ANTSTORE World of Ants

[paulhdear]

A while ago I bought a colony of P. dives. They have been very happy in their first formicarium, but it was rather small (I hadn't realized how big the nest would be, and didn't prepare a large enough formicarium). Their nest (in which they arrived) is a grapefruit-sized mass of leaves and twigs glued together.

I've now built them a new larger home. Temperature is a constant 24°C, humidity is a constant 80% (a bit high?), there's good ventilation and good lighting. The substrate is light soil, and there are plants, rocks and branches. I've also given them some leaf debris in the hopes that they'll use it for nest building.

I connected the two formicaria with a tube, and they almost immediately started exploring the new tank - I'd say about a third of the colony is in there at any one time. I've been leaving their food only in the new tank, and I've reduced the temperature, light and humidity in their old home.

After a couple of weeks, though, they don't seem to be moving out of their old home. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get them to move? I don't want to stress them too much, since the colony is not very old and not very large.

I'll attach a photo of the new home (if the upload works).

[miszt]

My colony took a long time to move, 6 weeks the first time, nearly 3 months the second time, but eventually they did move ur doing the right things, just got to wait, it will take them time to build a new nest

You could just move the old nest into the new tank, as long as you do it quickly, you shouldnt get to many escapes

very nice setup btw

They dont need high humidity, they come from dry places like Israel aswell as tropical areas, i keep mine at about 30% humidity

[paulhdear]

Thanks Miszt - I'm letting the humidity drop slowly, and I'll probably hold it around 60% (keeps some of the plants happier, I think). I would move the nest, but their old nest is resting on the ground, with many ants and larvae (I think) underneath - if I move it, they'll be left behind. But, if the colony is disrupted by a nest move, will they gather up the stragglers?

By the way, the parallel rods near the top of the tank are the electric fence we discussed a while ago. Works nicely, though I only turn it on when I need to open the lid.

[miszt]

Yes eventualy they will all find their way back to the nest, dont worrry however if they are weaving the nest into the ground, be careful you dont collapse or destroy part of the nest


You could try attaching a 24v computer fan to the roof of the old basin, to make it colder, that might get them to move faster, however I'd use a variable adapter and increase the fan speed slowly every couple of days

[paulhdear]

Cheers Miszt. I'll wait a while, and continue dropping the temperature in their old home. I'll let you know how it goes.

[miszt]

Bear in mind, that P dives are more willing to dig their nest into the substrate than have it above ground, tbh with the amount of substrate you have in your tank, i'd recomend you move the old nest into it, otherwise it may be a year or more before you ever see the nest again, and they may even destroy all your plants by digging all the soil up out of the roots S I had this problem with both my Pachycondyla and P dives

[paulhdear]

Hmmm - OK. I don't mind if they dig underground as long as they are running around outside the nest a bit. But I don't really want my plants excavated.

How would this work? I'll take the central part of the nest (it's breaking apart anyway) into the new tank, and evict the ants from the remaining pieces of the nest. (I don't want to move the whole nest, since it's a bit ratty looking and I'd like them to build something that fits better in their new home). Do you think they'll stay with the part of the nest in the new tank and rebuild it? Or is this going to be too stressful for the colony?

[miszt]

I wuld just move the whole lot into the new tank, the left over ants will find it again, they will repair the nest in a few months, dont worry about it falling apart now

[paulhdear]

OK, in the end I did as you suggested and moved the nest (well, most of it) into the new tank. Now the ants seem happy, and almost all are in the new tank.

BUT - some strange behaviour (or maybe not so strange for this species?). First, a lot of the ants are wandering around carrying dead ants. They don't seem to be heading anywhere, just carrying them about. Second, I've noticed ants fighting on a few occasions - at least I assume it's fighting. One ant will start exploring another ant with its feelers, and then it grabs a leg and starts pulling. Any guesses?

[SteveUK28]

Im guessin this could be normal behaviour in largish colonys as my rubras do this all the time... i thought it was a bit strange too.. but i guess its normal.

[paulhdear]

Yes, they seem happy otherwise, so I guess it's nothing too out of the ordinary. I'm assuming (hoping) that it's the same dead ants they're carrying around from day to day - otherwise there's a lot of dead ants

[miszt]

I had the same thing going on with my colony for a while, I have since increased there food and water availablity, and I now never see them fighting, although the worker-turn-over still seems to be very high

[paulhdear]

How big is your colony, and how much do you feed? Mine seem to go for cooked chicken (very finely chopped) more than anything else. From time to time they will go mad for sweet things, but usually cooked chicken is their favourite. Did these things evolve in KFC or something??

[miszt]

lol

I feed mine insects and occasionally cooked meat, and a sugar/honey liquid

I feed them probly 10-12 crickets a week and occasionally a piece of meat, they love serlion.

I believe I have about 300 ants, would have had allot more, but unfortunetly allot my colony died when i recieved it, along with allot of queens, so its hard to say really

[paulhdear]

Hi Miszt,

I might increase the feeding of my colony - I presume it makes sense to give them as much food as they will take quickly? I haven't given them much "intact" meat, because they didn't seem very good at cutting it up - it tended to stay around until it dried up or went mouldy. But next time I have steak I'll try them on a bit. It's interesting to see their food preferences - cooked chicken is much preferred over raw chicken; they don't like pork or ham, and they're so-so about finely-minced beef. I wonder if they'll start to like olives when they get older, like my daughter!

I presume you feed dead crickets? I've given them a few large beetles (partially squished). Do you keep live crickets as a supply, or do you freeze them?