Ants Blocking Off Water Test Tubes with Soil

[OBlock123]

Im currently keeping my ants in a AC tower with a connected AC outworld. In both the tower and the outworld, I have a test tubes that provide them drinking water. One is strictly purified water, and the other is sugar water. I recently re-did their outworld and added new, more bioactive soil to the tower (what a pain that was) because the old soil had begun to look very dry and not totally healthy.

Anyway, the ants seem to be thriving after the changes, but they have also began packing A LOT of the soil into the test tubes. At first I thought it was just around the edges to block out any sunlight to the tubes, however upon inspection i realized the entire tube was completely filled, packed very tightly. I didnt see any noticeable tunnels and even dumped out the soil into a container, and found not a single ant inside. Prior to the re-do if their setup, I changed the test tubes so they were brand new and clean, and the cotton remains white with no discoloration, so I dont think they are trying to block off a problem area to shield the colony from a bacteria/mold outbreak. I'm not sure what their rational is, but I'm worried they are depriving themselves of water/sugars.

Has anyone experienced anything like this? Any idea what they're doing or if I should be concerned?

Thanks guys!

[AM1C39]

Sometimes ants like to do wierd things with soil, knothing to be worried about.

[AntsAntsAnts]

Maybe they are building tunnels and putting the dirt in the test tube...