11 replies to this topic

[prettycode]

I'm aware that on the ant side of a test tube setup, the cotton gets dark and moldy, and that alone is not cause for alarm.

 

However, I recently took a half-dozen test tubes out of hibernation, and the water in two of them is "off." 

 

In one, the water has a yellow tint. It's stained the cotton yellow, too. In the other, the water has a light rust-colored tint. The cotton hasn't turned the rust color.

 

Should I try to get these two colonies to move out into fresh tubes? Both are camponotus queens, one with one worker, and one with three workers.

 

Whenever I've tried to move camponotus in the past, the queens have spontaneously died, so I'm pretty reluctant.

 

Just looking for any advice on how to handle the situation. Thanks!

Edited by prettycode, February 16 2016 - 4:34 PM.

[dspdrew]

I usually change my test tubes when the water changes color. The different colors I think is probably bacteria. The yellow I think is hydrogen sulfide caused by bacteria if I'm not mistaken, and if it is, it will smell like rotten eggs.

[drtrmiller]

Unless the ants are showing adverse behavior, no action is needed.

It will be easy to tell if the ants are adversely affected. They will be either agitated, moving away from the cotton and moist end, or take on a lethargic, or poisoned, stumbling gait.

[Miles]

As a preventative maintenance measure, it is always best to move your colonies to fresh test tubes (if you're going that route), rather than keeping them in potentially unhealthy conditions.

[dspdrew]

I find that when something like this becomes a problem, it often does a lot of damage, very quickly when in such a small space. Too many times I'll check on a colony, and it's already completely dead. I think if they have a foraging area that allows them to leave the test tube, it's less of a problem.

[drtrmiller]

The stress of moving a small colony from a benign, but foul-looking test tube, can prove just as fatal as leaving them in a verifiably inhospitable environment.

Without any other information than a slight change of the color of the water or cotton, it is impossible to know with any reasonable degree of scientific certainty whether the conditions are or could pose any danger to ants.

I respectfully disagree with anyone who blankly advises a forced relocation of an ant colony, for the aforementioned reasons. The best compromise might be to couple two tubes together, and allow the ants to move naturally, rather than acting with a sense of urgency on what may very well be a false sense of danger.

Edited by drtrmiller, February 16 2016 - 6:15 PM.

[dspdrew]

The stress of moving a small colony from a benign, but foul-looking test tube, can prove just as fatal as leaving them in a verifiably inhospitable environment.

Without any other information than a slight change of the color of the water or cotton, it is impossible to know with any reasonable degree of scientific certainty whether the conditions are or could pose any danger to ants.

I respectfully disagree with anyone who blankly advises a forced relocation of an ant colony, for the aforementioned reasons. The best compromise might be to couple two tubes together, and allow the ants to move naturally, rather than acting with a sense of urgency on what may very well be a false sense of danger.

 

I don't think we can be any more certain that moving a colony is going to kill them as we can that colored water will kill them. Personally I think colored water would be more likely to hurt them than moving them to a new test tube. Obviously you believe the opposite. I move colonies all the time, and for more trivial reasons than contaminated water. I am yet to see any evidence that simply moving a colony is going to kill or hurt it. I think the harm that stress does to a colony happens from repeated disturbances over a period of time. This is just what I've gathered from my experience keeping ants. I know it hasn't been long, but it's been a lot.

[BrittonLS]

... I am yet to see any evidence that simply moving a colony is going to kill or hurt it...

 

 

Didn't you instigate a mass civil war in one of your colonies by moving it?

[drtrmiller]

Yes, Acromyrmex sometimes go nuts when they are relocated, but they are not being moved from test tubes.

[dspdrew]

 

... I am yet to see any evidence that simply moving a colony is going to kill or hurt it...

 

 

Didn't you instigate a mass civil war in one of your colonies by moving it?

 

 

It happened one time when I moved that colony, but I never found out what specifically caused it. I have since moved that colony around a few more times, in much more invasive ways than the first time, and there were no problems at all. Not to mention the other twenty or so Acromyrmex colonies I moved around the same way, two of which are even larger than the one that had the war. So no, I see no evidence of that causing them any harm.

[prettycode]

The stress of moving a small colony from a benign, but foul-looking test tube, can prove just as fatal as leaving them in a verifiably inhospitable environment.

Without any other information than a slight change of the color of the water or cotton, it is impossible to know with any reasonable degree of scientific certainty whether the conditions are or could pose any danger to ants.

I respectfully disagree with anyone who blankly advises a forced relocation of an ant colony, for the aforementioned reasons. The best compromise might be to couple two tubes together, and allow the ants to move naturally, rather than acting with a sense of urgency on what may very well be a false sense of danger.

 

Have to give my support to this. I've had such bad experiencing trying to relocate camponotus early (< 5 worker).

 

What I've done is given each test tube a container with a breathable lid. I've put a fresh tube in each container, and covered the fresh tube with transparent red plastic. Both containers are in a room with the light on 24/7.

 

If they want to move, they can move. I'll just have to hope they're smart enough to move before they die, if indeed the fouled-water tubes ever do become problematic.

 

Thanks for all the discussion!

[Barristan]

My Lasius niger found a way to turn water into wine: