5 replies to this topic

[steam_funk]

I have been keeping my Obscurithorax colony in a Antscanada tower connected to an out-world for about a year now. I have had multiple problems with it and want to

move them. The colony is perfectly content with the tower and will not move to ytong formicaria I have had connected for a few months. Would I be able to dump them or move them manually to a different soil formicarium? They have plenty of workers and their chambers are situated near the bottom of the tower.

[TechAnt]

Honestly, most ants provide soil over anything else. You could try adding substrate to the Ytong formicaria, maybe use heat on the new formicaria?

[ANTdrew]

I think once ants are in a soil nest, dumping them out is your only way to get them to move. It’s like if someone hooked up a cardboard and aluminum shack to your house for a few months and wondered why you didn’t move.

[BlueLance213]

You could try letting the soil dry out though, it might force the ants to move, but I mean.... it will take time, and it might not even make them leave. I mean as long as its a bigger colony you could try dumping it in but you also risk injuring the queen accidently. Also like the others said, once they have soil, its hard to make them vacate. My Lasius Flavus are adamant that a small tube with soil is better than a fresh test tube + more space etc. 

[steam_funk]

You could try letting the soil dry out though, it might force the ants to move, but I mean.... it will take time, and it might not even make them leave. I mean as long as its a bigger colony you could try dumping it in but you also risk injuring the queen accidently. Also like the others said, once they have soil, its hard to make them vacate. My Lasius Flavus are adamant that a small tube with soil is better than a fresh test tube + more space etc. 

 

I think once ants are in a soil nest, dumping them out is your only way to get them to move. It’s like if someone hooked up a cardboard and aluminum shack to your house for a few months and wondered why you didn’t move.

I am thinking that dumping them is the only option at this point. I can't move around their heat source (the heat comes from the other animal lights in my room.) Are there ways I can minimize the risk to the queen when dumping it?

[BlueLance213]

Sadly I have no experience with moving colonies in this way, I mean if you could slowly tilt it till its 90 degrees and tap it the soil should loosely fall down, that would avoid putting a humans strength on the soil, but I have 0 experience with it, so best wait till someone else who has some experience doing it comments. Maybe just literally dumping it is an option, but I don't know how fragile the queen is XD