3 replies to this topic

[PaxxMantid]

My Lasius niger colony was doing fine in their test tube, with about 8 workers and an epic pile of brood. But, the tube was getting super nasty, for some reason - mold and debris everwhere and the cotton was looking gunky. So, I put them into a #4 dirt box.

 

They immediately moved in, dug a tunnel to the bottom, and dragged the queen down there. She didn't like it when she got stuck for a few hours and they played tug of war with her, but she made it eventually. It was pretty cool watching them dig, and then get organized in their tunnel.

 

Then they disappeared! The lasius are pretty small, and once they got the queen downstairs they sort of walled off the tunnel it's barely visible from the outside. If I shine a light in and really zoom in, I can catch a bit of black moving objects behind the sand but basically I can't see the colony at all. I have no idea where they eventually parked the queen!

 

I love the concept of the dirt box and the idea that the very thin area between the inside and outside walls force the ants too build their nest in a way that allows us to watch them through the plastic. But, so far it didn't work - they are too small and closed it right up for their own privacy! I am a little disappointed but they sure seem happy with it.

[drtrmiller]

Even with an appropriately sized dirt box, you are not likely to see very much with only 8 workers.  When the colony gets larger, they will excavate more and more dirt, and eventually more of the nest will be revealed.

[PaxxMantid]

I figured as much. At the rate they are going, it won't long for the population to explode in there!

[YsTheAnt]

Typically any dirt setup won't have good view of a smaller colony. Once they get bigger however, it is a very different story.

Dirt boxes in my experience have the best visibility in the dirt formicarium department however, so just keep your fingers crossed that they are growing and will reveal themselves soon enough.