4 replies to this topic

[ianlee74]

I have a nice colony of Camponotus subbarbatus that I found about 3 months ago which have been thriving all summer. They've been in a grout formicarium for the past couple months and seem to be happy there. 

 

However, for the past week I've seen very little activity in their outworld except for 7-8 workers and a major that are always out there. These girls are always eager eaters, though, and quickly form a congo line when I offer them a pile of fruit flies. Yesterday it was feeding time and I gave them a nice pile of flies. After a few minutes nothing happened except the workers in the outworld had some nibbles but didn't take any to the nest. No one came out of the nest. 

 

So, then I inspected the entrance to their nest to discover that it was completely sealed off. I thought maybe they were just trying to increase humidity and surely they would open it up to feed. But, after an hour or so still nothing. 

 

Then I decided to poke a little hole in their entrance to see what they would do. Maybe they had been accidentally sealed in or the workers in the outworld had been malicious for some reason? After opening a hole in their entrance, one or two more workers ran out. I thought maybe they would find the food and start the congo line. But, no. The workers inside the nest immediately started sealing up the entrance again.

 

What's going on with these ants? Are they trying to keep something on the outside from getting in? Are they committing mass suicide? Do they think its time to hibernate? It's still 90F outside... Will they eventually come out when they get hungry enough? 

 

These girls have been doing so well and growing rapidly. I hate to see them put a halt to it. But, if there's something dangerous about the Formicarium that I need to correct then I want to do that to help them out.

 

One thing I did notice several days ago while recording some video with my macro lens were some little white mites crawling on a piece of apple. I haven't seen any on the ants, though, and I haven't found any inside the outworld since I removed the apple. Could they be sealing themselves up until the mites die or move off?

 

Anyone else experienced this?

 

Thanks!

Ian

Edited by ianlee74, August 27 2017 - 2:46 PM.

[MegaMyrmex]

This happens a LOT with my ants. What generally happens is that they either have a surplus of food and don't need any more, or they might very simply have lost their appetite.

[ianlee74]

I checked on them this morning and they had opened the entrance back up and were hunting around. So, I guess everything is back to usual. However, I'm not certain it was food related. They've had piles of flies in their lower chambers before and never closed up the entrance. This time, they hadn't been fed in days and I didn't see any piles of food reserves. So, I'm still open to theories.

[Shareallicu]

They were observing a Camponotus holiday?  

[ianlee74]

They were observing a Camponotus holiday?  

Winner!   

 

The more I think about it I believe it may have been humidity related. We had a fairly long period of time with no rain and the air had become dry prior to them closing up the entrance. They finally opened it back up the day it rained. Perhaps this was a strategy to keep the dry outside air from pulling humidity from the nest.