4 replies to this topic

[Canadant]

I would like to ask if anyone would like to give some advice on moving my Formica neorufibarbis colony into an outworld. They're a new colony started last season. They appear to be doping well. There is about twenty workers at the moment. I have them attached to an AC mini outworld but it seems they want some more foraging space. I thought I'd recycle my old outworld and put them in it. What I mean is, place their test tube in there and let them come and go as they please. When they grow larger, I was going to hook up a formicarium to the outworld and they could move there if they wish. The outworld is approx. 30 x 20cm (12" x 8"). I'm assuming fluon would be a good barrier. Here are some pics:

 

So, what do you think? Would this be a bad idea? I'll take any Formica advice you've got.

 

Thanks!

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Edited by Canadant, April 12 2020 - 2:38 PM.

[AntsDakota]

You can just place their test tube or formicarium (if it’s small enough) into the outworld, and pull out the cotton (or whatever’s blocking the nest entrance) and let them go free.

Edited by AntsDakota, April 12 2020 - 3:43 PM.

[AntsBC]

I have done this sort of thing with Formica pacifica colonies.  It works well, but there are a few things to consider:

 

1) If the test tube is inside of the outworld, you can either leave a cover on it and never see your ants, or leave it without a cover and have your ants constantly exposed to light.  You can't really leave a cover on the test tube and still check on your ants, it just doesn't work.  Lifting the test tube up and removing the cover becomes a big hassle with colonies that have more than 15 workers.  You'll end up with workers crawling on your arms or falling out of the test tube and it's just not ideal.  There are different ways to counter this, such as placing a cotton ball into the test tube when you go to lift it up, but with larger colonies you'll have workers on top of the tube so it still won't work.  Overall, it's just a pain.

 

2) When you have test tubes directly inside of the outworld, I find that it can become harder to clean up the outworld.  This is somewhat connected to the light exposure issue.  I like to keep my ant's setups in the dark, so when I take the setup out, (due to Formica species' stressed out nature) the ants naturally leave the nest and start running around the outworld because their test tube is exposed.  When there are a bunch of stressed out ants running around in your outworld, you may have your ants run up your tweezers and onto your arms, experience difficultly picking up garbage, etc.  Without a test tube cover, you can't really prevent this; but if you do have a test tube cover, you can't check up on your ants as easily.  

 

Dealing with the above issues isn't the end of the world, but it can make things a tad bit more difficult.  For these reasons, I find that it is definitely better just to drill a hole in the outworld and connect the test tube up via vinyl tubing.  It's just easier overall and will save you piece of mind in the future.

[Canadant]

Thanks for the advice. I noticed in some (I think Antdrew's) pics that he put half an empty toilet paper roll over the tt as a cover. It seems ideal here. It's dark and easy liftable. I keep my ants covered in construction paper and tape. Easily slidable when connected to the AC mini outworld or just in a dark drawer. I appreciate the advice. Thanks to both of you.

Time to try!

Edited by Canadant, April 13 2020 - 2:28 AM.

[ANTdrew]

Yes, I do use the half toilet paper rolls, but I actually prefer the cardboard rolls in aluminum foil or wax paper rolls because they’re tighter and fit closer over the tube. Toilet paper rolls are hard to come by, if you’ve heard. Lol
I’ve used these witn Tetramorium, Camponotus, and Crematogaster, but not with Formica.