Colony split normal?

Colony split normal?

Beitragvon yomchi86 » 27. Mai 2014 22:07

Good evening all, 2 weeks ago I received a brand new Y-Tong nest for my Messor barbarus. I covered the new nest with red sheet, put a heat mat on the side, made it humid for them how they like it and then hooked up a tube from the Y-tong nest to their original nest which is a glass nest specifically for Messor's from Ant Store. In the first week only a handful of ants would go for a walk around the new Y_Tong nest. Then one morning I noticed that about 1/4 of the Messor colony is living in the new nest, complete with some brood and seeds. The rest of the colony including the queen is still in the old nest with the rest of the brood. The ants seem happy enough, I was just wondering if it is normal for them to split the colony in this way? The ants in the new nest are feeding the brood with the seeds etc so everything looks normal and the ants look happy wandering about both nests. There is no fighting between the 2 groups, they share food and everything just like when they were all together.

Anybody else seen behavior like this and is there anything I should be doing to make sure the ants remain happy?
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Re: Colony split normal?

Beitragvon GvG » 29. Mai 2014 14:17

Yes, I have seen it before. Moving can take weeks.

If you want to speed things up you have to make the new nest more attractive and the old nest less attractive. Take the cover of the old nest and stop heating it. Also let it dry out completely. Make the new nest nice and warm and dark. Use aluminium foil to cover it. Make them an offer they can't refuse. 8) When they have moved you can use the red foil.

Are they in a sand nest? It will take long before it is dry. You will have to be patient.
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Re: Colony split normal?

Beitragvon yomchi86 » 29. Mai 2014 21:59

Hi GvG, thank you for your response. I was worried about stressing the Queen out which is why I've left the cover on the old nest and still have the heat mat on it. I will take them away and make the ytong nest look fantastic for them :)

I'll get some silver foil and cover the new nest :)
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Re: Colony split normal?

Beitragvon SigHunter » 2. Jun 2014 10:33

I currently have the same scenario with my Lasius niger.
About 1/4 of the pupae are moved to the new nest.
they don't seem in a rush to move the others, this is the case for about two weeks now.
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Re: Colony split normal?

Beitragvon GvG » 2. Jun 2014 18:16

Are they in a sand nest, Yomchi?
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Re: Colony split normal?

Beitragvon yomchi86 » 3. Jun 2014 11:10

Hi - they are currently in a sand/loam nest of which they have removed most of the sand/loam so are just sat between 2 glass sheets :). The new nest is a nicely warmed, moist pitch black YTong nest. There seems to be more activity between the nests now with them pulling seeds and other food into the YTong nest but I checked this morning and in the original nest, there were 3 great big chunks of ant bread getting chewed up but no brood. I'm guessing they have moved all of the brood into the YTong nest but as I've covered it with silver foil, I don't want to disturb them for fear of them getting unsettled and moving back into the old nest.
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Re: Colony split normal?

Beitragvon GvG » 3. Jun 2014 18:08

Sounds good. I was curious, because I have never used sand/loam. They might prefer it over Ytong, so that moving to Ytong could take longer. But if all the brood is moved, the rest will follow shortly. Is the queen still in the old nest?
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Re: Colony split normal?

Beitragvon yomchi86 » 4. Jun 2014 11:25

I believe she is still in the old nest. I thought that all the ants had moved yesterday when I got home from work however they had simply moved to the other side of the nest! Not the YTong nest!! :)

There does seem to be more activity between the old and new nest - which is connected with a tube so I can see them walking between both nests and carrying seeds/cricket body parts into the YTong nest. It would appear that there is a small cluster of eggs left in the old nest where in the YTong nest - they are bigger eggs and some are closer to hatching too. There is now no heat and no light filter on the old nest. The YTong nest has a heat mat attached to the side, red film over the front of the glass and silver foil over the red film so no light will be getting through. The ants seem happy enough so I'm not worried about them :)
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Re: Colony split normal?

Beitragvon GvG » 4. Jun 2014 17:33

Good, nood need to worry, indeed. Let the old nest dry out completely. They will move the queen eventually.
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Re: Colony split normal?

Beitragvon yomchi86 » 28. Jun 2014 23:04

The Queen finally moved nest today. She looks nice and happy in her new home. They are currently filling their new nest up with seeds :)
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