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Post by elitzchupa on May 29, 2015 23:23:33 GMT
Hi all,
I have a colony of Myrmica, not sure what exact species that I collected awhile ago from the woods. They are around 500 strong and are housed in a aquarium full of sand/soil. They have dug around 5 inches down and I can see lots of activity around the tunnels that have been made around the sides of the tank. The only problem is that although they could be foraging when I'm not there, I would have expected to see at least one ant forage, all food seems untouched.
I have a colony almost exact on size right next to them in an acrylic nest and they do not stop foraging and demolish anything I put in.
Any speculations?
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Post by Wood~Ant on May 30, 2015 7:12:09 GMT
I have the exact same problem with my 2 Camponotus cruentatus colonies, as one colony never leaves the nest as far as I know, even though it has larvae to feed. With a big colony like yours it is bound to send out foraging workers, unless they are living on their reserves as adult ants can go for long periods on very little food. If they have a lot of hungry larvae to feed then they should be taking in some form of food, and Myrmica forage both day and night in the wild if it is warm enough, so if your other colony is doing so there is no reason why this colony is not foraging also.
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Post by Antkeeper on Sept 22, 2015 5:51:21 GMT
My Lasius niger colony have been slowing up like this for a while, but I am putting it down to the on coming hibernation at this time of year.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Sept 22, 2015 7:13:46 GMT
My Lasius niger colony have been slowing up like this for a while, but I am putting it down to the on coming hibernation at this time of year. It has been cold and wet for most of August, so September is colder than it has been in previous years which will mean ants go into hibernation mode earlier than normal; but of course we are only a week away from October so many parts of the UK will get night frosts. This year has not been great for a hot summer, so expect an early winter.
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Post by crockatt on Sept 22, 2015 11:52:14 GMT
I have had this problem also, I even thought about putting them into hibernation, but thought it might be too early, it's usually November time, I put mines away for winter.
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Post by gordonfreeman on Jul 28, 2016 22:46:26 GMT
Stores ? Like honey pot ants.Dose the stored food not rot inside them?
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Post by danovsan on Jul 29, 2016 5:52:37 GMT
I saw the documentary on the honey pot ants. Honey doesn't rot normally in their jars because I have heard it has antibacterial properties. I suppose that's why it doesn't rot inside the ant?
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