water feeder sabotage

[larynx]

any one know why ants sabotage their liquid feeders, or how to prevent it?

[ooper01]

I haven't heard of this. What do they do exactly? Which species?

[larynx]

I haven't heard of this. What do they do exactly? Which species?

they are pogonomyrmex barbatus. they drink out of them for a bit when i first put them in the outworld. then after a day or so, they begin to take tiny grains of sand and stack them against the screen in the water hole. this happens until it is stacked enough to break the suction and let the water drain out of the container. so odd

[ooper01]

Ahh yes, I have seen this behavior as well with both sugar water in a feeder and honey droplets on a piece of foil. From what I can tell, it is their attempt to be able to carry it into the nest. Just the other day I put a drop of honey on a piece of foil and they covered it with grains of sand and dirt. I can't tell yet if they have carried any "soaked" pieces in, but I watched a video of someone else where that is exactly what they did.

[totalvamp]

Ahh yes, I have seen this behavior as well with both sugar water in a feeder and honey droplets on a piece of foil. From what I can tell, it is their attempt to be able to carry it into the nest. Just the other day I put a drop of honey on a piece of foil and they covered it with grains of sand and dirt. I can't tell yet if they have carried any "soaked" pieces in, but I watched a video of someone else where that is exactly what they did.

I saw this as well yesterday in my garden. Found a cluster of ants walking along a path and put a few big honey drops there. First they went to drink it, then started throwing sand on it, later when I looked the honey was gone and so were the ants.

[larynx]

they arent trying to move it to the nest. they just spill it in the outworld, then drink it from the dirt.

[larynx]

after many hours of observation, and your input, i have come to the conclusion that they are doing this to move the sugar as a solid state to there food storage space. they do not do this with plain water from the feeder, just sugar water.
they drink like normal from the feeder with water, then clog the hole of the feeder with sugar. after the hole is clogged they make a tiny air bubble at the top, then the sugar water drains out. after it has absorbed into the dirt they clump it up and let it harden. finally they move it to their food storage area. kinda neat.

[Carl75]

Maybe you could give them sugar granules. See if they like it.