Hey guys,
Looking for some advice. I've had a Pogonomyrmex Barbatus colony that was flourishing. Queen was captured in July and has grown to about 15 workers and some brood. I had her in a test tube in a Tupperware container but they were filling up the whole test tube so I recently moved them into a dirt ant farm (see picture).
Upon introducing the new formicarium, they immediately moved in and dug a huge tunnel system. But now that they moved in, they haven't left the tunnels at all and are not eating. I'm offering seeds, crickets, sugar water, and a tube of regular water, all of which they ate willingly before but now they aren't touching anything. They are definitely alive though, I can see them in the tunnels chilling and messing around.
I originally thought I might have blocked the tunnel entrance and that's why they couldn't leave. When they dug out the tunnel, they made a big pile that reached to the top of the enclosure and boxed them in, so I vacuumed some of it out and evened the rest out to give them more room to excavate. I think I may have knocked some dirt into the tunnel entrance though because now it's not visible. However, I would think this wouldn't be a problem for them to fix if they needed to get out? Surely they are better at surviving than that.
My other thought is that they hibernated early? I'm keeping the enclosure at about 83 degrees Fahrenheit using a heat cable taped to the back in a zig-zag, which is about the same temp they have always been kept at. I have five other P. Barbatus colonies in similar conditions and none of them have hibernated yet.
