ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Lowth01]

Hey. I have a Messor barbarus colony and they still young. I had 6 workers but two have died in the space of two days :O. The first one i figured drowned cus i found in near the water but the second one im not too sure about. I use parrafin oil to prevent them from escaping but it has dripped down into the basin and i found the second ant near some that has dripped down. Could this have killed it? surely the parrafin oil wuldnt pose them too much of a problem? grrrrrr help

[sithmaster676]

paraffin oil could definitely kill an ant if it ate it or it the fumes were to intense i would recommend getting rid of the paraffin oil and use either ptfe or Petroleum jelly (Vaseline) these work just as well and i use them with my colonies and have had no problems with either
Sithmaster676

[Lowth01]

ahh that wuld be the problem then. argh i thought it was safe

[miszt]

Parrafin oil is safe, although if an Ant gets coated in it, then it could get suffocated

[Lowth01]

Ok I removed all parrifin oil just incase vaseline never seemed to work for me, ive seen some walk right over it

[miszt]

maybe put your setup on an island?

[sithmaster676]

yeah i have my formica fusca colony on an island and they don't go near the water mainly because they are scared of it so that may be a good idea unless it is a large setup
sithmaster676