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Wildbird: New colony - new problem :) (18. Apr 2008 09:16)

Hi All

Ok first of all the good news, I ordered my new Camponotus ligniperda colony last Thursday and they arrived on Monday of this week which is not bad from Germany to England. I had also ordered a tank for them and some other bits, the bad news was that as a newbie I forgot to order a lid and the rubber plugs , hey ho. I put the ant colong into a smaller tank I had as a stop gap measure. As soon as I opened the test tube they all left and started roaming round the tank. I noticed that there was 1 dead worker in the tube which is why they left (I am guessing) I decided to attach the mini ant starter tank to act as a rubbish area connected with a 12mm pipe. I left them overnight and they all moved and went to live in the pipe. They refused to move so I covered the pipe with a towel as the queen was getting very stressed and I wanted to let her rest for a few days. She is a lot calmer now and the lid and bungs are on order. My question is this. When I set up the new tank can I just place the pipe in it and leave it? Or will it stress her again? I am guessing she will leave when she is ready.

I suspect the reason they hated the tank was that there was no underground cave for them to move into, I’ll make sure the new tank has two or three, I am planning to leave the pipe on the surface to encourage her to leave it will this be ok as long as she has someplace else to move too?

Please see the pics, Was the tank set up ok?? Any other suggestions??

Thanks

Paul

SteveUK28: (18. Apr 2008 10:32)

Well firstly i have to say that the setup you have there looks pretty good to me. as long as your gonna connect another foraging tank i see no reason why they wouldnt like it.
I think once you do have the lid and plugs it prob would be a good idea to either A. Connect the pipe to the setup.. or cut it and stick it directly into the setup.. either way they have to move on their own.
Just wondering but why did u wanna hurry into puttin them straight into a setup.. ive had my Ligniperda since before xmas and they are still in the test tube i had them in, and i wont be puttin them into a setup untill i have at least 20+workers. You might want to check the tempreture too.. as they are from south europe they may need a little heat.. if ur tempreture is roughly above 24degrees daytime then i think you'll be ok but it wouldnt hurt to put a heat stone in the tank.
Also besides the lid if i was you id also add a layer of PTFE at the top of the tank.. otherwise when u take the lid off u may have a few escapes in the future.
OK enough of my novel.. Great setup and i hope ive helped :)

Wildbird: (18. Apr 2008 10:43)

Hiya

Thanks for the feedback,

I opened the end of the tube because there were so many workers there was little room for them to move, there are about 16 workers and it seemed a litle cramped.

the new tank will be a bigger version of this setup with the addition of some underground caves for them to move into, this tank will then be used for my littlie Lasious Niger ants once the colony grows.

Regards

Paul

miszt: (18. Apr 2008 15:26)

as they moved out of the test tube straight away, i wuld say you where probly right, it was a little cramped

looks like a nice setup :)

I would recomend wrapping the tube they are no in, with tin foil, then when your new setup is ready, just put the tube in and uncover it, personally I would give them between 1-2 weeks to 'chill out', before moving them tho