35 replies to this topic

[AnthonyP163]

Update:
It’s been one week since I introduced the predatory mites. I haven’t see any real change in the grain mite numbers, but at least they aren’t getting worse. No harm has come to the ants in any way.
Does anyone know how far these roam in search of prey? Anthony? I put an open jar of their soil on my ant shelves hoping they’ll roam and pick off any mites in other colonies.
In a week or two, I hope to set up a whole new sterile outworld for my colony as phase two of my mite mitigation.

My Hypoaspis almost never leave the dirt on containers. Especially containers with PTFE, PTFE is effective on them. The only reasons I can think of for your grain mites to still be existent is that there's not enough Hypoaspis or maybe they just aren't eating enough yet. Think about where the grain mites must lay their eggs. Remove as much trash from the outworld(s) as you can, and make sure there's damp dirt in the setup for the Hypoaspis. 

 

If this doesn't work for now, I'd suggest having a separate container solely for keeping Hypoaspis. They can survive on surprisingly little food. This way, you can continue to add Hypoaspis until the problem is fixed.

Edited by AnthonyP163, July 31 2020 - 5:23 PM.

[ponerinecat]

are the mites only in the outworld or in the nest as well?

[ANTdrew]

Thanks for the quick reply, Anthony. The outworld they’re in is lined with dry sand and way too many insect carcasses. I was hoping the mites would breed in the little box of soil and venture out to hunt. It sounds like I should spread the soil evenly and keep everything moist? Could these mites live in moist sand? I did already start a separate container of these mites like you suggested.
The extra moisture would of course ruin the fluon barrier.

[AnthonyP163]

Thanks for the quick reply, Anthony. The outworld they’re in is lined with dry sand and way too many insect carcasses. I was hoping the mites would breed in the little box of soil and venture out to hunt. It sounds like I should spread the soil evenly and keep everything moist? Could these mites live in moist sand? I did already start a separate container of these mites like you suggested.
The extra moisture would of course ruin the fluon barrier.

Yeah, spread out soil and keep it damp. Try to keep this area mold free (the grain mites might do this for you).

 

Perhaps, if this is causing too many issues, try to DIY some sort of attached nest for the predatory mites. Keep in mind that the mites are very small and can get through (some) meshes, while ants cannot.

[ANTdrew]

Update:
It’s been three weeks since I introduced the Hypoaspis miles mites. The grain mites are still around, though and are now getting into the Nucleus formicarium. The problem at least isn’t getting worse, so maybe there is some control and balance starting. I’ve seen the predators roaming pretty far from the soil dish.
I made a whole new sterilized outworld this week and spent hours removing foragers from the old one because I’m nuts. I vow to keep this outworld cleaner, and I ordered another blend of three predatory mites.

Edited by ANTdrew, August 14 2020 - 6:57 AM.

[ponerinecat]

Dang, hope this goes better than before.

[ANTdrew]

Yeah. It probably won’t.

[ANTdrew]

I think I’m turning the tide on the grain mites. I think I’m definitely seeing less if them. I’ve done some thorough cleaning in the Nucleus. My new predatory mites mix also arrived, and I dumped them in. Hopefully that will be a knockout blow. 👊🏻

[Canadian anter]

Hey ANTDrew,

 

I used to get large grain mite infestations, I would usually get rid of them by destroying the culture in question, and placing several open containers of water. It seems the mites love humid areas and would drown en masse. I switched to a fruit fly media with a mite agent inside I believe though, and haven't had the problem for a few months. I actually tried the Hypoaspis mites at some point, but never got any good results. However I only had a couple dozen Hypoaspis, and maybe smaller numbers were a bigger contributing factor than I would've thought.

[ANTdrew]

Thanks for the info. It sounds like you mostly had them in your fruit flies. Did you have ant set ups affected?
With the Hypoaspis, I released several thousand into the set up. Today I released another 1,000 of a four species blend sold for spider mite control. I’ll report back what I observe for the good of the cause.

[Canadian anter]

Fruit flies at first, and that's where they came from. However, I did loose a few colonies which were overrun as they spread out.

[RacRmt]

Dang just bought fruitflies for my colonies, now I'm paranoid. I've heard sprinkling diatomaceous earth around your cultures will prevent them from spreading.

[ANTdrew]

I would advise sprinkling them in boiling water for a few seconds before offering them.

[ANTdrew]

I can’t see grain mites anymore! I think I can answer my question now: yes, predatory mites are legit.

[Croux]

Fantastic!

Would you like to do a little write-up or FAQ for anyone else who sees this happen?

[ANTdrew]

Fantastic!

Would you like to do a little write-up or FAQ for anyone else who sees this happen?

Sure. I wrote this in a journal form to document my process, so future ant keepers could learn from the experience.