18 replies to this topic

[AkumaArtist]

¿What should I do? They are a pretty young colony with about only a month,I'm scared,I tried with orange but the infected ones doesnt go outside because they are the warrior ones or the ones that take care of larvae (so,the ones that are inside everytime)

[Mdrogun]

¿What should I do? They are a pretty young colony with about only a month,I'm scared,I tried with orange but the infected ones doesnt go outside because they are the warrior ones or the ones that take care of larvae (so,the ones that are inside everytime)

citrus fruits seem to have little or no affect at all. Not much is known about mites. We don't even have any idea what kind of mites you're dealing with. For now, I don't think there is much you could do besides hope the mites aren't parasitic. 

[AkumaArtist]

They are parasitic,they are only attached to my ants head 

Also,my ant colony is a messor barbarus one,that could help...maybe...

[AntswerMe]

That sure is a bummer. Try putting lemon instead as it is more acidic and may better deal with the mites.

[Serafine]

You can open your ant nest and remove the mites "manually" with pincers, buy predatory mites or treat your ants with formic acid gas.
There's tutorials about how to do this exactly somewhere but I only found the german version.

Since this seems to be pretty bad I'd probably go for opening the nest and removing the mites manually (or with formic acid gas if removing them manually proves impossible).
This will definitely stress the hell out your ants but it's still better than having them die

Edited by Serafine, April 21 2017 - 11:04 AM.

[Serafine]

Okay, here's the translation (source Ameisenforum.de), since your colony is quite young (and the mites quite big and obvious) this might actually work.
 

I got the idea of using formic acid to combat mites due to my the research on the Internet. Honeybees infected with the Varroa mite are treated with formic acid - allegedly with good results. An experiment was worth it, I thought, and got formic acid from the pharmacy. The success was quite good. Some of my Pachycondyla kruegeri colony were infected with mites and served as lab rats.

I diluted the formic acid to 70%, soaked a cotton ball with the acid, put an infested ant into a beer glass and held the cotton ball soaked with formic acid into the beer glass using a pair of tweezers. Since the fumes of the acid are heavier than air, they fall down into the beer glass and gather there. After a few moments, I could observe that all the mites had left the ant like a rats jumping off a sinking ship and ran around on the bottom of the beer glass. The ant did not like the acid vapors in the long run either; she too was stirring around in the glass. After all the mites had left the ant, I removed the ant from the beer glass and cleaned the glass with almost boiling water. An examination of the ant under the binocular revealed that there was not a single mite left sitting on the ant. Treatment successful - patient alive.

This treatment method is relatively complex - depending on the colony size. I would only use it with relatively large ant species, since only with such an investigation with tweezers under the binocular is possible. Smaller species are much more difficult to 'edit'.

I would also like to point out that

1.) formic acid is very aggressive and can only be treated with appropriate protective precautions!
2.) I do not know how other ant species react to the vapors of formic acid - I do not absolutely exclude any damage to other species.
3.) Ants which are exposed to the acid fumes for a longer duration do not die immediately after the treatment.

All the ants I treated with formic acid have survived. Not a single one has died because of the vapors of the acid. Only one individual, which had bitten into the acid-cotton bud, did not survive the 'acid attack'.

Edited by Serafine, April 21 2017 - 5:41 PM.

[LC3]

Just out of curiosity, are the mites attached on the underside of the ants' head or on the top side?

Edited by LC3, April 21 2017 - 5:08 PM.

[Connectimyrmex]

I hate those ant-head mites. I tend to just give my ants a ten minute soak in normal freshwater. Most mites jump off. The rest are picked off by the ants.

Don't worry, most insects can survive underwater for a while (they go into a strange dormant state).

Citruses do nothing to mites. I've tried. The citruses didn't really kill Mikey Bustos's mites, but they did diminish when placed in a new nest.

