Mites!!!
Moderator: ooper01
Mites!!!
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?
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?
Join the new Camponotus Crew: https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=21893&p=93742#p93742
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Re: 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 shotSYUTEO wrote: ↑Thu Jan 06, 2022 10:02 amEveryone, 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?
When you accidentally reply to yourself…
- AntsAntsAnts
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- Location: Australia
Re: Mites!!!
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
all my queens died
got a sugar ant colony started
- Antloverhuman
- Posts: 1135
- Joined: Wed May 19, 2021 3:38 am
- Location: Delhi, India
Re: Mites!!!
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
camponotus compressus colony- the shadow warriors.
Pls just let me have a tetramorium colony
- Antloverhuman
- Posts: 1135
- Joined: Wed May 19, 2021 3:38 am
- Location: Delhi, India
Re: Mites!!!
How's the colony doing now
Ants I have-
camponotus compressus colony- the shadow warriors.
Pls just let me have a tetramorium colony
camponotus compressus colony- the shadow warriors.
Pls just let me have a tetramorium colony
- AntsAntsAnts
- Posts: 365
- Joined: Thu Sep 02, 2021 1:10 am
- Location: Australia
Re: Mites!!!
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
all my queens died
got a sugar ant colony started
Re: Mites!!!
Most of the mites are gone but there are still a lot of them on the alates' wings.
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.AntsAntsAnts wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 5:27 amOne 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.
Join the new Camponotus Crew: https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=21893&p=93742#p93742
- Antloverhuman
- Posts: 1135
- Joined: Wed May 19, 2021 3:38 am
- Location: Delhi, India
Re: Mites!!!
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
camponotus compressus colony- the shadow warriors.
Pls just let me have a tetramorium colony
Re: Mites!!!
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.
Join the new Camponotus Crew: https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=21893&p=93742#p93742
- AntsAntsAnts
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- Joined: Thu Sep 02, 2021 1:10 am
- Location: Australia
Re: Mites!!!
try removing hte alates. THey are virtually useless
keeping:
all my queens died
got a sugar ant colony started
all my queens died
got a sugar ant colony started
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