Ants moved out from Ytong nest back to test tube

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SillySil
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Sep 14, 2018 11:04 am
Location: Poland

Ants moved out from Ytong nest back to test tube

Post: # 50277Post SillySil
Fri Sep 14, 2018 11:26 am

I bought a formica queen with 10 ants. I've put the testtube into the outworld with the exit close to the entrance to the handmade Ytong nest which was covered by cardboard, watered the nest and they have moved within 2 days. When they moved I took the testtube out and I've connected it into another portal at the opposite of the outworld, and I didn't cover that testtube with anything.

15 days have passed since then. In the meantime I watered the nest 3 times, kept it covered most of the time, given the ants some honey and yesterday a tiny bit of a worm. They looked cozy in their Ytong next. Everything was going fine and today I saw like 6 ants in the testtube, while usually there would be 0-2 in there. And just now the queen moved from the Ytong back into the test tube.

The question is: why did they move out from a wet, dark Ytong nest back into fully lit testtube?

I do not see any mold in the Ytong, but it's white so I just might not be able to see it. Nest itself is made from Ytong, with outside painted with acrylic paint, the "glass" is made of polycarbonate, the white seal thing is blu-tac alike.

They have taken the piece of the worm into the nest yesterday, did it cause mold? Am I overwatering the nest? Was the Ytong contaminated before it got to me? Is any of the materials I've used harmful to ants?

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Thanks for the help.

DictaruraSrl
Posts: 32
Joined: Tue Jul 03, 2018 4:08 am
Location: Bucharest, Romania

Re: Ants moved out from Ytong nest back to test tube

Post: # 50358Post DictaruraSrl
Sat Sep 15, 2018 3:43 am

It is to early to move them out of the test tube. when they will have 20w they will be ready. Probably they were feeling unsecured in the nest because it was to big for their colony for now.

AntnoobSG
Posts: 99
Joined: Sun Aug 12, 2018 8:33 am
Location: singapore

Re: Ants moved out from Ytong nest back to test tube

Post: # 50367Post AntnoobSG
Sat Sep 15, 2018 9:06 am

Maybe you should hydrate the nest more often
Keeper of :
Camponotus albosparsus x2 :o
Camponotus Irritans ;)
Hoping for pheidole colony :D

SillySil
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Sep 14, 2018 11:04 am
Location: Poland

Re: Ants moved out from Ytong nest back to test tube

Post: # 50485Post SillySil
Sun Sep 16, 2018 9:48 am

AntnoobSG wrote:
Sat Sep 15, 2018 9:06 am
Maybe you should hydrate the nest more often
I'm not convinced the nest was too dry. They moved out on the same day I watered it in the morning.

I will not intervene in their nesting for now and keep watering the brick nest to see what happens. Thanks for the help.

AntnoobSG
Posts: 99
Joined: Sun Aug 12, 2018 8:33 am
Location: singapore

Re: Ants moved out from Ytong nest back to test tube

Post: # 50529Post AntnoobSG
Mon Sep 17, 2018 1:48 am

Probably too much space
Keeper of :
Camponotus albosparsus x2 :o
Camponotus Irritans ;)
Hoping for pheidole colony :D

JoeHostile1
Posts: 409
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Location: Canada
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Re: Ants moved out from Ytong nest back to test tube

Post: # 50843Post JoeHostile1
Wed Sep 19, 2018 10:44 am

I think maybe you made the nest too wet too often. It looks like when you water the nest it may all become wet? That leaves the ants nowhere to go to seek dry land. If your soaking the nest and it’s causing panic they have moved out to seek dryer ground. Probably a combination of they don’t feel secure in the cavernous space that the y-tong nest provides and then panic caused by water entering the nest.
Keeping:
Tetramorium immigrans * Lasius Neoniger * Lasius Claviger * Messor Aciculatus * Myrmica Rubra * Camponotus Novaeboracensis * Camponotus Turkastanus * Pheidole Pallidula

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