Mealybug Menace

[Scottishbloke]

Hi Everyone,

I'm having a problem with mealybugs in my Veiled enclosure and am unable to get rid of them. The enclosure was set up about 5 months ago and I had no issues until about 3 weeks ago. I have tried insecticidal soap, home-made soap remedies, and Neem Oil repeatedly as well as high-pressure spraying to physically remove the pests, but none of these has had any effect. I had two huge 4-foot long Pothos plants, a half dozen Neoregalia bromeliads, and a few Tillandsias in a 24'' x 24'' x 48'' Reptibreeze (which also has a fake rocky wall background that used to be in my 90gal aquarium), but all plants eventually had to be discarded and destroyed due to the tenacity of these pests. The enclosure has been entirely plant-free for about a week now, with just lots of bare climbing branches and vines, but I've noticed that despite vigorous spraying with a hose outside, the enclosure itself is still harboring some of these insects- and that's just those big enough to see, far less the eggs or newborn crawlers which are apparently small enough to be spread just by a draft or gust of air that I can't see. I then found out that the bugs can also hide/overwinter in branches under the bark- and my cage is absolutely loaded with branches! I have spent many hours online trying to find out how long these longtail mealybugs can survive without any plants to feed on, how long any remaining eggs are still viable etc but cannot find any answers even on state/govt. agricultural sites. I don't want to install new plants only to have them become infested again later. If there is anyone on this forum that could help me with this problem, I would be most appreciative.

P.S. Forgot to mention- all plants were added when the enclosure was built. No new plants or branches have been added since that time. I was concerned that my Veiled would itself spread the bugs, so kept him in plant-less spare enclosure. The infected one is the one pictured.

 

[JaniP]

Oh man, I have no idea Very best of luck, I am sure someone on here will have some advice!

 

[Lathis]

There is another post about mites right now discussing using CO2. You might do some research to see if anyone had had success with this against mealybugs. Depending on if it's effective in the eggs, it might take several treatments. Obviously don't treat your cham with CO2, lol.

 

[Scottishbloke]

There is another post about mites right now discussing using CO2. You might do some research to see if anyone had had success with this against mealybugs. Depending on if it's effective in the eggs, it might take several treatments. Obviously don't treat your cham with CO2, lol.

Gas them, eh? Have to admit, I had not thought about doing something like that. Great idea! When I worked for Historic Scotland about 18 years ago, we used to do that to get rid of rabbit colonies that dug lots of burrows beneath ancient monuments and threatened to destroy them via ground subsidence. I haven't read the other thread you mention yet, but I imagine you could tightly wrap the whole enclosure in plastic wrap but remove the plastic bottom panel, place a can of CO2 like those bug-bomb ones you can buy for houses on the ground outside, set it off and quickly place the enclosure over it, and wait for a while. Some CO2 would escape but the concentration should go really high inside the cage for a while, long enough to suffocate the bugs. I'm off to try find that thread now and see what they say to do. Thank you for the information

 

[Lathis]

https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/mites.145674/

There are some resource links about half way down the post. I've met a few HS folks at conferences and such, more so in the last 7-8 years - I'm in cultural heritage, although on the private, consulting side.

 

[Scottishbloke]

I found the thread- thank you! They did it even more simply and cheaply than I thought- dry ice would be even better and easier than canned CO2. I have no plants or soil currently in the enclosure, so low temps and penetration of soil in pots would not be an issue. Guess what I'm going to do this weekend!!

So you do cultural heritage work? That's awesome, it didn't pan out for me long-term. I ended up becoming a science teacher in the USA- met an American lady in 97, when I was going from one short heritage-based or archaeology related contract to another, as that was all there was available. All but a few of my archaeology graduate friends went off to do completely different jobs as a result. Then many existing archaeological/heritage jobs completely went away after that during the recession, and I moved to the US. Couldn't get any heritage based work over here either. Glad it worked out for you though

I'll keep you posted on the results of my CO2 gas chamber experiment this coming weekend. Cheers!

 

[Lathis]

Yeah, archaeology is the hardest side of the industry, I think, regardless of the location. Unless you're happy being underpaid and overworked for a local transportation department (only to watch everything you spent weeks documenting get bulldozered over) >< I do consulting for a big engineering firm - masonry conservation and building science, primarily.

Please do keep us posted - I'm fighting spider mites on my potted raspberry shrub, and I am going to try this over the winter while everything is dormant.

 

[Scottishbloke]

An update- the dry ice method appears to have worked! Awesome!! I also hosed down the entire cage and drainage tray with boiling water for an extended period afterward just to be sure any remaining eggs or crawlers I couldn't see that might have survived being gassed got cooked and/or washed away. I waited for almost a week, then installed some new Pothos plants today. I thoroughly checked for insects on the new plants, removed them from the store pots, gave them a soapy water bath and washed away all soil, then rinsed and re-potted them in new soil. Getting the new plants into their spots at the back of the cage with all those branches in the way was quite a challenge- will post pic soon. I really hope that this time, the little buggers will not come back. Thanks Lathis for your help with this- I honestly would not have thought of gassing the blighters!

Merry Xmas to all!

 

[Nicholasdeaan]

How exactly do you treat them with Co2? I'm curious.

 

[Lathis]

Awesome! Thanks for the update!

 

[Scottishbloke]

Well, I spoke too soon. only 2 months later and I have a new infestation- and the bugs are twice as big as last time. Moreover, they have managed to infest my Jackson's cage also, which is at the opposite side of the house and has several closed doors between it and the Veiled's enclosure. I heard at a local garden store that a breeze or air movement may carry the tiny eggs all over the place, so perhaps some got in the AC and it spread them all over the house. Or maybe I or the chameleon itself spread them unwittingly (my Veiled loves to hang out on my shoulder on a frequent basis). Don't see any on my houseplants- yet. I'm off now to try a spray solution of half rubbing alcohol, half water and add dish soap to make it adhere to the bugs- it's supposed to kill them at all stages and dissolve their exoskeletons and eggs. I'll need to water some solution through the soil too to get the ones in the roots. Hopefully some of the plants will survive...

 

[Scottishbloke]

The alcohol and dish soap method was not effective at all. I killed a half dozen adults clinging to the mesh yesterday and today they are all over the plants again. It looks like I will be destroying the plants before the mealys spread to all my houseplants and orchids and put plastic plants in the cages from now on. I've tried a whole bunch of ways to kill them and nothing has worked long-term. I don't have the time to keep doing this over and over, nor the money to keep constantly replacing plants and as my pic above shows it is a nightmare to get plants in and out of the cage, period. Ditto for my other cages. I suppose I could put the Pothos on my patio and saturate them with Sevin and if the bugs successfully die just keep them as outside plants.The Pothos have quite a shiny, waxy appearance anyway and the cage lights are not glaringly bright so if I replace them with realistic looking plastic ones it will probably not make all that much difference appearance wise. I have an automatic mister on the cage so maintaining humidity is not an issue and the cham will likely not care if the plants are real or not. Well, at least I tried.

 

[absolutbill]

I'm so sorry you are going through this - bugs and mites are truly horrible. I had mealy bugs on my outdoor ficus, and just dipped a Q-Tip into rubbing alcohol and rubbed that on the plants (that's the only thing I use the alcohol for, so I wasn't concerned with cross-contamination). The tree is part of the free range on the back porch, but I had time before the weather was good enough to take my boys out there. I think in your case just scrapping everything and going fake might be the best plan of action, but just wanted to share what worked for me. Good luck!