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Post by annie on Apr 5, 2014 19:45:16 GMT
Hope someone can answer this, not a problem just curious really. Recently read that using the tiny observation/feeding box at the end of a tube, the ants will be able to put their dead in it. Have had colony for a year now and hadn`t made any provision for this. So rigged this up at one end of the antworks nest and have another tube leading out at the opposite end into the glass tank for general foraging etc. The next day the new tube had lots of sand and soil deposited in it, so I thought ok, whatever. Since this time they have been depositing stuff at the end of the other tube which is open. Did they deposit stuff in the new tube in the hope of blocking it up against invaders? But what are they doing with the established foraging tube? Are they getting confused with the new tube? Would love to hear your ideas. My little girls are very active in and out of the nest all the time at the moment. I can "waste" a lot of time watching them!  |
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Post by crockatt on Apr 5, 2014 20:30:00 GMT
This happened last year with my nigers, they started using the new pot as an extension to the nest, putting brood in it, seems quite normal behaviour, they will not forget where their food is.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Apr 6, 2014 7:53:54 GMT
Hi Annie, I have had the same thing with tubing being blocked by bits of soil by some ant species. This can be most frustrating if the tubing leads down to the foraging area, but it seems to be that as the workers cannot take the excavated soil outside of their nest in an artificial nest set up, the next best thing as far as worker ants are concerned is to place excess soil/sand inside the tubing. I often wait until the tubing is empty of ants and disconnect it so I can blow out the soil, making sure this is done quickly before any ants rush out from the nest entrance hole. If you think about it, ants in the wild are very clean and tidy, and all nest rubbish is carried away far beyond the nest. So this behaviour is simply quite normal for ants in captivity who cannot remove rubbish to a midden which is far away from their nest, and the tubing becomes an extended midden or rubbish dump.  |
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Post by annie on Apr 6, 2014 9:05:38 GMT
Thanks for your ideas and experiences. It`ll be interesting to see if they extend their egg chamber, there certainly are a lot of eggs in the nest. I have been tapping out the debris in the feeding tube, and yes it`s tricky choosing the right time without disturbing them! I`m just curious why they've just started this behaviour after over a year.
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Post by honeypotant on Apr 6, 2014 15:42:01 GMT
Thanks for your ideas and experiences. It`ll be interesting to see if they extend their egg chamber, there certainly are a lot of eggs in the nest. I have been tapping out the debris in the feeding tube, and yes it`s tricky choosing the right time without disturbing them! I`m just curious why they've just started this behaviour after over a year. Maybe for nest extension  |
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