Ant Behavior

[stepphaniewilliams]

Hello, we recently received harvester ants and they were busy digging tunnels for a week, but now they don't do much. Sometimes they bunch up together. I wonder if the dramatic decrease in activity is signaling something may be wrong, or perhaps once they feel they have dug the tunnels they become more sedentary. Please advise. They are kept in a container with blue gel. We do not feed the ants. We are not using the light it came with, as read the ants prefer shade. Thank you! Stephanie

[Newkeeper]

Once the ants run out of enough gel the colony rations. You need to feed them or they will die

[imnoob]

i found a queen crematogaster ashmeadi, but the r known to chew through stuff like plastic. is it ok to keep it without risk of escape?

[NKantsalberta]

Hello, we recently received harvester ants and they were busy digging tunnels for a week, but now they don't do much. Sometimes they bunch up together. I wonder if the dramatic decrease in activity is signaling something may be wrong, or perhaps once they feel they have dug the tunnels they become more sedentary. Please advise. They are kept in a container with blue gel. We do not feed the ants. We are not using the light it came with, as read the ants prefer shade. Thank you! Stephanie

If you only received workers their activity will be very minimal, as there is little work to do with having no brood or queen to tend to. Also, it is recommended to NOT use a gel farm, as the gel can actually be harmful to the ants. If the gel is supplying their nutrition, they will not be going out to actively forage as they receive the nutrition needed from the gel. They may also feel they have dug out sufficient space for the amount of ants, which may be an accurate assumption for the lack of activity as well.