PenPals Predator Mites - 1L (Treats up to 5 chickens)

OUT OF STOCK UNTIL SPRING 2023
PENPALS WILL DIE UPON RELEASE AS IT IS TOO COLD FOR THEM ACROSS WINTER!
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INCLUDES FREE DELIVERY TO AUSTRALIAN METRO REGIONS
SURCHARGE APPLIES FOR RURAL/REGIONAL AREAS - SEE BELOW
PLEASE CONTACT US TO CHECK IF YOU SUSPECT THE RURAL SURCHARGE MAY APPLY TO YOUR ORDER

Looking for a an organic red mite treatment for the dreaded Red Mite? We have the solution you have been looking for!!! PenPals (Hypoapsis) are a live predatory insect that feeds on fungus gnat larvae, thrips pupae, reptile mites and other small soil inhabiting insects, including poultry red mite. How awesome is that?!

They are bred in a mixture of coco peat and vermiculite. Both materials are commonly used in horticulture as earth substitute; the environment is organic and will decompose naturally in your soil.

They are then packed in that same environment and shipped in 1 or 2 Litre re-usable plastic buckets to you the customer.

On average, we recommend a 2 Litre bucket to treat between 5 - 10 chickens in a domestic chicken coop. But if you have a heavy infestation you may want to consider using more (going up a size or two), doing this can also make the treatment work quicker.

In a commercial chicken coup situation, the recommendation would be a 2 litre bucket to cover 100-200 square meters.
 

RELEASING THE MITES AFTER DELIVERY

To release simply sprinkle the contents of the bucket around the coops and other known affected areas. If you have any leftover after treating the henhouses spread it around the outside over lawn or nearby garden areas to help reduce the pressure coming in for the local environment. 
Also keeping the humidity up will aid establishment of the predatory insects.

As they are incredibly small, finding PenPals mites once released can be difficult. So we suggest watching how the chickens behave to assess how the treatment is going. You should see a noticeable difference in your birds within 2 or 3 weeks. 

Repeat treatments may need to be considered should some pest remain or the infestation returns.

Before introducing PenPals, please be sure you have not used any harmful chemicals in your coop.

Again, you CANNOT store this product for an extended length of time as the predatory mites will perish.
 

PLEASE NOTE - 
These are a live mite (ie. miniature livestock) and do take time to multiply and feed on Red Poultry Mites, so you will not see an immediate effect with a day or so after release. If you want an immediate reduction in Red Mite, you need to use an non-organic treatment like a pesticidal powder or spray.

PenPals are packaged with enough food for 5-7 days of food in order for them to be safely transported and not dying from lack of food. This means that they will eat the food in the bedding that they are sent in, before they leave the bedding material in search of Red Mites.
Should they be packaged with less food in order to (theoretically) eat Red Mites earlier and faster, they risk dying of starvation in transport. Obviously the preference for our supplier (and the customer) is for them to arrive alive and happy.

Hypospis will also eat the most accessible food first, which means the least resistant end of the Red Mite lifecycle - eggs, then baby larve and then the adults. So although you might not see an immediate reduction in the number of Adult Red Mites they will be doing their job to break the breeding cycle of Red Mites and eventually reduce the overall numbers that are feeding from your poor Feathered Family Members. 
It can take a good 4-6 weeks to see a significant drop in Red Mite numbers if you have a severe infestation and these WILL need a larger amount of PenPals and more time to work, so please plan ahead where possible. Repeat customers who have had success with PenPals purchase their annual topup in mid-Spring to ensure that Red Mites more quickly under control if/when they happen.
 

PENPALS (Hypoaspis) LIFECYCLE

The life cycle of Hypoaspis consists of egg, larva (6 legs), nymph (8 legs) and adult. The whole life cycle takes about 10 days at 25°C but can vary from 7 to 30 days depending on temperature. At temperatures below 8°C Hypoaspis is inactive.

Eggs are laid in the soil and hatch into larvae in 1–3 days. Hypoaspis lives in the top 1–2 cm of soil and can be seen moving quickly on top of the soil when the surface is disturbed or pots are tapped. It can survive for up to 7 weeks without insect prey, by feeding on organic matter, plant debris and nematodes.

Adult Hypoaspis are between 0.5 mm and 1 mm long, with females larger and much more common than males. Adult females are light brown in colour.
 

STORAGE RECOMMENDATIONS

PenPals should be ordered only as required and used as soon as possible after receiving the order. As it is a live insect, it has a very short shelf life. 

If there is no other option, it may be stored for 2-3 days out of the sun in a cool location, ideally around 14°, a concrete or tiled floor area is usually a good place. Please note though that there will be less live insects in the package the longer it sits unused.

Do Not Refrigerate under any circumstance, they will die.
 

FREE FREIGHT AND RURAL/REGIONAL SURCHARGES

PenPals are shipped overnight using Toll Priority to get your order to you in the shortest possible timeframe. However, Toll Priority have a list of excluded suburbs which WILL INCUR their $26 Rural/Regional Delivery surcharge. This list is 59 pages long when I printed it, so please contact us if you suspect your suburb is on this list so I can check. All Rural/Regional Delivery surcharges will must be paid for in full prior to order dispatch. 
Orders are shipped from the South-West Beaches of NSW.