7 replies to this topic

[Michiganter]

Howdy yall…

Updated my C. pennsylvanicus journal and have a question that is may be time-sensitive and important to the ant’s safety; my queen has 3 nanitics and a large brood pile in a test tube set-up attached to a small outworld for feeding. Over the past few days the queen and workers have begun digging at the cotton ball that provides their moisture. They’ve created a small alcove at the “bottom” of the test tube and I’m concerned bc they are continuing to try and tunnel deeper toward the water, and may eventually flood their tube. I have an extra Tarheel minihearth laying around…you know…as one does….should I dump the colony in for their own safety or just ride this out?


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[ANTdrew]

Dump them. No harm will come to the colony. This species does great in mini-hearths.

[Michiganter]

Dump them. No harm will come to the colony. This species does great in mini-hearths.

thanks man. Will dump them. And probably document the experience, because reasons. Thanks for the input!


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[RushmoreAnts]

This species does great in mini-hearths.

Emphasis on "This species". Mini Hearths are much too large for most founding colonies other than Camponotus sized ants. 

Edited by RushmoreAnts, Yesterday, 7:59 AM.

[Michiganter]

This species does great in mini-hearths.

Emphasis on "This species". Mini Hearths are much too large for most founding colonies other than Camponotus sized ants.

Definitely clear on this aspect, I would’ve preferred to leave this queen in her tube for the first year too but the amount of tunneling toward water going on is alarming


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[Michiganter]

Well, the dump is complete and it went smoother than a greased porpoise. I’m not sure what they were doing with their tube setup but once I got them moved the extent of the hole they dug and the risk it posed became clear as water began actively leaking out of the test tube. I imagine if they continued to dig at it for another day or two, they’d have flooded their setup. They had an outworld to escape to but still a disaster. Watching them move the brood that didn’t tumble out with the queen, it was interesting seeing how stuck and waterlogged two of the pupae were.


I think my take-aways here are trying sponge instead of cotton ball, I had seen it on the interwebs and in addition to some of the other positives, this is another compelling case for it. The other I am already ahead of, and that's trying inserts/bamboo tubes/etc. thanks again for the input ANTdrew!



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[Ants_Dakota]

Another solution is getting jumbo cotton balls and trying to fit more into the test tube. More mass of cotton makes leaks rarer and deters ants from tunneling. It's a lot cheaper than pva sponges too.

[ANTdrew]

Determined ants can chew through PVA sponges, too. I've had Monomorium do it, so big Camponotus should have no trouble chewing them up. This is a prime example of Myrmy's Law: all things being equal, ants will always do what you don't want or expect them to do.