New ant keeper help please
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New ant keeper help please
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
Thanks in advance
Jon
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- Posts: 189
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- Location: Oxfordshire, England
Re: New ant keeper help please
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!
Re: New ant keeper help please
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??
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??
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Re: New ant keeper help please
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
Re: New ant keeper help please
Brilliant stuff. Yeah they fully sealed the test tube now. Will keep an eye out for mould and the water reserves
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Re: New ant keeper help please
They have sealed the entrance of my test tube up as well, does this mean I should hibernate them?
Re: New ant keeper help please
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.
Some of My Informative Sheets
https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=19099
Includes :
https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=19099
Includes :
- Ant Care Sheets
Queen Hunting
How To Identify Ants
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