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mwarnham88: Are they alive?? (10. Jul 2009 13:38)

Hi,

I set my ant farm up last week and connected the tube, within 10 mins at least 4 had started do build the nest, after the weekend (it was a Friday and its set up in my office at work) they had completely moved out (around 60 of them) and set up a nest....but around 16 had died. I've put plenty of food and water out for them but there is absolutely no movement, the other problem is they have dug out their nest so much i'm worried that when i fill it up it may be flooding it. I built a y-tong and connected that today so i'm sort of hoping they will move.
Does this sound normal, i have seen no movement in a week??

Thanks

Michael

MorbidMike: Re: Are they alive?? (10. Jul 2009 14:42)

Hi Michael, and welcome!

Did you use a soil nest? If so, was it moist enough? A dry nesting area can kill your ants in a very short timespan. (Depending on the species of course.) Sometimes you do not see any movement at all during the day when observing small colonies (like yours), try observing them at night, and you have a bigger chance of seeing movement. If they do not come out at all, they could indeed have died... but I hope not for you!

Is your Ytong moist and dark? If it is, your ants will move if you stop keeping the soilnest moist (some species faster than others of course, L. niger takes a long time before they want to move, but M. rubra move the same day usually). I think patience is your best bet: if you decide to remove the soil from the farm and the ants are still alive you will have to pick them up one by one, giving them a lot of stress and usually harming them as well, so it is best to wait and see if you discover any ants at night.

(P.S. did you already look at them at night? If so, and you did not see any movement, they will probably have died...)
Also, what species are you keeping? I know Camponotus species can have a 'hibernation' at this time of the year.