3 replies to this topic

[TheGamblingAnt]

Hey guys hoping you can help me out here. I recently built this small little outworld for my small Formica colony I found under a rock. They've been doing really good. I had them in a test tube with a little tiny $10 outworld box I bought from Amazon, but I wanted to make the outworld look a little nicer so I made this one with grout and a small layer of find sand. I waited for it to dry for about 36 hours and tried to move them in. They seemed to like it running around during the day, queen and larvae stayed in the covered test tube, however.. each night when I turn all the lights off they all move to the same corner of the outworld. The queen is there, all the larvae and most of the workers. I can't imagine why they are doing this unless it's a humidity issue? Maybe the grout still isn't completely dry and they are moving to the moist sand? Not sure. I have a heat cable under their test tube which sits around 75 degrees F or so. When I had them with the small 2x2in box as their outworld this was never a problem until I moved them to this new one that's about 4x4 inches. Also should note, in the morning right when I turn the lights on, within minutes they take all the larvae and the queen right back into the covered test tube to get away from the light. Any help is greatly appreciated! Should I be concerned? Should I hook up the old outworld so I can let this dry if it isn't completely dry?? Or is this cycle of moving the queen and larvae each day not a big problem? Thank you everyone.

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[Ants_Dakota]

My Formica subsericea colony does the same thing with my colony's pupa. I don't think it is necessarily a issue, but I would bet the colony is keeping the pupa as dry as possible. This is likely their wild instinct.

[TheGamblingAnt]

Even the queen though too? Just wasn't what I was expecting to see at all. And not sure if it makes a difference the stages of the brood but these I think are pretty early stage larva, my queen laid one batch of eggs about 3 weeks ago. Would the workers try to keep these away from moisture as well?

[Full_Frontal_Yeti]

Looks like a nice little start up there.
Just know that the ants are picking out the most optimal conditions they can find to hang out and rear brood. And that is an ongoing process where they may move the brood pile around to different locations in a setup, several times every day.

My ants shift the brood piles between hottest and moistest parts of the nest. Baking pupae on the hot spots, then relocating them all back to a water tower where the temps are lower but the humidity will be much higher. When i had a smaller nest they would often bring large brood piles to the outworld space when conditions in it seemed right to them. And the queen even made occasional visits.

I do note that lidded outworlds, even with a screen, basically retain enough sent of the ants that from their POV the outworld and nest may not be very different, or even indistinguishable from their smell based POV.  Open lid outworlds i use have never had brood brought to them and consistently get treated like it is outside the nest to them.

I might also consider placing the heat cable, where it is now, but on top of the tube instead of under it. That should slightly lower the average temps in the floor of the nest where brood rest. It can rest on top of the foil i think and still provide plenty of heat for them.

I imagine at night the outworld is cooler than the nest, and if they regularly move out during that time, it might be a bit of cool, a bit of dryness, or some of both they seek.
Slightly reduced temps could also slightly lower humidity rates by slowing evaporation a little.
 

 

But overall i'd say them moving back and forth between the nest and outworld is not a sign of anything real bad. Later on when they grow into a larger nest that can more easily offer a temp/humidity gradient within itself, they may shuffle the brood back and forth just within the nest. And while it's all so small still it might just be that that gradient they like will include the outworld space.

Edited by Full_Frontal_Yeti, May 22 2025 - 7:36 AM.