ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Frogger1]

Thanks Strafer, the colony is growing very fast so hopefully!

[Frogger1]

Can I have some advice please?! The colony is still doing really well but the soil has dropped a few inches from losing moisture and I want to change the soil.

How would I go about temporarily housing the colony in something else so I can give the setup a new load of substrate? Is it possible to do this? I regret not adding more plants, decorations and putting in the artificial nests!

Also I'm thinking of covering part of the vents to try retain more moisture, but how would I combat mould? I'm not worried about the ants coming into contact with mould as they know to seal it out of the nest, but it makes the setup look untidy. :p Three sides of the setup, from the top layer of the soil downwards have mould spread all across, I guess the answer is more air flow but it's hard to get air flowing down the two sides and the back.

Any ideas and advice welcome!

[Frogger1]

No one know any methods of moving an ant colony temporarily?

[AntsNational]

I would just mist the setup so that the soil dampens.

[Gast - ehem. User]

I enjoy your journal, great pictures and a wonderful colony

[iamwind4]

what a huge...

[Frogger1]

Thanks for the comments! Sorry I haven't updated this in a while but misting the setup more has worked well thanks Vasile.

The colony's appetite significantly changed over the last month or so and I thought it was down to a population explosion. I went to have a look in the nest earlier and it seems there is a queen/male pupating. It's only with a small pile of brood so I'm wondering if there are more in the other chambers. I believe it is a male/queen as it looks to have wings and the thorax looks larger than that of a major.

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Thanks for reading.

[AntsNational]

Actually that looks like a queen! Congrats man!!! Perhaps if you're lucky you may find more hidden alate pupae. It is possible that if this queen does mate with males from her own nest (or other males if you can find any from a fellow user on this forum) she can produce viable offspring. If she is properly fertilized, there is a good chance that the colony will accept her as another queen.

!!!

[Frogger1]

Thanks! I did just find a very large larva as the ants have moved some of the brood around. Hopefully there are more and the queens will become properly fertilized. If that does happen and the queen/s don't stick with the colony I assume I'll need a seprate setup? Thanks for the help!

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[AntsNational]

I doubt it will require a separate setup. Pheidologeton colonies almost always accept new queens, related or not.

[Frogger1]

Ok thanks for the help.

[AntsNational]

Anytime dude!

[Frogger1]

I have now spotted what looks like a second queen pupa, so far 2 queens and 1 larva, here's a couple pics, the first one is one of the queens and the larva, it's hard to see because of the ants and brood though.

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And a clearer picture of the other queen

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[ZThijs]

Nice pics, thanks for sharing

[Frogger1]

Thanks ZThijs, hopefully have some more pics up soon when the queens/males hatch. I also have a question regarding them, will they come outside of the nest individually when they hatch or do they all appear at once to mate?