4 replies to this topic

[futurebird]

Some ants are fanatical about trash and leftovers, moving all waste to the trash pile. Some ants will leave trash in their nest or make a bathroom site in the far corner of their nest. Some ants bury their trash, others not so much. 

Some of this is a function of size. My Lasius neoniger colony is fairly tidy, but they don't really pile up their trash. I think it's just a little big for them and I'm left removing it with tweezers. I will give lasius credit for having the most organized nest. Their eggs, larvae and pupae are sorted neatly by age, something my other colonies aren't really interested in. 

Some of this is a function of the way ant behaviors interact with captivity. Pogonomyrmex are systematic, but also very destructive. They destroy anything they can in their outworld. This is how they are in nature, the area around the colony entrance is normally a meter to two meter wide circle free of all vegetation with pebbles of uniform size piled around the entrance.  They simply don't have the space to create this in their outworld, so they heap trash in one corner and destroy any decorations or twigs they encounter. 

My camponotus discolor colony is somewhat neat. They are fastidious about dead ants, always burying them under a layer of sand. They are more casual about trash from their meals.

So, right now my "tidy ant award" goes to Camponotus pennslyvanicus. The carpenter ant colony is fastidious about burying both dead workers and trash. They are very sensitive to light, and hide their food on the dark side of their "log" while eating it. The front of their outworld is pure sand, it almost seems like they have sifted it to remove even tiny bits of debris. In the nest, they have, from time to time made a "meat locker" full of dead bugs to eat later, but they also have totally cleaned such rooms when they needed more space for brood and sleeping. 

So, what is your "neatest" colony?
Are there any ants that are so messy you'd think twice before keeping them again?

[FinWins]

I would say that my “tidy ant award” goes to my Pogonomyrmex rugosus colony. They keep all their brood in neat a pile and all their seeds in another. My “messy ant award” goes to my other Pogonomyrmex species, my P. californicus queens, they mix their trash, brood, and seeds all into one big mess that looks hideous

[ZTYguy]

My tidiest ants have to be my Acromyrmex versicolor. Always leaving their trash in a very accessible and convenient place. They also never leave any trash in the nest. I’ve never seen mold in that enclosure.

[RushmoreAnts]

My tidiest ants have to be my Acromyrmex versicolor. Always leaving their trash in a very accessible and convenient place. They also never leave any trash in the nest. I’ve never seen mold in that enclosure.

I suppose they have a greater necessity for cleanliness, since they run the additional risk of killing their fungus if their nest molds.

[FloridaAnts]

My cleanest ants are O. haematodus, and surprisingly their cousin O. ruginodis is much more messy.