[AkumaArtist]

Serafine - Thank you,but the problem is that the ones that have mites are the ones that won't go out except if I make them go out with all the other ants (what I'm going to do by chaging the nest)

 

LC3 -They are on the head,they are a pretty big species of mites,so i can see them easier that if they were other kind of mites

 

Hawaiiant - Thanks,I'll try too~

 

FOr all - SOme people told me to make them go through tubes with alcohol,but I'm not really sure if that's good for them

[Serafine]

You can try dumping all of them into a cup of fresh water. If you're lucky the mites will jump off. The ants won't take damage they can live for a surprisingly long time in water.

[AkumaArtist]

Serafine -Thanks,but i don't know how to take them out of the nest (the queen too?)

[Spamdy]

Use lightweight forceps to pick them out, if queen has mites, sure.

[JavianSB]

"I ran some massive research on mites over the last few weeks to compile a guide on how to avoid them in our ant setups or just completely get rid of them. I wrote this whole guide from my knowledge of keeping ants and insects in general for more than a decade now and I also did a lot of research on mites and became quite an 'expert' to say the least 

As always, please keep in mind that English is not my native language and I am doing my best to explain everything with my best knowledge of the English language and grammar. If there is anything unclear to you, please reply in this thread and I'll do my best to help you. 
Also, researching on the Internet and writing this guide took a lot of my personal time and a few days off work I could have used otherwise. We are talking about 100 or more hours of doing research here. 
So, if this guide helped you or you just appreciate the work I did put into this guide, please kindly like this post. 
I might do more guides on other topics if there is enough resonance. Comments are welcome. 
If anybody has a problem with mites, you are welcome to post a link to this thread. 

How to avoid and kill Mites

1. Variations of mites 

There are over 50.000 different species of mites in 546 families. 
The majority of them is absolutely harmless for our ants. In fact, some of them can be very helpful in our Formicariums. More on that topic later. 
Mites are everywhere. There are species living on plants, on animals, in the water, and in the case of Demodex canis, on every human. Demodex canis lives on the base of our eyelashes and is up to 300 µm small. (that's 0,3mm). 
Some mites live in symbiosis inside ant nests. 
There are species of mites that produce some sort of fungicide that keeps the nest mould free. 
One species of Myrmecina in Indonesia is known to actively keep mites inside their nest, most likely to feed on them as the european Myrmecina graminicola does exactly that. Myrmecina graminicola hunts mites to feed on them. If you ever have a colony of Myrmecina graminicola infested with mites, either something has gone horribly wrong or they are not Myrmecina graminicola. 
Some mites use the female alates to expand. They travel with them on their nuptial flight. It is not impossible to get a infested queen from a shop even though a responsible shop owner would never sell and send you such a queen. 

As I already said, most species of mites are harmless.
There are some species of mites however, which can seriously harm and even kill your colony, those are the parasitic mites I want to talk about in this guide.
But first let me tell you something about the useful kind of mites. 

2. Useful mites in your formicarium

As written above, there are certain types of mites that can be very helpful in our Formicariums in a moderate amount, the usual dust mites for example. 
They live off of tiny pieces of organic waste. Those could be leftover pieces from insects you feed your ants with, dead ants or even the faeces of your ants.
Dust mites live in every household, no matter how 'clean' it is. 
In our homes, dust mites usually live in our beds, eating tiny skin scales that we lose all day and drinking the water when we sweat or condensation from humid air. 

Along with other insects like springtails, woodlice and earthworms they can keep the substrate in a formicarium clean and healthy. I've got a Formica fusca colony with 2000 workers living in a soil setup along with these insects and I didn't clean it once in over 5 years now. Formica tend to integrate the pieces of dead insects into their nests. In the wild these pieces are eaten by other insects and in my setup they do exactly the same. After some time they just die and the new generation goes to work.

The downside of this is that dust mites can be useful, but without a natural predator the population can quickly explode and it doesn't look so nice to be honest. They can also kill the brood of certain ant species when there are too many of them and too less food. 
Especially Myrmicinae and their uncocooned pupae are affected but they can possibly affect other species aswell. 

