Leaf Cutting Ant Forum

my acro have being doing very well but i now have a infestation of mites what can i do.

Hi, where are the mites? Fungus, dump?
Are you sure they are mites and not spring tails?
Also meant to ask you what your set up is like?

they look smaller and in the feeding chamber but walking down the tubes to the fungus to.

Are they on the fungus? Photos would be helpful

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i will send you a pic of my set up and the mites once i have found out how to use tapatalk

Tried to upload photo of mites and of my setup but keep getting message that jpg files not allowed. How do I get photos to you?

You can load photos via photo bucket buddy, best way

Pretty sure they are not mites but commensal springtails that are harmless and in fact break down some of the waste form the ants. Really nothing to worry about. If they were the mites you should be worrying about then you would need a microscope to see them.

I've had mites in dump chambers that did not have enough ventilation Andrew, at least that's what I thought they where, smaller than springtails and also much slower. I could see them, if not mites what would they have been I wonder?

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Jamie, there are lots of different mites, some are found in dump chambers. But the ones that parasitize Atta and Acromyrmex, and suck body fluids, eventually overrunning the colony, are not visible to the naked eye. So a reasonable rule of thumb is if you cans see them they are not dangerous to the colony.