New ant keeper help please

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Jonmann85
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Oct 19, 2018 1:01 am
Location: Leeds

New ant keeper help please

Post: # 52674Post Jonmann85
Fri Oct 19, 2018 1:07 am

Hi All new to this after 1 seeing a leaf cutter ant colony and 2 watching AntsCanada vids love it. So bought a lasius niger queen with about 20 or so workers. I have a small natural set up for them and put the test tube in. Some of the workers have come out and even digging/carrying sort around. I left them too it over night and came down to find they are trying to block the entrance of the test tube off with dirt! Is the common and how can I stop them and get them to move into there new home?
Thanks in advance
Jon

ClashOwenBash
Posts: 189
Joined: Sun Jul 15, 2018 1:58 am
Location: Oxfordshire, England

Re: New ant keeper help please

Post: # 52675Post ClashOwenBash
Fri Oct 19, 2018 1:45 am

Depends where your from. If your from the Northern Hemisphere the ants will be getting prepared for hibernation and so want to block there nest entrance for safety.
Ant-keeper going into his 4th year of loving ants!

Jonmann85
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Oct 19, 2018 1:01 am
Location: Leeds

Re: New ant keeper help please

Post: # 52679Post Jonmann85
Fri Oct 19, 2018 3:24 am

Hi

I am from england and yeah thought that could be the case, i was hoping they would at least move in then hibernate.

Do they still need feeding whilst hibernating??

AntsDakota
Posts: 1283
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2018 4:22 pm
Location: South Dakota

Re: New ant keeper help please

Post: # 52693Post AntsDakota
Fri Oct 19, 2018 4:23 pm

Jonmann85 wrote:
Fri Oct 19, 2018 3:24 am
Hi

I am from england and yeah thought that could be the case, i was hoping they would at least move in then hibernate.

Do they still need feeding whilst hibernating??
Feed them right before hibernation and that should be enough to last them through the entire hibernation period. Besides, ants don't usually eat during hibernation in the wild. (Unless the have repletes, which Lasius niger do not have.)
"God made every kind of wild beasts and every kind of livestock and every kind of creeping things;" (including ants) "and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:25

Jonmann85
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Oct 19, 2018 1:01 am
Location: Leeds

Re: New ant keeper help please

Post: # 52740Post Jonmann85
Sat Oct 20, 2018 1:15 pm

Brilliant stuff. Yeah they fully sealed the test tube now. Will keep an eye out for mould and the water reserves

harvesterant
Posts: 106
Joined: Sun Feb 03, 2019 3:14 pm
Location: UK

Re: New ant keeper help please

Post: # 55759Post harvesterant
Thu Feb 07, 2019 11:59 am

They have sealed the entrance of my test tube up as well, does this mean I should hibernate them?

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antnest8
Posts: 1438
Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2018 2:11 pm
Location: Detroit, MI

Re: New ant keeper help please

Post: # 55891Post antnest8
Thu Feb 14, 2019 1:20 pm

Ants even in the summer will seal there test tubes with substrate to keep micro-winds out. If you are in a temperate zone you should be hibernating them anyway. The dirt should not be a problem unless they lock them selves from the outworld.
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