Ants moved into snail shell. Help!

[Helianthus]

So, I gave my brother a first year colony of tetramorium ants. They are in a TT set-up placed in an acrylic box as an outworld. His four-year old son placed a snail shell in the outworld while he was at work, and now they moved the whole colony into it. What should he do??

[idahoantgirl]

As long as you don't hydrate the snail shell, they won't like it. Let it dry out and always have the tube available nearby. Keep the tube dark and undisturbed. Also make sure you are using the drinking straw method with your tube so you have an appropriately sized opening. Never try to move them manually.

[JoeHostile1]

The test tube set up is an ideal environment. The fact that the ants moved out of it suggests something is wrong with the test tube set up. Maybe dried up, moldy, flooding, ect. I’d give them a new test tube set up.

Another thing could be that you left very little room in the test tube (meaning it’s mostly filled with water) and the end is not plugged at all. So the ants are sitting in an open tube and they can feel air currents. So they moved into the snail shell because it’s an enclosed space that they feel safer in. If that is the case they need a tube or straw like idahogirl suggested so the opening isn’t large.

If none of those things, potentially the 4 year old dumped the ants out of the test tube?

[Helianthus]

Thanks!
He had recently got them moved out of a moldy tube into a clean one, so that rules out mold or drying. I think the opening was too big then. I guess he should just wait till the shell dries out and the ants move on their own back into a tube? Would having a straw opening in the tube help encourage the move in?

[Batspiderfish]

They probably just like it because it is darker in there. They wouldn't move in if it weren't humid enough. I'd just leave them be with the test tube.