Hi! I've recently relocated my C.Lig colony and they moved into their new Y-Tong fine. Half is kept moist by a leg in water. The problem im having is that the workers have moved all the cocoons into the 1" piece of tubing between the y-tong and basin area.....is this normal???
It can be. It just means that the Ants think that the tubing is a better place for the cocoons than any part of the nest. The ants mostly know whats best for them. Could it be that in your whole Y-tong the air is same wet? The cocoons need other airconditions than the eggs und the larves so they ofen are in other parts of the nest. That they moved all their cocoons to that spot means that they see the tubing as a part of their nest.
i guess so. that does make sense considering the colony is only about 18 workers and the y-tong is a large new environment....easy to defend and snug. Just after i wrote the first post the queen moved into the tube. with the cocoons. She is fatter than i've ever seen, fully bloated since i put some crickets in with them. Hopefully she will lay hundreds of eggs.....
She will lay eggs, but like we all now these species dont grow very fast.
Camponotus nearly always move their eggs to warm spots in my experience, and will move back and forth if there is a variation. I shone a lamp on my ligniperda basin and the eggs and coccoons were actually taken out of the wood nest and placed directly underneath the lamp. The eggs were being well guarded the whole time.