Would ladybugs hurt snails/eat mites?

[marinaneira]

I’ve been searching and trying to figure this out. Wouldn’t ladybugs eat riccardoella mites? If so, would they hurt snails? I wonder if anyone has ever looked into this. Perhaps the answer is obvious, but I would love if someone could illuminate me. Perhaps they could be an alternative to hypoaspis miles?

[morningcoffee]

Jun 27, 2020 0:30:29 GMT marinaneira said:

I’ve been searching and trying to figure this out. Wouldn’t ladybugs eat riccardoella mites? If so, would they hurt snails? I wonder if anyone has ever looked into this. Perhaps the answer is obvious, but I would love if someone could illuminate me. Perhaps they could be an alternative to hypoaspis miles?

Ladybirds don't eat Riccardoella. One of the things that makes Hypoaspis so effective at killing Riccardoella mites is that they are tiny and thus able to go inside the lung cavity of the snails where the harmful mites hide and lay eggs. Ladybirds would not be able to do this even if they did feed on Riccardoella.
Also ladybirds can secrete an oily fluid when irritated or threatened - I don't know if this would be harmful to snails skin or not but I personally wouldn't want to chance it.

[marinaneira]

Of course. I didn’t know about the fluid but the mites going inside the breathing hole was a no brainer that didn’t come to mind. I knew there was something very basic drawback I just wasn’t thinking of, haha. Thanks.