Mites!!!

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SYUTEO
Posts: 1395
Joined: Thu Aug 29, 2019 8:58 am
Location: Malaysia

Mites!!!

Post: # 86542Post SYUTEO
Thu Jan 06, 2022 10:02 am

Everyone, I have serious problem with me, as you can probably tell from the title, my colony has mites! The colony infected is my 2 year old Camponotus parius colony. And these are certainly not phoretic mites as they attched onto the ants' eyes, mandibles, underside of their head, legs and wings. Alates are usually the main victim as I find and a male is completely covered in them and has trouble walking.

Essentially, history has repeated itself, my first ever ant colony (Camponotus albosparsus) died from mites and this colony has also been infected with mites at around July or August last year and I managed to stop them so hopefully I will be able to stop them again. I placed two slices of lime in their outworld which is the most infested part and place some outside of their outworld to prevent them from spreading just in case. I also placed a slice for their neighbouring Camponotus irritans colony just in case the mites got in.

Is there anything else I can do to stop the mites?

SolenopsisKeeper
Posts: 2402
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2021 11:41 am
Location: United States, Florida

Re: Mites!!!

Post: # 86551Post SolenopsisKeeper
Thu Jan 06, 2022 1:58 pm

SYUTEO wrote:
Thu Jan 06, 2022 10:02 am
Everyone, I have serious problem with me, as you can probably tell from the title, my colony has mites! The colony infected is my 2 year old Camponotus parius colony. And these are certainly not phoretic mites as they attched onto the ants' eyes, mandibles, underside of their head, legs and wings. Alates are usually the main victim as I find and a male is completely covered in them and has trouble walking.

Essentially, history has repeated itself, my first ever ant colony (Camponotus albosparsus) died from mites and this colony has also been infected with mites at around July or August last year and I managed to stop them so hopefully I will be able to stop them again. I placed two slices of lime in their outworld which is the most infested part and place some outside of their outworld to prevent them from spreading just in case. I also placed a slice for their neighbouring Camponotus irritans colony just in case the mites got in.

Is there anything else I can do to stop the mites?
“ One thing you can try is offering lemon or orange juice (freshly squeezed from the fruit) on some cotton. Ants are smart, they know if they have a problem and how to deal with it. It's possible they'll use the acidic lemon juice to dry out and kill the mites taking care of the Problem on their own”- formiculture. I say it’s worth a shot
When you accidentally reply to yourself…

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AntsAntsAnts
Posts: 365
Joined: Thu Sep 02, 2021 1:10 am
Location: Australia

Re: Mites!!!

Post: # 86561Post AntsAntsAnts
Fri Jan 07, 2022 2:00 am

With a picture of the mites, it is easier to identify the type of mite so... continue with the lemon juice strategy, that is fine but a picture would be nice.
keeping:
all my queens died :(
got a sugar ant colony started :)

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Antloverhuman
Posts: 1135
Joined: Wed May 19, 2021 3:38 am
Location: Delhi, India

Re: Mites!!!

Post: # 86563Post Antloverhuman
Fri Jan 07, 2022 2:46 am

I think another good way would be tp constantly clean their setup. If you have an out world with soil maybe don't water it so the mites cannot hide there and you could add more test tube setup or nests for them to live in. This will space the ants out and transmission will be slower.
Ants I have-
camponotus compressus colony- the shadow warriors.
Pls just let me have a tetramorium colony

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Antloverhuman
Posts: 1135
Joined: Wed May 19, 2021 3:38 am
Location: Delhi, India

Re: Mites!!!

Post: # 86787Post Antloverhuman
Thu Jan 13, 2022 1:23 am

How's the colony doing now :?:
Ants I have-
camponotus compressus colony- the shadow warriors.
Pls just let me have a tetramorium colony

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AntsAntsAnts
Posts: 365
Joined: Thu Sep 02, 2021 1:10 am
Location: Australia

Re: Mites!!!

Post: # 86792Post AntsAntsAnts
Thu Jan 13, 2022 5:27 am

One method I did try was to just release mine to somewhere moist and fertile bc they were phoretic. If that is the case, then just moving them to a more suitable location will make the mites become useful. AC has a lot of videos on them.
keeping:
all my queens died :(
got a sugar ant colony started :)

SYUTEO
Posts: 1395
Joined: Thu Aug 29, 2019 8:58 am
Location: Malaysia

Re: Mites!!!

Post: # 86794Post SYUTEO
Thu Jan 13, 2022 5:34 am

Antloverhuman wrote:
Thu Jan 13, 2022 1:23 am
How's the colony doing now :?:
Most of the mites are gone but there are still a lot of them on the alates' wings.
AntsAntsAnts wrote:
Thu Jan 13, 2022 5:27 am
One method I did try was to just release mine to somewhere moist and fertile bc they were phoretic. If that is the case, then just moving them to a more suitable location will make the mites become useful. AC has a lot of videos on them.
I don't think it will work because the mites are parasitic, I can tell because they cling onto the weak spots on the ants.

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Antloverhuman
Posts: 1135
Joined: Wed May 19, 2021 3:38 am
Location: Delhi, India

Re: Mites!!!

Post: # 86799Post Antloverhuman
Thu Jan 13, 2022 5:47 am

You could try to remove the alates like AC did. Are they on the queen or the workers too?
Ants I have-
camponotus compressus colony- the shadow warriors.
Pls just let me have a tetramorium colony

SYUTEO
Posts: 1395
Joined: Thu Aug 29, 2019 8:58 am
Location: Malaysia

Re: Mites!!!

Post: # 86810Post SYUTEO
Thu Jan 13, 2022 9:35 am

The workers are mostly free of the mites and I'm not sure if the queen has them because she's in a dirt nest.

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AntsAntsAnts
Posts: 365
Joined: Thu Sep 02, 2021 1:10 am
Location: Australia

Re: Mites!!!

Post: # 86814Post AntsAntsAnts
Thu Jan 13, 2022 5:37 pm

try removing hte alates. THey are virtually useless
keeping:
all my queens died :(
got a sugar ant colony started :)

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