Hey wait a second here...
Guys do you see something funny?
Those workers look kinda strange.
See those bumps on their body?
What is that?
I hope that isn't what I think it is.
Oh my God, guys.
I can't believe what I'm seeing!
Mites!
How did the Golden Empire contract mites?!
Please subscribe to my channel, and hit the bell icon. Welcome to the AC Family.
This is a story of the Golden Empire.
In ant keeping, as the caregiver of your pet ant colony, you can try your best to control
every aspect of your colony's life.
You control their living space or what they live in, the temperature and humidity conditions
in which they live, you control their diet, you can even keep their world as aesthetically
beautiful and pristine as you possibly can.
But sometimes, there may be things that might be out of your control, things that quite
literally slip through the cracks.
Like when something alien from the outside, enters into your colony's universe and infiltrates
the ant matrix.
When this happens, everything you and the ants have built together becomes exposed and
vulnerable to these unexpected visitors.
In many cases the unexpected vistors could be friendly or indifferent, but in other cases,
they can be malevolent and unwelcome agents like infectious diseases, viruses, fungi,
or parasites.
I first came to notice these unexpected vistors as I watched my Yellow Crazy Ant colony, which
you guys named The Golden Empire, seem to rather be undewhelmed by their cockroach and
jam meals that I gave to them as Christmas gifts.
Something was off.
I didn't know if they just weren't feeling my gift offerings, or if there was something
wrong, so I took a closer look at the colony.
Looking into the nest, the colony seemed normal.
There were lots of workers and indeed the brood appeared healthy.
The Golden Empire's 3 queens were still in tact and alive.
But then I looked into their water test tubes, and that's when I saw our unwelcome aliens.
Mites, and a lot of them.
See them on the ants' bodies?
For ant keepers, spotting mites is similar to discovering a strange mark or growth on
your body.
It's alarming and you know it shouldn't be there, and you try to assess what it means.
Some mites can be good and beneficial, like those that simply eat the ants' garbage.
I see them in the Dark Knights' nests congregating in their garbage rooms where they feed on
the colony's refuse.
In this case, it is a mutualistic symbiosis, but then as mentioned there are times when
the relationship isn't so co-operative.
It is well-known in ant keeping, that parasitic mites can wipe out an entire ant colony very
fast.
Remember this newly acquired Camponotus colony from several videos back?
We spotted some parasitic mites on them.
Well, here's an update: they were all completely dead the following week.
The queen never laid eggs, and the workers died one by one, as the mites feasted on their
blood through soft tissues in their leg joints, necks, and gasters.
Judging from the ants in these water test tubes, the mite infestation was severe.
Every single member of the Golden Empire had dozens of mites of different sizes stuck to
their bodies.
The mites also lived in their tubes, inside the nest, likely their outworld, and I could
even see them being able to squeeze out of the formicarium and wander the outside of
the Golden Empire's setup.
So gross!
Obviously, from a scientific standopoint, they didn't come out of nowhere.
The mites must have entered this colony from somewhere.
Let's look at the possibilities.
First, they could have come in through a Trojan Horse of some sort.
My guess was a mite or mites may have latched on to the body of one of the Golden Empire's
prey insects, placed into the outworld at some point, thereby giving the mite access
to the colony and the nest.
Second, they could have come in through the ants themselves.
I was looking through some older footage of the Golden Empire when they first moved into
their setup and I did notice something strange on the gaster of one of the queens.
See that strange bump?
At the time, I considered that maybe that was a mite, but brushed it off as possibly
debris because in some shots the thing disappeared.
ISo if if it was a mite, it could have went on to become the ancestor to all of these
mites that now affect the entire colony.
Third, the mite could simply have been a lone wanderer having made its way into the Golden
Empire's setup from the outside somehow.
However the mites got in, they needed to be dealt with immediately.
I spoke to my good ant keeper friend Drew, remember our GAN Farmer from California?