If you are looking at a real infestation of dust mites, get rid of them. If there are only a few it is fine. A close observation of the population and the brood of your ants is crucial though 
Some predatory mites (mites that hunt other mites and springtails (you see where this is going, right?  )) can easily keep these populations relatively small while not being able to multiply themselves at a high rate, due to the lack of food. 

For clarification :
The dust mites, woodlice and springtails eat the organic waste and the predatory mites hunt the dust mites and springtails. There will always be some dust mites and springtails left to keep the population alive, but not as much that the population of the predatory mites can get too big themselves. 
For the common setup (ytong or plaster nest with a simple dry outworld), this is in no way needed nor recommended. 
For a tank with a soil setup however, this is a nice method to keep everything clean and healthy and also adds some more life and dynamic to these setups.
The predatory mites are almost a guarantee that your setup won't get infested with parasitic mites, which is the next point I want to talk about.

Predatory mites and parasitic mites are not the same! Parasitic mites suck the blood (hemolymph) of your ants while predatory mites hunt and kill other small insects, preferably other mites and springtails, but no Ants. 


2.1 harmful mites


Identifying parasitic mites is pretty easy. Unlike dust mites, they are not interested in organic waste. 
They sit on your ants to suck their hemolymph, usually on the joints of their legs, the eyes or the bases of their antennae. 
If the mites in your setup are not sitting directly on your ants or their brood and are more interested in pieces of dead insects, they are most likely dust mites. 
If they sit on your ants on the said spots, or any other spot if they find a weak spot, they are most likely parasitic mites. 
Why most likely and not 100% sure? 
There are some mites that use other insects for 'transportation' (phoretic mites), but can not suck hemolymph from the ants due to the missing mandibles for that task. They are harmless, but they don't look nice and it is almost impossible to tell them apart from the 'real' parasitic mites. 
That said, every species of mites that is sitting on your ants rather than being attracted by dead insects has to go. Better safe than sorry. 

3. How to avoid mites in general

3.1 

Mites need moisture to stay alive. You can quickly get dust mites if there is too much moisture in the outworld and enough food for them to live off. 
Keep your outworld dry, absolutely dry. Also, remove any dead ants or leftover pieces of food as soon as possible. For some exotic species a dry outworld is not suitable. Because of that, it is even more important to remove dead insects from the outworld and keeping close attention to the following steps. 
You can let the outworld dry out for a few days, even the outworlds of exotic species. It doesn't rain every day outside. Ensure a good ventilation of your setup, mites hate that in combination with dryness and die very quickly due to dehydration. 


3.2

If you want to use anything from outside for decoration (stones, wood, soil), either use boiling water (for stones) or put them into the oven for 10 minutes at 80° Celsius or higher to kill any insects living on or inside them. 
For living plants both these options won't work obviously. Keep them in quarantine in a pot for a few weeks before you use them for decoration. 

3.3

If you feed your ants insects from outside, always use boiling water to kill them. This is the only way to kill parasites on these insects. Putting them in the freezer will kill most parasites, but some of them can survive temperatures as low as -20° Celsius over a short period of time. 

3.4

If you feed your colony insects from the pet store, also kill them with boiling water in the first few days after purchase. If they have parasitic mites on them you will clearly see them after a few days if you look closely. If there is no infestation after a few days on the insects you bought for feeding, they are most likely free of parasitic mites and you can also feed them alive or freshly killed if you want to. Keep in mind that there can always be mites though, even if you don't see them. The only way to absolutely make sure you don't introduce parasitic mites with the food is to kill them with boiling water before you feed them to your colony. Dipping the insect into boiling hot water for 3 seconds is enough to kill both the parasites and the insect itself. 

3.5

If you have mites in one of your setups, keep it away from other colonies as far as possible. 
Also, when using the above 'quarantine' method for new food insects, also keep them away from your colonies. 

4. Getting rid of mites once you have them 

Firstly, mites in your setup and on your ants are no ultimate death sentence for your colony. There are some effective ways to kill them, but it will be some work. 
Using the above methods to avoid them and one or more of the methods below, almost is a guarantee to get a colony mites free again. 

