9 replies to this topic

[OhNoNotAgain]

Soooo I have this problem that with some colonies numbering in the hundreds+, the ants are constantly climbing the walls, day and night, week after week, usually in the same places, and yes, the Fluon gives out.

 

What do you do when the Fluon gives out?

 

Do you somehow manage to clean the outworld walls and reapply (I'm not sure how to do this when the outworld is crawling with hundreds of workers)?

Do you go with olive oil?

Do you clean it then do talcum powder and alcohol? If so how do you clean it?

If talcum powder don't you wind up with layers of talcum powder in the outworld after a while?

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, September 2 2020 - 4:20 PM.

[ANTdrew]

Fluon does degrade after a few months, so it needs to be reapplied. You can do this with the ants still in the set up, but crowding makes it challenging. My best advice would be to attach another foraging container to the formicarium with tubing. Direct the ants to the new one by putting all their food and water in there. Once crowding is down, reapplying Fluon is much easier.
Have a feather and an aspirator handy for fugitives.

[ponerinecat]

Scrape it off and reapply. Ants generally stick to a certain time frame during which they are active, do this in their off time.

[OhNoNotAgain]

Recommendations on how to scrape off Fluon cleanly?

Or maybe the Fluon itself has too many particulates and I need to filter it like the other person who recently posted.

 

No one would go from Fluon to talc?

[ANTdrew]

A damp paper towel will remove it, or better yet, use a micro-fiber cloth.

[Ants_Dakota]

I have had the same problem, so thanks for the answers!

[Richard]

peppermint or camphor oil works for me, since both disturb their sense of smell. just a little bit or your ants won't go out to the outworld. i use it for my iridomyrmex, since oil doesn't help me at all and no fluon where i live. they are getting smarter by day. one day i woke up to 1/4 of my iridomyrmex all over the table. they pile up their trash and cotton from the water source on the oil and walk through like a boss lmao. and they chew sponge too 

[nurbs]

Depends on your setup, but is the fluon in an outworld, or is the fluon in a bin with test tubes?

[OhNoNotAgain]

Depends on your setup, but is the fluon in an outworld, or is the fluon in a bin with test tubes?

 

I do both, but the problem ones are with outworlds (e.g. THA fortress or labyrinth). With test tubes I could just switch tubes to a new bin and wash out the old bin.

I mean what I really need to do is move them out to a larger formicarium, but I often don't have any spare (e.g. I've blown my ant budget for a couple months) so I have to figure out what to do in the meantime.

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, September 4 2020 - 12:03 PM.

[nurbs]

Two must have things in any antkeeper's arsenal: an aspirator and fluon. 

 

If they are in an outworld like a Fortress or Labyrinth, plug the entrance to the nest and aspirate the ants out. Use rubbing alcohol to clean the sides (be sure not to let any ants contact or smell it), and reapply the fluon. Let it sit for an hour or so. The aspirated ants should go in a temp container lined with fluon. Once the fluon has completely dried, you can dump them back in.

 

Here is a bunch of Mexicanus workers in a temp container being dumped back into a newly fluon'ed THA Pioneeer XL outworld:

 

https://www.instagra...75092712757963/

 

 

 

Depends on your setup, but is the fluon in an outworld, or is the fluon in a bin with test tubes?

 

I do both, but the problem ones are with outworlds (e.g. THA fortress or labyrinth). With test tubes I could just switch tubes to a new bin and wash out the old bin.

I mean what I really need to do is move them out to a larger formicarium, but I often don't have any spare (e.g. I've blown my ant budget for a couple months) so I have to figure out what to do in the meantime.

 

Edited by nurbs, September 4 2020 - 3:40 PM.