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Red dots..


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23 replies to this topic

#1 Offline Elraen - Posted June 20 2015 - 2:52 AM

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Guys after 10 days in holiday i came back home yesterday and i realized that in some of my messor colonies have red dots.. what's going on?? can anyone help me


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#2 Offline drtrmiller - Posted June 20 2015 - 4:38 AM

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Those are mites.

Move them to a new setup and continue to feed them normally. Either they will recover, or the colony will die. There's little you can do to influence the outcome, unfortunately.


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#3 Offline nurbs - Posted June 20 2015 - 5:53 AM

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Ugh. I just got shivers. :o

 

Hope they recover! 


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#4 Offline dean_k - Posted June 20 2015 - 6:30 AM

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Too late, it seems. You need to be careful with food you give to them.



#5 Offline dspdrew - Posted June 20 2015 - 7:42 AM

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That colony is dust, unfortunately. Those mites are bad bad mites. Maybe you can put them in a tub lined with fluon (those mites don't climb very well from the start), separate the queen, and try to pull every one of them off of her. It's probably easier for me to say since I have a microscope and a micro tweezers though.



#6 Offline nurbs - Posted June 20 2015 - 8:07 AM

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They look like pomegranates. Or those french burnt peanut candy. But not.


Edited by nurbs, June 20 2015 - 8:09 AM.

Instagram:
nurbsants
 
YouTube
 
California Ants for Sale

 

Unidentified Myrmecocystus

https://www.formicul...ls-near-desert/

 

Undescribed "Modoc"

https://www.formicul...mp-ca-5-4-2017/

 

Camponotus or Colobopsis yogi:

https://www.formicul...a-ca-1-28-2018/

 
Camponotus us-ca02
https://www.formicul...onotus-us-ca02/

 

Unidentified Formica

https://www.formicul...l-ca-6-27-2020/

 
Pencil Case and Test Tube Formicariums
https://www.formicul...m-and-outworld/
 
Bloodworm Soup
https://www.formicul...bloodworm-soup/


#7 Offline dspdrew - Posted June 20 2015 - 11:53 AM

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To me they look similar to these parasitic mites. These things completely wiped out my colony of Pheidole megacephalla.

 

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#8 Offline Elraen - Posted June 20 2015 - 12:13 PM

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uh :( Yeah 30 or 40 +  workers died.. queen looks really bad.  I just moved them in to the new test tube and also put little olive. But as you see, its not beggining, mites catched everywhere..


Edited by Elraen, June 20 2015 - 12:14 PM.

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#9 Offline Jonathan21700 - Posted June 20 2015 - 12:20 PM

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Will the fridge help?



#10 Offline Elraen - Posted June 20 2015 - 12:31 PM

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Should i try fridge ?


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#11 Offline Ants4fun - Posted June 20 2015 - 12:32 PM

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It could... one could freeze the mights... hopefully the ants would live. I guess they would die anyways...

#12 Offline dean_k - Posted June 20 2015 - 1:01 PM

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The colony is done. But if you want to do this, you will want to save the queen and a few (one or two) workers. Ants should have more resistance against freezing than mites due to their bigger bodymass, so you can try placing them in a freezer for ... a few minutes. I don't know how long. You need to make the ants just cold enough not to die while hoping that the mites will die, which is going to be tricky as hell.



#13 Offline Pulliamj - Posted June 20 2015 - 1:06 PM

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Rosemary is a natural way to control spider mites. Not sure if it would work with these. Could leave a place for them to get away from the ants. Maybe try it with some workers first.

#14 Offline Elraen - Posted June 20 2015 - 1:23 PM

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Yeah I'm gonna try first with some workers and thn queen.


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#15 Offline dspdrew - Posted June 20 2015 - 1:41 PM

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Some ants can handle cold temperatures more than others. I'll tell you one creature that seems to be invincible in cold temps, and that has been mites in my experience. I'm pretty sure by the time you freeze any mites, your ants will be long dead.

 

What killed mine quickly was lack of food and water. They were dead in less than a day without anything to eat or drink. But of course removing the food and water is exactly what you're trying to do.



#16 Offline Pulliamj - Posted June 20 2015 - 1:43 PM

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I would try essential oils or something that might drive them away.

#17 Offline Ants4fun - Posted June 20 2015 - 1:43 PM

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Yeah that would only be a last resort. I would hate to let them go due to their fluids being sucked out by mites however... I would rather take the chance. However that is just me.

#18 Offline Pulliamj - Posted June 20 2015 - 1:46 PM

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That freaking stuff is strong it will burn you if you put it in a bath. I tried that one time 4 drops and too much apparently.

#19 Offline William. T - Posted June 20 2015 - 2:15 PM

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I have got mites on my T. Sessile. The were debris mites, but I wasn't taking any chances. I used a tiny bit of lemon juice, but it wouldn't work. However, when I severely overdosed it as a last resort, these mites died. I left the whole colony in a cup of lemon juice/ water. Some of the ants died, but so did the mites. I don't know about your ants, but T. Sessile is almost impossible to kill. If Messor is nearly as hardy, how about insecticides? Just a thought.


Edited by William. T, June 20 2015 - 2:18 PM.

Species I keep:

 

1 Lasius cf. Neoniger 30 workers

1 Camponotus sp. 15 workers

20 Tetramorium SpE 30 workers

1 T. Sessile 200 workers

 


#20 Offline dean_k - Posted June 20 2015 - 4:23 PM

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I have a Myrmica colony that is current co-existing with compost mites. They've been co-existing for over a month now. Mites mind their own business which is breaking down mealworm leftovers ,and ants mind their own. The mites never climb on ants.

 

But those mites, they are the nasty ones.


Edited by dean_k, June 20 2015 - 4:30 PM.





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