What Foods can I feed to ants without fear of mites?

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JikanGaHoshii
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What Foods can I feed to ants without fear of mites?

Post: # 62676Post JikanGaHoshii
Sat Aug 17, 2019 11:27 pm

I have been recently feeding my Camponotus Albosparus colony mealworms, however, I noticed some mites here and there in the nest, and some workers dying. I have decided to clean the nest out after containing all the ants and brood and now am using lemon juice(diluted) to hydrate the nest to kill off any mites on the ants. Now that this has happened, what should I feed the ants?

Dreadant
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Re: What Foods can I feed to ants without fear of mites?

Post: # 62687Post Dreadant
Sun Aug 18, 2019 8:49 am

I have been freezing any and all “live” proteins that I have been providing my colony. An hour or two in the freezer should be enough to kill mites. That being said I read some where of a trick of buying or catching feeder insects gut loading them and the freezing them for a few hours and then transferring them to a bag filled with oatmeal to keep them from sticking for long term storage.

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antnest8
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Re: What Foods can I feed to ants without fear of mites?

Post: # 62729Post antnest8
Mon Aug 19, 2019 2:23 am

Usually frezzing for several hours or days works. But the most likely cause for mites is the soil they live in, if they have soil other times they could just come in by crawling in from your house. Still it's safer to buy or raise your own feeder insects and not feed them insects from the outdoors.
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winecooler5
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Re: What Foods can I feed to ants without fear of mites?

Post: # 62755Post winecooler5
Mon Aug 19, 2019 6:58 am

You can do freezing for certain hours or days and this will help. However, the Problem of mites occurs due to the soil they live in.

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antnest8
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Re: What Foods can I feed to ants without fear of mites?

Post: # 62758Post antnest8
Mon Aug 19, 2019 9:38 am

Lol sorry just rereading my post and wow i really botched my spelling sorry
Some of My Informative Sheets
https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=19099
Includes :
  • Ant Care Sheets
    Queen Hunting
    How To Identify Ants
Goal is to become #2 poster on the forum

JikanGaHoshii
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Joined: Sat Aug 17, 2019 11:20 pm

Re: What Foods can I feed to ants without fear of mites?

Post: # 62793Post JikanGaHoshii
Tue Aug 20, 2019 5:27 am

Sure thing! Thanks guys.

Glowbug1236
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Re: What Foods can I feed to ants without fear of mites?

Post: # 63717Post Glowbug1236
Wed Sep 04, 2019 2:46 pm

Im new to the art of ant keeping, and have been surprised at some things.
-That there is an ant keeping community! Sweet!
... but the forum seems dead. :(
- Also, though there are websites that provide details about various ant species, the info is still sparse, and of limited relevance it seems.

My ants, which I have identified as Pheidole Dentigula (almost 100%), have been a challenge with regard to diet.
*They prefer flies. Not large ones, though if they were a larger colony they would have an easier time. They like small to medium flies almost exclusively.
*Not interested in seeds, though a few ants showed mild interest in pot seeds, not hemp seeds, they would not touch hemp seeds. Why? Who knows?!
*Not interested in any fruit, though watered down honey a very little interest.
*Will not touch large cockroach body parts, but some mild interest in baby cockroaches..
**Old cockroaches are many many more times likely to have mites and diseases, so?..

So after trying everything short of ordering some aphids to encourage some livestock, ive tried many things, and they are picky eaters!
Here's the funny thing..
My father inlaw made some chicken noodle soop that gelled up because too many noodles...
And the ants are eating it! Organic ingredients, noodles, water, chicken, and bullion paste.

Good luck on your quest to find mite free food. My ants will not touch anything that has been frozen.
These tiny P. Dentigula are careful, picky eaters, they seem to think about every decision!

Glowbug1236
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Re: What Foods can I feed to ants without fear of mites?

Post: # 63724Post Glowbug1236
Wed Sep 04, 2019 3:36 pm

Just want to add to that.
If you're worried about mites, and diseases, start with fresh genetics. I've raised crickets, and have had to completely refresh the breeding line.
Completely sanitize the new habitat to grow feeder insects.
Make sure that all materials introduced to their habitat are sanitized, if need be even filter the air coming in.
As for the ant enclosure, and making it free of mites. When i make a new one, I'll use sterilized soil, and activate it with microbes, bacteria, and enzymes. (Grow stores are good for that).
Keep it at a stabilized state for a while (how long? Dunno.).
For plants, start with seeds or small easily cleaned of bugs..
Also, keep any plants or mosses in a quarantine for a bit where they will be **** and then sprayed with a bio-activator. The bugs will die but the moss will come back.
Fine saw dust (from the proper wood), works nice for moss as a fertilizer. But also nice if it's still attached to bark.
Put it all in, stabilize environment. Introduce ants, and feed the "clean" feeder insects that you've produced.
Hope that helps. The info for this hobby seems to really come from multiple directions!
Have a great week!

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