One day we may be able to use these mites to control the pest mites, instead of chemicals. ARS scientist Ron Ochoa is an expert on mites. In the past, studies of many mites have been difficult because of their very small size. Some mites Ochoa found were little, white ones with long hairs. These mites are often found in houses.
Mites can cause allergies in people.
They can also cause allergies in pets and other animals, and can spread diseases, get in their dried foods. Ochoa wanted to know whether mites like to eat dry animal food. So he used the new technique to check out samples of dog and cat food and other types of animal food pellets that he got from several sources nationwide. He found that mites were on many of the pellets, and he was able to see the mites just as they behave on the pellets. They like warm temperatures around 80 to 90 degrees F and high humidity.