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Strong "food"odours can sometimes alert the minor workers to move brood. Happens regularly in my colonies as well.
I do not know though, if this is a phenomenon only in captivity or also in the wild.
Thankyou for your reply Major. :) I wasn't too worried until I saw the queen being moved, but they're fine now and the colonies doing the usual.
I'd imagine it would atleast occasionaly happen in the wild, it would seem odd to me for it to only happen in captivity and not in the wild.
Well, that is the question. I always said, that in the wild nests are much much bigger room and spacewise, and therefore the imminent alarming odours from food spotting prolly do not reach the areas where brood is kept. In captivity we usually do not have this space, which might explain a behaviour like this.
That's a good point, I only seem to see it happen when the food is near the nest, when they forage for food on the other side of the setup it never seems to happen.
If somebody could give some information on this;
http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l623/Kentuckyfrogler101/IMGP0643_zpse7cd5763.jpg
I've seen them in other setups before and have removed them as soon as I saw them, but with the ants they're foraging around it so I didn't want to disturb them and thought this morning I could take it out assuming the ants had stopped foraging in that area. Not realising how fast it grows it'll now be more awkward to remove, can anyone give me some info on this please? Is it harmful and should it be removed regardless of stressing the foraging ants? I did see some ants walking on it when it first sprouted but they haven't climbed on it since.
I don't think you should remove it, it's not in the nest & it adds a nice decor. :)
Thanks for the reply, however I removed it a few hours ago. :p It was starting to die anyway which made me decide to take it out, the ants seemed smart and cautious enough to stay away from it which made not as worried as I first was, they climbed on it when it first appeared and kept distance since then.
To add about the ants though they're digging alot now, even in one of the artificial nests they're digging more tunnels through it, a group of about 10 soldiers digging through it, good to see them digging more in the artificial nests and hopefully they'll decide to move brood in there sometime...
How is your colony doing now Frogger any updates for us?
Hey Niall, sorry for not replying sooner!
The colony is still doing very well, many more ants since I last posted and the nest is larger. They made a new entrance which is alot more active than the old one, here's a couple pictures of it and some workers consuming a grape;
http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l623/Kentuckyfrogler101/IMGP0661_zps3f07330b.jpg
http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l623/Kentuckyfrogler101/IMGP0659_zps7eb44214.jpg
http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l623/Kentuckyfrogler101/IMGP0652_zpsb3058259.jpg
Soldiers seem to be foraging more regularly as time goes on and there are larger ones that forage now. The only bad thing (for observing) is that the brood is out of sight which means the majors and queen aswell, but I know they are in good health with the rate the colony is growing at.
I have also not seen anymore of the parasitic mites for a long time now, the last ones I saw were on the queen but it has been weeks since I've seen the queen because of the brood being moved.
Something I regret doing is putting in the artificial nests as I believe the front of the setup would have chambers all over by now and I regret not adding more to the setup although I wouldn't mind adding another setup for this colony sometime in the future when it gets larger.
Just to add about misting the setup, what do others use to do this? I've tried looking for an ultra-fine sprayer as the one I have at the moment is slightly powerful, but can't seem to find one, any help appreciated.
They really like that grape :D haha Glad to see they're doing good! What do you think is the colony count?
As for the sprayer, try looking in pharmacies or you know those euro(pound shops) I got my sprayer in one of those 2 euro.
Can also try spraying it above the tank into the air and not directly in.