Well, he sent me photos of his ants from the past that had mites.
He informed me that his experience with parasitic mites was like most ant keepers', and that
was that once he spotted one of his colonies had parasitic mites it only took a few days
for the ant colony to die out.
Indeed, not what I wanted to hear at all.
However, he also showed me a peculiar photo he took under a microscope of an ant that
had some other mites that were not harming or feeding off the ant nor causing any colony
harm.
They were described as "phoretic" mites, meaning the mites would hitch rides on the ants to
and from their food sources, but weren't actually parasitic nor feeding from the ants' blood.
Hmmm... this made me think.
Could it be that these mites were phoretic and beneficial mites to the Golden Empire
eating the ants' garbage and using the ants for nothing more than transporting mounts?
If that was the case, that would be pretty darn cool!
Afterall, it didn't seem the colony was dwindling in numbers yet.
If not and these were indeed deadly, parasitic mites feeding from the Golden Empire's blood
or hemolymph (the technical term for insect blood) then the Golden Empire, if consistent
with ant keeper testimonies, had just a few days to live.
I just had to wait a few days to see if they would dwindle in numbers and die out.
Meanwhile, I couldn't just do nothing.
I had to do everything I could to help the Golden Empire.
I had to do more research.
It seems there isn't a whole lot of info about parasitic ant mites, at least not readily
available through online articles.
So, I tapped into the best info pool source I knew, you guys, the AC Family.
I asked you on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram if any of you had experience with
getting rid of ant mites.
By the way, guys, if you haven't yet, please take the time to follow us and like us on
these three platforms so we can stay connected.
I've put links in the description box.
Now, the response was amazing!
You guys gave some super helpful suggestions.
Thank you so much!
So, a lot of you guys suggested that adding citrus fruits like lemon to their setup could
eradicate the mites.
This to me seemed like a simple option, and though I didn't understand the science of
it, I couldn't afford to wait, so I bought some lemons and got straight to work.
Here was my plan.
In the middle of this tube, I was going to attach this AC Test Tube Portal v2, and inside
it place a slice of lemon.
I was also going to attach this test tube setup full of lemon juice.
I didn't know if it was the juice or the slice of lemon that would cause the mites to be
deterred so I wanted to expose the ants to both.
Here we go guys.
Let's deal with those pestering mites shall we?
AC Family, the Golden Empire needs us.
Cutting the tube and attaching our AC Test Tube Portal here and yuck, just the thought
of the mites infesting this tube spilling out onto my fingers makes me shiver in disgust.
I made sure to use disinfecting wipes to clean up all debris and escaped mites.
I alsop proceeded to place a slice of lemon in the outworld of the Golden Empire.
AC Family, let's watch what happens.
The very first ant has discovered the lemon and she's called her sisters over.
Word spreads fast that something strange is just outside the nest.
Ants coming from the outworld also approached the lemon, but strangely it seems the ants
don't want to come in contact with it at all.
May God help the Golden Empire.
The next day, it seemed as though the ants got over their lemon-phobia.
Ants were inspecting the AC Test Tube Portal and crawling over the lemon slice.
Still no interest in the lemon juice test tube setup, though, but it seems the ants
piled some garbage and dead bodies in that tube overnight.
Hmmm...
Looking into the outworld, the same was true.
It looked like ants were actually congregating around our slice of lemon.
I don't know if the ants enjoyed the added moisture of the lemon slice or if there was
indeed something in the lemon that was relieving the ants perhaps of the discomfort caused
by the mites.
I could only speculate at this point.
Looking at the tubes now, I could still see mites, but I did catch ants grooming themselves
and each other.
This to me was a very promising sign.
Perhaps the lemon was somehow making it easier for the ants to rid their bodies of the mites,
or causing the ants to want to groom more?
Again just speculation.
The other tube connecting the nest and outworld was our control study.
I purposely did not attach any lemon to this tube in order to help determine if the lemon
had any real effect on our mite problem, and indeed, this control tube was still riddled
with mites.
