ANTSTORE World of Ants

[antjordan]

Hey guys, so recently my queen got her first workers!I've been feeding them insects and honey water but I've noticed something that could be troublesome. Whenever I feed the ants food they drag it into the test tube with them and it makes it incredibly hard to remove. I'm afraid that this will cause mold and be harmful to the ants. Has anyone else had this type of problem before? any advice would be great!

[SteveUK28]

Yup ants do that.. i wouldnt worry.. if it does get too bad then just stick in a new testtube.. and if they think theres is bad enough then they will move.

[JimmyVe]

Or if possible, remove it from the tube.

[antjordan]

Yup ants do that.. i wouldnt worry.. if it does get too bad then just stick in a new testtube.. and if they think theres is bad enough then they will move.

I see so basically just let the ants do the work. That's a pretty good idea!

Or if possible, remove it from the tube.

I would but my queens get stressed out easily. Whenever I reach in to get something they always go crazy.

[insanebe]

the cotton wool in my lasius test tube turned black and the water a yellowy cloudy, my ants were fine, generally anything they don't want they will push away, anything they do want they will drop on the brood so they can feed, cute little nippers :p

[antjordan]

the cotton wool in my lasius test tube turned black and the water a yellowy cloudy, my ants were fine, generally anything they don't want they will push away, anything they do want they will drop on the brood so they can feed, cute little nippers :p

I see. My test tubes are also getting a bit dirty, but at least the water isn't yellow yet

On another unrelated note what should I do if the test tubes run out of water during hibernation? In this situation I can't just attach another test tube and let them move in themselves right? Anyone ever had this problem?

[SteveUK28]

Well if its getting low I would move them before hibernation...

[insanebe]

my colony had to be moved out of the test tube at this point, look at all that crap on the cotton wool lol, about a month after this the cotton ran dry and i moved them into a ytong bought from antstore for a suprisingly very small amount of money



a brood chamber in ytong

[antjordan]

Hey insanebe that's an awesome video! Your colony looks great. So I assume that the ants moved themselves into the Ytong right after the test tube ran dry?

Well if its getting low I would move them before hibernation...

Hmm yes I see. One of my test tubes may be getting a bit low. However, it still has about an inch of water left behind the cotton. I'm not sure if that will last the whole 4 months of hibernation. I think it could be problematic if it dries up during that period of time.

I'm guessing it might be tough to move the colony now since there's still water in the tube.

[insanebe]

no they took ages to move, they moved after about 9 weeks

an inch of water is loads lol