Eco Earth for soil nest?

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katdaily710

Eco Earth for soil nest?

Post: # 22916Post katdaily710
Mon Jun 12, 2017 7:37 pm

I caught a new queen who's being incredibly picky and seems to intensely dislike her test tube setup after a week.
I wanted to seal off an Omni Nest outworld and make it a soil nest to let her found her colony naturally.

What I wanted to know is if EcoEarth was anything anyone had tried as substrate. It's fibrous [good for building structures/tunnels I'd assume] and holds moisture well, and is a way I can ensure I'm using clean, pet-safe soil for my ants to dig in.

But, of course, I'm always afraid something might go wrong, so has anyone tried it before?

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Aquaexploder
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Location: Rhode Island

Re: Eco Earth for soil nest?

Post: # 22963Post Aquaexploder
Tue Jun 13, 2017 8:16 am

I have never tried it before, but if you are going for a soil nest you could just collect soil from your yard. If you do this I recommend you bake the soil in your oven. "Dead roots and stuff will really mold. I would bake it in your oven to remove microorganisms then add your ants and springtails to eat any mold that comes up."(Ants4fun). Also here is a link that might help you.

http://www.formiculture.com/topic/5763-dirt-formicarium/

But from reading up on ecoearth it sounds fine to use. I would still add springtails so they can eat some of the mold that may occasionally pop up.
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Martialis
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Re: Eco Earth for soil nest?

Post: # 22965Post Martialis
Tue Jun 13, 2017 8:20 am

I disagree.

I fewl that adding springtails would be enough. I would much rather have those microorganisms breaking down my ants' garbage versus me having to clean it out.
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