4.1

The most obvious way won't work.
Acaricides are certain types of insecticides aiming mainly at mites or ticks, but also other biting insects. Due to the nature of ants to clean and groom themselves and each other with their mandibles, they can absorb the acaricides into their digestive system and die very quickly. 
I think I'm not exaggerating if I say that using this type of poison on your colony WILL kill it, period. Don't use it! 

4.2

The ants own weapons work very well against mites. 
Formic acid is one of the most effective ways to remove mites from your ants. Some Bee keepers use formic acid to keep the varroa mite away or even remove them from an infested bee hives, with great success. 

Things you need:
-A clean outworld, no substrate or anything else, just bare glass! 
-Formic acid from the pharmacy
-a drinking glass
-cotton buds
-if possible feather forceps


To effectively use this method without killing your ants, we are aiming at a concentration of 70%. Add water to the acid to reach that concentration. 
Safety first! Pure Formic acid is very aggressive, don't breathe it in and don't touch your face, especially your eyes when you use this method! 
The setup is very easy, it is some work though depending on the size of the colony. 

Get the drinking glass and put 1 ant into it. 
Now dip the cotton bud into the formic acid solution and hold it into the drinking glass. Don't let the ant touch or bite it or she will die! 
The fumes are heavier than air and drop onto the ground of the drinking glass. The ant won't like it at all, but more importantly, the mites won't like it aswell. They quickly leave the ant alone and fall to the ground. You can then pick the ant up again and put her into the clean outworld. Just hold a clean cotton bud next to her to climb on, don't touch the ground with it so no mites climb onto it. Toss the ant into the outworld and move on with the next one. If she doesn't fall off just drop the whole cotton ball into it and use a new one for the next ant to climb on. This method is a time consuming process and we want to save time where we can. 
Make sure to kill the mites in the glass afterwards. Just dump them into a bowl of hot water. 
Repeat this process with every single ant. 
For the brood you can do the same thing, just pick them up with the feather forceps afterwards and put them into a separate small container. After the whole process check the brood for remaining mites and if they are clean, give them back to your ants. 
You have to clean their old outworld very good. Use hot water for the outworld and let it dry out for a few days. All remaining mites will die. Clean it again with hot water to make sure it is absolutely clean and there are no eggs left. 
If you used a ytong, wood or plaster nest, dump it, really! 
Just build a new one to be on the safe side. 
Don't forget to clean the tubing with hot water or just use new tubing.
Keep the colony in the empty outworld for 2 days, give them a place to hide their brood though. A small plastic box with a hole in it is fine. 
If you are sure there are no mites left, put the ants into a completely new setup. 
If there are a few mites left, treat the affected ants or the whole colony again. 
I know this is time consuming, but it is the most promising method. 

IMPORTANT! 
Test this method with a few ants and observe them closely in an extra container for a few hours before you move on with the whole colony. 
If they show any signs that the process harmed them or even die, don't treat the rest of the colony. This method is not suitable for your species! 


4.3

Oxalic acid is also used by beekeepers to kill the varroa mite. 
You can find it in beekeeping shops. 
Prepared the way it is intended to be used (read the manual), the solution is sprayed directly onto the ants. If the mites are not covered by the solution immediately, the grooming of the ants will take care of that. 
It is important not to drench the ants with the solution, just use a spray bottle or mister to spray it onto the ants. 
Use an empty outworld or plastic container with Paper towels on the ground to absorb the remaining solution so the ants don't drown. 
As always, test this method with just a few infested workers before using it to treat your colony. 


4.4

Pericine, found in most beekeeping shops, is a very good working medication for bees against mites. 
The ants consume the pericine diluted in sugar water. It enters their digestive system and eventually reaches the hemolymph, which is what parasitic mites feed on. 
The mites die within a few hours. 
I have not tested this method, I would have if I had a colony with mites at the moment. Pericine is pretty expensive! Also read the manual if you want to experiment with it. The pericine has to be further diluted before mixing it with sugar water. 
As both bees and ants belong to the Hymenoptera family and pericine doesn't harm the bee's, I am pretty sure this won't harm ants aswell. 

