. Looks like my suspicions were right and the dry food was contaminated with fungus spores.


So, in summary, if you microwave dry food before putting it into an enclosure, it shouldn't succumb to mold or fungus as quickly. I microwaved my reptile food for 60 seconds, but if you use something larger, like dog food, it might take longer.

That's a great idea! I bet it would kill grain mite eggs in kibble too. I'll have to try this.

I'm sure it would. You might have to experiment though to find the right setting and time. You can definitely burn stuff if you let it go to long and we don't want to feed our pedes burned food, right?

I can prooobably afford to waste a few pieces of kibble on experimenting. I will report my findings, if there are any.

I'll mess around with it too. I use dried cat food for my roaches (don't have any millipedes...yet ) and get more mold in certain containers, even with a cleanup crew.

Yes, please let us know what you find out.
Please note how intense the smell was, as well!
Microwaved dogfood seems like it may have the potential to reek & linger...

I wonder if freezing the food first do the same thing.

I have noticed catfood offered to beetles/mealworms (who are kept very dry) lasts forever until I pick it out.
But in the damp crix/roach containers, starts molding in a day or 2.
Curiouser and curiouser.

I doubt that freezing would have the same effect. A lot of microorganisms can survive being frozen. Not many can survive being cooked, lol. I strongly suspect that most dry foods are probably inherently contaminated with mold spores, hence why you see the rapid bloom once you put the food in a humid environment. Its also worth considering that microwaving might remove any residual moisture present in the food. Any food item that is exceptional dry and contains little to no moisture is naturally resistant to spoilage as long as they *stay* dry (think crackers, cereal, dried meats, etc).

Wish I would have read this before I made a new post.
I'm going to give this a whirl.

So...anything new to report? I ask because, in my experience, heat sterilization of anything- be it leaves, wood, etc.- can become recontaminated. Grain mites, fungus gnats, et al, appear if my magic over time. I would think that this would be even more of a possibility with a high protein food in a moist environment. Maybe it would keep the food item spore free but there is still the issue of airborne spores to contend with along with those already in the enclosure.

CrawlinChaos said:

I doubt that freezing would have the same effect. A lot of microorganisms can survive being frozen.

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I was actually thinking more about miniature critters like weevils - which is why I freeze the oatmeal a few days before using it for the mealworms. I wasn't considering the viability and survival of certain micro-organisms. You're probably right that freezing wouldn't do it.

Thanks

Ellenantula said:

I was actually thinking more about miniature critters like weevils - which is why I freeze the oatmeal a few days before using it for the mealworms. I wasn't considering the viability and survival of certain micro-organisms. You're probably right that freezing wouldn't do it.

Thanks

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Some arthropods can endure freezing temperatures by going into diapause

Ripa said:

Some arthropods can endure freezing temperatures by going into diapause

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Well darn. I'll keep hoping I will stay lucky and not accidentally start raising any unwanted volunteer critters or microbes.

Maybe the trouble makers that affect my area will succumb to freezing. (fingers crossed)