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[UKant]

I have A Ytong nest, and i think ive got a problem with the airflow/humidity level in it.

Every time i give water to the nest the glass on the top becomes steamy. It also seems to annoy my queen, like she tries to dig into the Ytong and running around in panic.

Also her eggs are gone, i suspect she ate them... Maybe because the humidity toohigh and/or they havent got enough air thats why.
(My nest has only one tunnel to a foraging area. the tunnel is 10mm diameter, and the foraging area is covered with a net... so thats all the air they got)

Do you got any idea why my queen ate her eggs, was it because the humidity too high, and/or the airflow too low ? and if yes then how to solve the problem ?

[jogi]

I cannot solve your problem from here. Therefore i have to see your nest and the conditions. But may be, the Queen doesn´t eat very good. Therefore, she eats the eggs. And may be, you dont have a really humidity problem, but a problem with the temperature. You should keep the ants a little bit warmer and make the humidity at the beginnig mainly arround the formicar, not inside. This may help.

[Scàth-Siorrai]

she ate them because of the stress the water is causing.ytong isnt meant to be humidified like that,but with a water container underneath.

[UKant]

Scàth-Siorrai:

I humidify the nest exactly like you said, that i put a container underneath it, exactly the way you can see on "professional" Ytong nests, that there is a T shaped leg that reaches into the water and that pumps up the water into the nest area. But for my nest, it results in too high humidity, steamy glass etc.

So you are also right, because, i think its the _stress_ caused to eat the eggs too, its just i dont know then how to make it then less stressful for her.
Any ideas ?

[UKant]

jogi:

Its winter now, so i think the ants supposed to be hybernated now, so i dont think that they should be any warmer than room temperature, and i heard that the queen doesnt eat till the first brood hatches.

PS: i put some honey out in the foraging area, so if she really wants she could go out and eat, but i didnt see her doing that...

[Scàth-Siorrai]

is the nest permanently hmuid? evaporation should not happen if the ytong is always humid

[UKant]

Scàth-Siorrai:
No its not always humid. It gets steamy only when i put water in the bowl under the nest.... but it was NOT always like that, i could never see the water to precipitate on the glass, not in the first couple of weeks.

Because when i first tried out the nest without the glass/silicon on the top, i used to see as the Ytong gets darker, as the water is being pumped up to the nest area. But after i put the glass/silicon on i just dont see it happening. Maybe the water "melted" the silicon into the Ytong and that prevents water evaporating trough the Ytongs structure? Because Ytong should be an "air rated solid" so it should "breath" trough the tiny air pores, even if there are no tunnels to the outside. Maybe the silicon jelly filled out those pores, sealing them as it poured into the Ytong structure ?

BTW how offten should i put water into the bowl, the nest is 20x20x5cm and its a Lasius Niger colony (1 queen)?

[Scàth-Siorrai]

the ytong needs to be in permanent contact with the water.like on this image



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[UKant]

Scàth-Siorrai:
My nest looks exactly like this.

I was just wondering how often should i put water in the bowl ?

And the other more important question is that do you think its possible that the silicon really melted into the Ytong, and thats the cause of the too high humidity level and the steamed up glass, that the water cant evaporate from the nest ?

[Scàth-Siorrai]

well the ytong has to be wet all the time.so fill the bowl regularly and don't let the water go to low that its not toughing the ytong.

I don't think the silicon can melt into the ytong.I get condensation on my nest some times but it doens't bother the ants.

[UKant]

Mould !!! Aaargh! now i got mould, so now its pretty sure that it was the insufficient airflow that caused the problems. i just dont understand why ? and how to solve it ?

and also how to remove the mould from under the glass... :///

[Scàth-Siorrai]

mould can come anyways.there is no need for airflows,the ytong itself lets enough air in...

[UKant]

Yes but how do i get rid of it ?? Do the ants clean it up later ??
and thats my problem that the Ytong seems to be NOT letting enough air in it, otherwise the queen wouldnt have eaten her eggs ?

[Scàth-Siorrai]

eating the eggs has nothing to do with airflow.if there was nonne she would be dead.a ytong nest isn't a good idea for a lone queen,you should put her in a tube

[UKant]

I thought that the queen raises her first brood all by her own, without eating anything. She supposed to use up her Flying muscles to feed herself and her brood.... thats whay i read at least. so what do you suggest ?