4 replies to this topic

[Arjay_Luvs_Myrmecia]

Have you had grain mites in your tubs and ant nests?

What's your best remedies?

Edited by Arjay_Luvs_Myrmecia, February 4 2025 - 10:57 PM.

[ANTdrew]

Releasing Hypoaspis miles predatory mites into the setup worked very well for me to eliminate grain mites. 

[rptraut]

Hello Arjay Luvs Myrmecia;

I’ve had mites (not sure if they were grain mites) in my Myrmyca colonies and the Hypoaspis mites worked well to control them. Before I got the Hypoaspis mites I moved an infected colony out to my greenhouse to segregate them and prevent the mites from migrating to other colonies. The first night I checked them, but in the dark I accidentally didn’t put the lid back on tight. My Myrmyca ants are very diurnal (active during the day) and spend the nights in their nest. The grain mites were able to “escape” during the night without the loss of a single ant. I replaced the lid securely in the morning and the colony was fine after that.

I also found that my mites liked freeze dried brine shrimp (fish food) so I regularly put a small piece into the setup when I fed my ants as bait for the mites. An hour later I removed the bait and destroyed it along with the adhering mites and eggs. This depleted the population to a point where they were no longer a problem.

I suspect the mites carried diseases which were more harmful to my ants. Getting rid of them asap is important as they did migrate and infect other colonies.
RPT

[mbullock42086]

Releasing Hypoaspis miles predatory mites into the setup worked very well for me to eliminate grain mites. 

they took care of the mites encrusting the queen and workers too?  

[rptraut]

Hello mbullock42086;

The mites I dealt with were free roaming and didn’t affect the ants directly. They may have been eating the ant’s eggs. I suspect it was the pathogens (virus, bacteria or fungus?) they carried that killed off some of my colonies.
RPT

Edited by rptraut, February 5 2025 - 9:25 PM.