May 10, 2021
They have now surpassed 2,455 workers. Yesterday I attached their 4th nest unit. For the last few weeks they've been hanging out in the outworld in a very unusual manner, even with plenty of room in a couple of the nests. I was suggested by a more knowledgeable person that it could be due to a lack of oxygen in the nests, which would make perfect sense because there is practically no ventilation. I was finally able to detach the old fortress outworld after evicting the several dozen workers that sat around in it. Then I moved the newer outworld's port to the opposite side of the nest, where the fortress outworld used to be attached, and connected the 4th nest unit to the left side. The new nest has an extra port hole purely for ventilation, so I used some mesh and made something similar to a Tar Heel Ants nestmate to attach to it. I did the same for the expansion port hole that is on the new unit's left side, so that will also serve as a ventilation port until a 5th nest unit is attached.
I've been less involved with my ants in the last few weeks so this colony, like the rest of my colonies, have not been at their maximum productivity. In addition to this, I realized yesterday that the heat cable on the zonatus wasn't even plugged in for several weeks, so they haven't been able to benefit from the toasty temperatures they normally love.
