Saving My Ant Colony From Giant Facehugger Mites

There are huge facehugger mites on my pet ants in their test tube ant farm nest. But in this episode, I attempted something crazy to help save them. Like a mini “ant surgeon”, I went in and extracted the facehugger mites from the colony. It took some crazy skill to do it, but I had no choice. The lives of my pet ants depended on it! Hope you enjoy this week's episode. Ant love forever! This video was shot in 4K Ultra HD resolution.

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Directed/Written/DOP by AntsCanada
Executive Producer RJ Garcia
Editing by Heinrich Domingo

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[josht]

1) Send one to each specialist. I recommend filling the vials with 70% EToH so the mites do not dry out, however. In this case, the acarologists do not need living hosts to observe (they have your videos if they do). I've never worked with Kaitlyn, but I've sent a lot of specimens to Ron (and have a few more I'll be sending on Monday actually). I'd ask how they'd prefer the mites be preserved and sent. But I'm guessing they will generally agree with my statement above (the 70% thing).

2) You can start removing the workers with visible mites and separate them into a quarantine area. Cool them off a little bit (surround a tube with ice for example) to lower their activity rate, then remove the mites gently. I'd remove the ants with featherweight forceps, but remove the mites by brushing them with a little bit of 70% EToH and either scraping them off with a needle, or pulling them off directly with a pair of fine point forceps.

[Billgus]

You should do option 3. You should also get the video/photo proof of the mites but also send the male ants over at the same time incase the photo wasn’t accurate enough

[abcdeisthekeygaming]

You always send things in for the most accurate results you can get. Do not rely on a photo.

[marcom]

My guess is the mites came in with the queen during the nuptial flight and use alates to travel from nest to nest. This seems like something a parasite would do.

[atriox]

I think sending 1 male and to the us would be a good idea, meanwhile you can get footage of the mite on the other male for the professionals to see

[Flippokid]

Considering how fast the amount of mites grew, it's likely they have eggs around that you can't find. Separate the mites from the males and photograph them.

[nuclearbaguette]

Among Us might be slowly dying but saying "Sus" lives on

[MAabmets]

Step 1: Take your best pictures and send those to experts.
Step 2: Send the samples to the experts in case pictures aren't good enough.
Step 3: try to extract the mites. Using a grabber clip/claw/probe instead of tweezers might help with this. (the kind used for electronics that are thin tubes and have two metal wire grabbers at the end of the tube.)

[anonymous]

Since discovering this channel I have a new found love and respect for all insects. Upon finding them in my home, I go out of my way to release them back outside.

Edit: Three option vote @9:20
My Vote: "Remove all the mites and have them ID by experts"

Question of the week: Why was it a perfect situation that the mites had transferred to the male ants?

Answer: "Mites are often observed attaching to larger arthropods such as ants for dispersal (phoresy). Through phoresy, mites are able to exploit scattered and patchy resources that they would be unable to reach without external assistance".

[emilyjadeoliver]

I've never actually thought of you as Canadian, until I heard you say "Do you believe we're better safe than sawry?"

[jrmillan]

It was a perfect situation for the mites to attach to the male ants because removing the male ants would do the least harm to the colony, as they do no work. In fact, it would allow more food to go to the young and hungry workers!

[GeorgieStory]

AntsCanada: We need to wait for the results!

Me: Dude... Remember what happened to the last colony that had blood sucking mites???

[deadgerman]

about the mites. you could send one to the lab and take pictures of one. then you would a high chance of getting an answer faster.

[itsperp]

10:10 all of this “mite” take some time.
Hahaha good one 🤣

[mojr_w_keys]

It was a good thing that the males had the mites on them because the males aren’t the biggest priority in the colony and wouldn’t hurt them.

[defendedsoup]

Its good that the facehugging mites grabbed ahold of the males because you could easily extract them.

[catoverlord]

HEY!! How about you photograph one mite off one male, send that picture to the specialist and as a back up, mail the other male...? You get the best of both worlds--A fast preliminary result and then a confirmation once they study the physical ant. ❤

[thesnakeanimator]

Finally early and this is ant love risking his own fingers he takes the ant facehugger of the ants

[tomsmoneymagic]

AC question of the week:
While a worker or replete was undergoing trophillaxis with it.

[temblUUdudforever]

My half life fears are coming back to me when i heard the name "facehugger"
Also i think i choose the 3rd option