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How to clean a mini hearth?

Started By Manitobant , Nov 16 2019 11:15 AM

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3 replies to this topic

#1 Offline Manitobant - Posted November 16 2019 - 11:15 AM

Advanced Member

Members
2,912 posts

LocationWinnipeg, Canada

My 7 queen ghost ant colony is doing super well but their formicarium (especially the outworld) is in need of cleaning. How do I clean it without damaging the ants?

My journals:

Polyergus Mexicanus: https://www.formicul...gs/#entry175528
Lasius minutus: https://www.formicul...cs/#entry174811
Lasius latipes: https://www.formicul...gs/#entry206449
General acanthomyops journal: https://www.formicul...yops-with-eggs/

#2 Offline Antennal_Scrobe - Posted November 16 2019 - 4:13 PM

Advanced Member

Members
933 posts

LocationMilwaukee, Wisconsin

I don't think you could do it without them escaping. Attach a new nest instead; if you stop watering the old one, they will move.

Currently keeping:

Tetramorium immigrans, Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Myrmica punctiventris, Formica subsericea

Formica pallidefulva, Aphaeogaster cf. rudis

Camponotus pennsylvanicus

Camponotus nearcticus

Crematogaster cerasi

Temnothorax ambiguus

Prenolepis imparis

#3 Offline ANTdrew - Posted November 16 2019 - 5:25 PM

Advanced Member

Moderators
9,949 posts

LocationAlexandria, VA

It’s hard if a bunch of workers are up in the outworld at all times, but you could quickly plug the entrance hole to the outworld and try to clean it as best you can. In my experience, the outworld can fill up with quite a bit of refuse without harming the ants.

"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#4 Offline RushmoreAnts - Posted November 17 2019 - 9:51 AM

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Members
4,246 posts

LocationSioux Falls, South Dakota

if you stop watering the old one, they will move.

They quite possibly could, but ants are stubborn. I once had a colony of Solenopsis molesta who refused to move from a bone dry pile of soil into a nice, moist test tube. For their own good, I forced them in.

Antennal_Scrobe likes this

"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds (including ants). And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version

Keeping:

Tetramorium immigrans

Formica cf. pallidefulva, cf. incerta, cf. argentea

Formica cf. aserva, cf. subintegra

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Pheidole bicarinata

Myrmica sp.

Lasius neoniger, brevicornis

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