Getting ants to move out of a bucket

[Cale3459]

I've got them in a ten gallon aquarium now. I'm slowly and gently breaking down the large pieces of rotten wood. Hopefully while I'm doing this I will see the queen. I'll keep my fingers crossed that I was able to remove her without killing her. Plenty of alates though haha so with the open top aquarium maybe they can take off to reproduce.

[AntsOnTheCoast]

Honestly, if the workers seem restless and they have enough resources, it probably means they are looking for their queen.

I disagree there. Ants will often act this way when stressed, not necessarily because of a lack of their queen.

So you're saying all ants are the same? Mind you, I said probably. Not to mention that ants are evolving organisms, they behave differently to other species and they behave differently than their ancestors. If the ants that you've seen behave differently, then I respect that 100%

However, Cale can do whatever he finds fit. He's having a spark of success in breaking down pieces of wood, so we'll let him do that.

[Cartil]

It appears that you've already done it, but my take would have been to connect the bucket to a nice formicarium, and they would have moved there soon or later, as the soil in the bucket dries out, meaning they will lose their humidity step by step. Regarding the queen, my advice would be to not disturb them any further and if in a few weeks you still have ants, that means that the queen is still alive.

Since they are using a lot of energy moving and rebuilding their nest, I would also provide them with a lot of sweet stuff.

[Cale3459]

Update: I've been slowly removing the majority of the wood from the aquarium and putting it back in the bucket. I've been very careful to make sure there are no ants in what I have been removing. Over the course of a week I've removed wood until they are stirred up and then I stop for the day. They settle and I repeat the process. I've gotten the wood down to a thin layer and it's starting to dry out fully. I placed a hybrid nest with the tray full of water and piled the wood up to all the entrances which stirred the colony up and I am happy to report they are swarming into the nest. I'm going to keep it hydrated so that it is the only humid part in the tank so they will keep moving for it and continue to remove the wood until there is none left and they have all occupied the nest.

[Jadeninja9]

That's really cool

[Cartil]

Well done!