I planned on continuing to have this tube be our control by keeping it un-lemoned.
Based on all this, I figured perhaps it was too early to tell if the lemons were actually
working at getting rid of our mites.
Meanwhile, I had to do more.
So, I made sure to change the hydration medium in the colony's Hybrid Nest, and made sure
they continued to have fresh hydration medium over the next few weeks.
And I also decided to change their water test tubes much more frequently.
I also resolved to only let food lay around in the outworld for 1 or 2 days max.
Everything needed to be extra clean now.
Now, let's fast forward to one week later...
The ants were finally warming up to our lemon juice test tube.
Great!
Our lemon slice was now kinda dried up so I had to replace it.
Oh no, this slice was a little big.
Looks like we're going to have to settle with a little lemon juice pond at the bottom there.
As for the tube a week later, I was surprised to note that it did look much cleaner with
less mites!
Wow!
Could this mean that the lemon is working?
Looking into the outworld, I found this interesting!
The ants were eating their food on the lemon.
See that cockroach they've dragged up there?
Wow!
So what could this mean?
So far we still don't know if these mites are parasitic or if they are just eating the
ants' food and garbage.
If the mites were indeed repelled by the lemon, could this behaviour of the ants eating by
the lemon be the Golden Empire's way of controling the mites, by making sure they don't get at
their food?
And if so, could this then be a sign that the mites aren't parasitic afterall, but instead
phoretic, but also somehwat of a nuissance to the Golden Empire?
It's been a week and the colony is still alive and thriving, so could we safely conclude
then these mites aren't the lethal parasitic kind?
So many questions, but overall it seemed like 1 week with 2 slices of lemon was producing
visible results, so it was time to increase their dosage!
I cut up more slices of lemon and completely filled up their outworld.
I know it looked a bit more crowded now but this needed to be done.
Ant mites aren't a widely researched topic, so we needed to do this in the name of science.
We are all now officially scientists hoping to make a discovery to see if lemon will eradicate
an ant mite problem.
Exciting stuff.
The next day, looking into their water test tube, somehow it seemed the ants looked healthier,
still with mites, but perhaps with less mites.
But what shocked me the most was this.
Droves of Golden Empire workers congregating in the tubes.
Our control tube still with tonnes of mites, not so crowded.
The sight was amazing, and perplexing.
So AC Family, here's where I need your help again.
My questions are as follows:
1) Do you think the lemon therapy is working and should we continue this regimen?
2) Do you think these mites might be beneficial to the ants and we should stop this lemon
therapy all together?
3) Should we mix this lemon therapy with some other treatment, and what treatments do you
suggest we try?
Let your answer be heard AC Family by voting on this icard poll here, and if you choose
option 3 please leave some suggestions in the comments section for ideas.
[I have been thinking additional treatments like giving the Golden Empire a huge terrarium
natural nest to give them a much more open and natural setup.
I have also considered releasing predatory mites to eat these mites.
Or maybe we should just leave the mites and allow them to live on the Golden Empire ants'
bodies.]
I would hate to see these amazing ants die.
Please help me decide our next step in this Golden Empire Saga.
AC Family, the Golden Empire depends on us.
Thank you guys so much for watching this video!
Now although the Golden Empire isn't off to a great start into the new year, I would like
to wish you all a Happy and joyous New Year 2017.
I look forward to another epic year with you guys, the AC Family, further exploring and
discovering the amazing world of ants!
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We call those who watch these videos, the Inner Colony.
This week's Inner Colony hidden video is of the ants reacting to lemons for the first
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And of course we can't end the video without the AC Question of the Week.
Last week we asked:
The honey into which the Dark Knights' cockroaches were dipped came from what country?
Congratulations to Jad Gamerz who correctly answered Canada!
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And for this week's question of the week we ask:
What is the techincal term for insect blood?
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Until next week, AC Family, it's ant love forever!