posting my mistake so others dont make it

[Antlover41157]

I fed my 4 worker camponotus colony a big drop of honey and they were pretty fast to find it. However this morning I saw a drowned worker in the honey, I thought larg species like camponotus dont have to worry about this much... should have offered less honey or maybe added some substrate fro them to use.

[antperson24]

I fed my 4 worker camponotus colony a big drop of honey and they were pretty fast to find it. However this morning I saw a drowned worker in the honey, I thought larg species like camponotus dont have to worry about this much... should have offered less honey or maybe added some substrate fro them to use.

Just add less honey, substrate might help too.

[Antlover41157]

I fed my 4 worker camponotus colony a big drop of honey and they were pretty fast to find it. However this morning I saw a drowned worker in the honey, I thought larg species like camponotus dont have to worry about this much... should have offered less honey or maybe added some substrate fro them to use.

Just add less honey, substrate might help too.

Yeah I was mistaken in thinking camponotus were not affected by drowning.

[Antloverhuman]

One thing if you catch this early (you can still try this cuz there's no harm in it)
Try to scoop up the ant on a match stick or toothpick and using your fingers, drop one or two drops of water in the ant and after a few seconds put her on a tissue paper or a towel. Using a single "leaf" of tissue paper, slowly wipe off the honey on it (use the tissue paper as if it was a feather, just a long strand of tissue paper rubber on the ant) this will wipe off almost all the honey. Then you can let the ant run on a dry surface. Usually some of the legs or antenna get stuck together and the ant will drag it on the floor and wipe it herself. After that you can put her back in the test tube and other ants will help cleaning her
I used to do this trick alot with black crazy ant workers who drowned in honey and everyone was rescued through this method

Oh and sometimes you have to put more water if you think its not working. If you think too much water is going to drown them, they were literally already drowning so dont feel bad. I remember putting one ant ,which was covered completely in honey, in a water bottle cap filled with water and after a few minutes i put her on a tissue paper and she was fine.

[AntsAreCool715]

One thing if you catch this early (you can still try this cuz there's no harm in it)
Try to scoop up the ant on a match stick or toothpick and using your fingers, drop one or two drops of water in the ant and after a few seconds put her on a tissue paper or a towel. Using a single "leaf" of tissue paper, slowly wipe off the honey on it (use the tissue paper as if it was a feather, just a long strand of tissue paper rubber on the ant) this will wipe off almost all the honey. Then you can let the ant run on a dry surface. Usually some of the legs or antenna get stuck together and the ant will drag it on the floor and wipe it herself. After that you can put her back in the test tube and other ants will help cleaning her
I used to do this trick alot with black crazy ant workers who drowned in honey and everyone was rescued through this method

Oh and sometimes you have to put more water if you think its not working. If you think too much water is going to drown them, they were literally already drowning so dont feel bad. I remember putting one ant ,which was covered completely in honey, in a water bottle cap filled with water and after a few minutes i put her on a tissue paper and she was fine.

My camponotus ants don't drown themselves into the honey or water, but they would put dead insects in to the honey and I would have to give them more. Is this a sign that they don't want to eat honey?

[antperson24]

One thing if you catch this early (you can still try this cuz there's no harm in it)
Try to scoop up the ant on a match stick or toothpick and using your fingers, drop one or two drops of water in the ant and after a few seconds put her on a tissue paper or a towel. Using a single "leaf" of tissue paper, slowly wipe off the honey on it (use the tissue paper as if it was a feather, just a long strand of tissue paper rubber on the ant) this will wipe off almost all the honey. Then you can let the ant run on a dry surface. Usually some of the legs or antenna get stuck together and the ant will drag it on the floor and wipe it herself. After that you can put her back in the test tube and other ants will help cleaning her
I used to do this trick alot with black crazy ant workers who drowned in honey and everyone was rescued through this method

Oh and sometimes you have to put more water if you think its not working. If you think too much water is going to drown them, they were literally already drowning so dont feel bad. I remember putting one ant ,which was covered completely in honey, in a water bottle cap filled with water and after a few minutes i put her on a tissue paper and she was fine.

My camponotus ants don't drown themselves into the honey or water, but they would put dead insects in to the honey and I would have to give them more. Is this a sign that they don't want to eat honey?

They do this because they are afraid of drowning in the honey, so they put stuff in it. Try feeding them smaller amounts.

[AntsLuxembourg]

Happened to me and one of my Lasius Niger colonies in a testtube. Sugar lumbs liquified and the ants were drowning in sugar water. I washed them all out and then tried to wash of their sugar coating. Those that still moved got put in a new testtube. Some needed more work like unsticking a leg with very pointy tweezers and then they survived as well. Some were too far gone tho.

Moral here? Never leave too much food out for your ants.Especially not sugar lumbs in humid areas

[AM1C39]

This also happened to me about 3 days ago. I found two workers stuck in the honey. I got them out with a needle and washed them off. They where fine after a bit lol. The honey had been in there for a while without any issues, guess some of its water evaporated. I got rid of the honey, guess I can water it next time.

[AntsAreCool715]

This also happened to me about 3 days ago. I found two workers stuck in the honey. I got them out with a needle and washed them off. They where fine after a bit lol. The honey had been in there for a while without any issues, guess some of its water evaporated. I got rid of the honey, guess I can water it next time.

Watering the honey can cause bacteria to grow so just try to change the honey every once in a while.

[AntsAreCool715]

One thing if you catch this early (you can still try this cuz there's no harm in it)
Try to scoop up the ant on a match stick or toothpick and using your fingers, drop one or two drops of water in the ant and after a few seconds put her on a tissue paper or a towel. Using a single "leaf" of tissue paper, slowly wipe off the honey on it (use the tissue paper as if it was a feather, just a long strand of tissue paper rubber on the ant) this will wipe off almost all the honey. Then you can let the ant run on a dry surface. Usually some of the legs or antenna get stuck together and the ant will drag it on the floor and wipe it herself. After that you can put her back in the test tube and other ants will help cleaning her
I used to do this trick alot with black crazy ant workers who drowned in honey and everyone was rescued through this method

Oh and sometimes you have to put more water if you think its not working. If you think too much water is going to drown them, they were literally already drowning so dont feel bad. I remember putting one ant ,which was covered completely in honey, in a water bottle cap filled with water and after a few minutes i put her on a tissue paper and she was fine.

My camponotus ants don't drown themselves into the honey or water, but they would put dead insects in to the honey and I would have to give them more. Is this a sign that they don't want to eat honey?

They do this because they are afraid of drowning in the honey, so they put stuff in it. Try feeding them smaller amounts.

I give them quite less honey. It's about one centimeter circle plate and it's very shallow. The honey I use is super pure and expensive, it has no sugar in it and my mom doesn't really approve of using the precious honey. Should I switch to sugar water? If so, how much sugar in how much water??