Moving ants

[Dghergejg456]

Hello everyone, I have some questions regarding on moving my ants and to also share some of my experiences.

I have moved my young pheidole colony with 3 workers into a new test tube a few weeks ago because the old one had dried out. My method was to directly tap the colony into a new test tube. I also put fluon on the lip of the new test tube to stop any workers from climbing out of the new one. When I started tapping, the workers relentlessly clinger on, and it took an extremely long time to tap them into the new test tube. After, I immediately washed my old test tube but forgot to check for any remaining brood. So, because of that, when I checked on them the next day they only had 1 pupa and 2 larva, and they were missing almost all the eggs.

They are doing a lot better now, and the Queen laid more eggs

I would like to ask if there are any more efficient and safe methods for moving an ant colony into a new test tube.
Thanks for your help!

[antperson24]

Hello everyone, I have some questions regarding on moving my ants and to also share some of my experiences.

I have moved my young pheidole colony with 3 workers into a new test tube a few weeks ago because the old one had dried out. My method was to directly tap the colony into a new test tube. I also put fluon on the lip of the new test tube to stop any workers from climbing out of the new one. When I started tapping, the workers relentlessly clinger on, and it took an extremely long time to tap them into the new test tube. After, I immediately washed my old test tube but forgot to check for any remaining brood. So, because of that, when I checked on them the next day they only had 1 pupa and 2 larva, and they were missing almost all the eggs.

They are doing a lot better now, and the Queen laid more eggs

I would like to ask if there are any more efficient and safe methods for moving an ant colony into a new test tube.
Thanks for your help!

It's better to tape the two test tubes together and shine a light on the old one, and leave the new one dark.

[Dghergejg456]

Unfortunately, the ants i keep are species of Pheidole and Camponotus, and I have found that they do not really care about light levels of their habitat.

Is it possible to dump the workers and queen into a new setup then pull the cotton from the old test tube out so that the brood sticks to it, then place it in their new setup?

[antperson24]

Unfortunately, the ants i keep are species of Pheidole and Camponotus, and I have found that they do not really care about light levels of their habitat.

Is it possible to dump the workers and queen into a new setup then pull the cotton from the old test tube out so that the brood sticks to it, then place it in their new setup?

Light dose not work at all for Camponotus; heat the new test tube. That idea of yours sounds pretty good, next time you could try it.