4.5

Diatomaceous earth can also be used to get a colony mites free again. 
The procedure is simple. Put the ants into a container with a small amount of diatomaceous earth and shake it gently to cover the ants with the dust. After that, put the ants onto a damp cloth or cotton pad and use a dripping wet q-tip or paintbrush to brush the remains off. The whole process has to be very quickly, it must not take more than one minute. Always treat only as much ants with the dust as you are able to brush off afterwards within that time and of course, as always, test it with a few workers before treating the whole colony. 
Diatomaceous earth punctures the very thin layer of wax on the exoskeleton of both the ants and the mites. It can also block the trachea of both these insects, which is why it is so important to be very fast with brushing the remains off the ants. The mites die instantly due to dehydration and the amount of time an ant would die is just marginally bigger. 

4.6 

The old fashioned way. Works good for big species with not so many workers, such as Myrmecia sp. or Paraponera clavata 
Use some kind of setup to hold the ant in place, a piece of cardboard with rubber band around it works fine. The rubber bands need to be quite loose so they don't squeeze the ant to death, which is why this does not work for small species. Place the ant onto the cardboard with the rubber band(s) holding her down and start brushing the mites away with a paintbrush or use feather forceps to pick them off. 

4.7

Predatory mites can kill a population of parasitic mites very effectively. 
Amblyseius californicus for example can be bought online, they are usually used to kill the red spider mite on plants, but the along hunt other species of mites. Against everything I wrote above about avoiding mites, it is absolutely crucial for these predatory mites to keep the outworld moist (60-70%) and at around 25 degrees Celsius. 
The predatory mites will hunt and eat the adult parasitic mites, their nymphs and eggs. 
It will take a few days or several weeks for these mites to do their work. Once there are no other mites left to hunt for, these mites die very quickly. 

4.8

Only for dust mites!

To reduce the amount of dust mites in your setup to a moderate level, let the outworld dry out and once it is pretty dry, put a damp cloth into the outworld. 
The dust mites will quickly climb onto the cloth to drink the water and you can remove hundreds if not thousands of mites at once. 

4.9

If everything else fails, Euthanasia of the colony is the last way to put them out of their misery. 
This is done by dumping them into boiling water. 
This should always be the last resort though."

 

Credits to "norton" on AntKeepingForum.com 

http://antkeepingfor...opic.php?t=1399

[AkumaArtist]

JavianSB thank you so much,that's pretty helpfull because of the big variety of ways to do it,I'm not the best at english too but I can tell that you did it very well~ I'll try them,thanks~

[Spamdy]

Will ants in dirt nests be more prone to mites?

[Serafine]

It doesn't really matter in what sort of nest you keep them.

[Connectimyrmex]

Actually, ants in dirt nests have less mites. My 7-worker YCA used to have a gasterload of mites until I placed them in a dirt setup for a week. When I took them out, there were no mites. I think that the mites get lost easier in the dirt.

[AkumaArtist]

Yes,actually dirt works,I've a second colony that came with the new dirt nest + exterior (sandwitch) and they are completelly safe even thought that they had some mites too

Btw,I tried the water method and its pretty usefull,I recomend it

[Serafine]

Actually, ants in dirt nests have less mites. My 7-worker YCA used to have a gasterload of mites until I placed them in a dirt setup for a week. When I took them out, there were no mites. I think that the mites get lost easier in the dirt.

That's because your mites where phoretic mites. They do not suck at your ants but just use them a vehicle to hitchhike to more favorable places. Once there are places where the mites can live (like the dirt of a dirt setup) they climb off theants and live happily in the dirt. This does NOT work with mites that suck at they ants because the will stay with the ants no matter the setup. Also these mites need to be removed ASAP as they can kill off an entire colony in a few weeks.

Edited by Serafine, April 27 2017 - 1:03 AM.