Housing too big?

[Alex07]

https://imgur.com/a/XWhbCOh

Hello all,
I have my Camponotus in this AC formicarium. When initially buying I didn't expect it to be this big. I've noticed they leave their waste in the nest instead of the outworld and that is starting to concern me considering I can't really clean it. They donlut their dead in the outworld though. Shouldd I try and move them into something smaller or am I over reacting?

Thanks,
Alex

[CabboAntsGuy]

I think they should be fine, as for the waist you might add springtales or some other bug like that to clean up the waist.

[MadVampy]

https://imgur.com/a/XWhbCOh

Hello all,
I have my Camponotus in this AC formicarium. When initially buying I didn't expect it to be this big. I've noticed they leave their waste in the nest instead of the outworld and that is starting to concern me considering I can't really clean it. They donlut their dead in the outworld though. Shouldd I try and move them into something smaller or am I over reacting?

Thanks,
Alex

Ants are an impressive being! They will judge what and when to do it. If they chose the nest as the waste site I'd say let them do as they see fit. IF they think it's getting out of hand they will move it or block off the tunnel containing it. In the wild many species do just this. They make a trash spot, take all the wast there and once they see it's full they just block of the passage to it and then let nature decompose it. With that said does your out world have a digging medium? Something the ant could move into the nest to block it off? If not then just keep an eye on it and if at some point it starts to mold and gets out of hand then it would be time to take matters into your own hands by moving them out and cleaning the nest.

If you end up cleaning the nest down the road a little trick I use with my ants that use the nest as a trash site is when I clear the nest and go to clean it I take some of the trash and put it into a corner of the outworld. This is kind of like "Potty Training" the ants to make then realize this is where the trash should go in the future. I've gotten this to work a few times but again it's all up to the colony to decide where their trash belongs.

Hope this helps!

[Formicarufa]

I am keeping lasius niger
My colonies are in test tube setups at the moment
I have got a large compartmented box and I am thinking of making it a Formicarium
I am thinking of blocking most of the comments off with small amounts of cotton so that the ants will pull it out when they need more room

Would this be a good idea