ANTSTORE World of Ants

[ElliotHC]

Hi,

I have just today received my Camponotus ligniperdus colony and they seem to be settling in nicely.

A couple of them seem to have either swollowed some cotten wool or have it wrapped up around their mouth as it seems to be trailing out and it is bothering them, I tried to pull it out with tweezers and to my suprise the ant was very grateful for the help as when I tried to pull he pulled back and when I let go he came up to the tweezers for another pull. This went on for a few minutes but its wel and truely stuck in there, the ant did not have the grip required to pull it out so it remains.

He keeps getting other ants to help pull it out but they don't seem to be able to manage it, is this common?

[Shiver]

They use it to bury larvae when no other material (ie earth) is available for them to spin a cocoon, my Formica fusca do the same and I have seen them get caught a little bit but never for long and no casualties caused by this.

Not a lot you can do really, other than trying to offer them an alternative (ie some sand) so they can bury larvae without cotton wool

[ElliotHC]

Is fine sand ok? 0-1mm?

[Shiver]

I use "play sand" as a floor material (not nesting material) in my formicariums and it seems to be ok, they sometimes struggle to pull items across it as it's very loose when dry though, I don't know it's size but guess it's similar.