7 replies to this topic

[ohhhhh]

is it possible to make the tunnel to the outworld too long? i made one to spiral down in order to keep the drop steady instead of straight down.

any thoughts?

[Huch]

It is definitly possible, but a couple feet I think is fine. If you have a large enough colony, you will need a larger tunnel or a couple tunnels I think, especially if they have to travel far to forage.

[ohhhhh]

It is definitly possible, but a couple feet I think is fine. If you have a large enough colony, you will need a larger tunnel or a couple tunnels I think, especially if they have to travel far to forage.

not a full colony. harvesters with no queen. its about 6ft of tubing spiraled down two feet. they use it fine. i was asking because some just stay and tend to the outworld, others stay in the nest and tunnel. wondering if it had anything to do with distance between the two. 

[Huch]

It would be an intetersing experiment to see how far they would travel to forage if given different distances and foods.

[AntsAnonymous]

I saw an experiment on that on some ant documentary. They had several coils of tubing connected to feeding stations to see how far and in what numbers they would travel to find food.

[ohhhhh]

I saw an experiment on that on some ant documentary. They had several coils of tubing connected to feeding stations to see how far and in what numbers they would travel to find food.

what where the conclusions, if any?

[Crystals]

In most of my larger colonies, some individuals seem to remain in the outworld constantly.  They drag all food to the entrance for others to carry back.

The more workers there are, the likelier they are to forage further away.  This is somewhat dependent on species though. 

For example, in a colony of 100 workers and a queen, Camponotus herculeanus will travel quite a ways from the nest over 6 feet away, yet my colony of Myrmica with over 150 workers would not travel down a 12" section of tubing until I shortened it to 4".

[drtrmiller]

I make the distance to my nests as short as possible, otherwise ants may take residence in the connecting tubing and abandon the formicarium, or they may not foraging at all and die.