Cleaning Hybrid Nest

[RyanSainte]

Hello Im going to be buying a Hybrid Nest for tetramorium ants. How will I be moving the ants out of it to clean, how do I clean it, and how often should I clean it once I move the colony in it?

[MadVampy]

Hello Im going to be buying a Hybrid Nest for tetramorium ants. How will I be moving the ants out of it to clean, how do I clean it, and how often should I clean it once I move the colony in it?

It really depends on a few things. How clean are the ants going to be? DO you have a out world that would allow them to establish a trash pile outside the nest? If they estiblish the trash pile in the nest is there a medium (sand or such) that they could use to block off the passage ways to the trash pile once they see they need to?

I would keep an eye out for a few things. MOLD: Ants have the ability to judge when the mold needs to be taken care of either by blocking off the passage ways to it or abandoning the area it's in but they are our pets and we don't want to make them do that if we can help. Mold happens for a few reasons, too high of humidity, trash piles, contaminated water source. UNFIT LIVING AREA: IF you see the ants avoiding an area of the nest there is a reason. Too hot, too moist, mold, trash pile. If you see this look for these as a possible reason.

Also if they abandon the nest all together there is the above reasons or your out world (if you have one) is a more suitable place to nest.

Cleaning the Hybrid nest isn't a major deal if the ants work with you. IF you need them to move out provide them with a place to go (another place to accept as a nest) while you clean it). Black off that are you want them to move to (I usually use either black cloth, dark paper, or cardboard to darken the area) and then take a bright light and aim it at the open Hybrid nest and once they find the new temporary nest they will move to it to avoid the bright light. This may take a few hours or days depending on the colony. What ever you do don't get the light source too close to the surface of the Hybrid nest because you could over heat them and or kill them.

Once you see they have moved out you can disconnect the Hybrid nest, plug the tubing leading in or out of it and then break it down to clean it. Take out the glass and give it a good cleaning. Each ant keeper has their own method of cleaning the nest. I usually take all the parts and drop them in a bleach (50/50 mix of bleach and water) solution for a day, once the nest has soaked I take a tooth brush (any fine brush will work) and give the nest a good cleaning. The bleach will kill any mold spores and loosen any hardened biomass. Once I do that I rinse it for about 5 mins in very hot water to remove any material and the bleach. Once I do this I let it again soak for a day in clean water to further remove bleach and biomass the rinsing might have missed. I'll then set it out on a towel and let it air dry.

Once it's dry I'll put the nest back together (make sure you use new fresh moisture medium, I use coco bark). I also use Elemer's glue along the top outside edge of where the glass cover meets the plastic nest, I use this because when it's time to clean it again you just soak the nest and this glue softens and comes off easily.

Now it's time to move them back into the nest. Reconnect the nest and do the opposite thing with the light and black out the nest with the cover making the Hybrid nest the preferred place to nest. Remember we are forcing the colony for their better well being but also let them do it at their pace. Another thing is not forcing them too hard because the Queen might get stressed and if she does she won't lay eggs for a small amount of time.

Hope this helps!