1 reply to this topic

[CatsnAnts]

okay, so here’s he deal: I’m making a grout nest, or at least attempting to, and blah blah blah, I’m adding a hydration chamber that I fill up with water in the grout nest itself. My question is, do ants drink from the hydrated walls of the nest itself, or do I have to provide them with a test tube full of water all the time. I may just drill a little hole from the hydration chamber into one of the nest chambers and plug it with cotton so the ants can drink. What do you think?

[sirjordanncurtis]

Different ants will have their own preferences for the humidity of the formicarium. you could make the water source your only source of hydration, but that might cause the ants to all move extremely close to the water source and put the brood on the bottom, which might make it harder for you to clean and refill the water. Some ants require their whole nest to be humid, but others don’t really have to live near the source. It would help to determine what species of ants you have, and their humidity preferences. Be prepared to have an easy method to remove your water chamber once it runs out.

I think some forum members have worked on grout nests in which part of it is soaked/submerged in a bowl of water, which can help hydrate the nest with less effort on your part