ANTSTORE World of Ants

[heeksy]

Hello everyone i am sort of new to this site i have kept ants before and read alot of information from this forum in the past. After not keeping ants for a year or two i decided to buy a small colony of Camponotus vagus with 20 workers. From pictures i have seen on the net and what i have read they can be kept in a ytong nest so decided to make one, though i used a celcon aerated concrete block as its hard to find Ytong in the uk. When they arrived i put the ants in a Antstore box for the out world and connected it with a tube to the nest. The ants moved stright to the connecting tube and stayed there for about 2 weeks and did not move.

I have a old fish tank i used for keeping ants before and made another set up after as i thought i might have made a mistake somewhere. I blocked the tube and moved it into the fish tank with a new block of aerated contrete i had carved out, and for another 4 weeks they have not moved. They have been taking food now and then but do not come out very often, they are heated and about a third of the nest is kept damp. The tube is connected to the nest and they do not seem to have ventured in for a look at all, the other end is free for them to go out into the tank. I have adjusted the temprature, and humidity to see if it makes any difference with no affect. Is this normal for a young colony? Could it be the ventilation in the nest putting them off? could the silicone still be giving off something they do not like, i read that compontus species are sensitve to things like this though i thought silcone once gone off would be safe and odour free? Could they be winding down for hibination even though the temprature is around the 25c mark?

Any help would be appreciated
Cheers
Ash