Foraging arena invasion

[Dr. Ant]

Not quite sure where to put this post, but anyways.

I've got a colony of Messor Barbarus in a foraging arena connected to a YTong, they never nested in the YTong and dug into the Foraging arena as there was a little area what happened to be deep enough, the colony seems to be doing ok but has slowed down as we are in winter here now, so I would guess they are hibernating, even though in the wild I still see activity in big nests.

anyways the problem is I put some wild grass stalks in there so they can climb and take off the seeds and I think that's where the little tiny bug came from, really tiny about as big as the fool stop at the end of this sentence. well a little bigger but not much. Anyhow  these bugs have bred like wild fire and there must be hundreds in there now, will they disturb my Ants, and how can I get rid of them?

Thanks for any help you can offer,

Regards DA

[James O'Neill]

Can you give any more information on the bugs? What are their habits, appearance etc? They could be springtails (unlikely unless you are keeping it very damp), or mites (which are REALLY small).

[Wood~Ant]

This sounds very much like some kind of mite infestation to me. As a rule most mites don't cause that much harm to ants unless they attach themselves onto the ants body. Keeping the foraging arena as dry as possible will reduce the ability for mites to breed in vast numbers, although if you already have hundreds in the arena then you might have to block the ants inside their nest and clean out the entire arena with hot salt water or a dilute disinfectant solution. 

[Dr. Ant]

Sorry not to get back to you, and thank you for all the comments.
I did partly what you said, I removed the water source which is a small bird feeder with cotton wool at the bottom, I noticed them congregating around that area mostly, and I've allowed the media to dry out and only water a little so the ants can get some, but I'm keeping it to a minimal. Since then I haven't and the time that has passed I haven't seen any about, nowhere.
Yep I just gone for a good poke around and I see nothing, I'm going to continue to keep it as dry as possible so they are completely gone. I wanted to hold back from disturbing the nest and would of done it as a last move, I wish they would just hurry up and move in to the nice YTong I built them.
thanks again everyone

[Wood~Ant]

Hope it stays clear for you and your ants, as there is nothing more irritating than having mites where they are hard to get rid of. 

[arcfyre]

okay so how do I avoid mites? As a someone just wanting to start a colony..what should I avoid doing?