17 replies to this topic

[JonnyTorch]

Hello there. I've had many pets in the past. New to Ant keeping and I'm not sure what to do here. I purchased a Honeypot queen with about 10-12 workers + about 12 eggs. They are in a handmade little modular farm created by an ant breeder from the Reptile Super Show.

I placed the ants into the little farm from out of the test tube setup they were purchased in. My question is this.. Should I move the queen to the bottom of the setup? (There is humidity below + water source below) but the queen and her eggs are all above the ground, and she's kind of fat in the booty. There is a way for her to get below but it's a tighter squeeze through the tubing.. will she eventually go below the surface or should I move her down there? So far all the ants are above the surface. 

 

Please and thank you. New to ant keeping, and I know, I will have to move my colony after about 6-8 months into something bigger. 

 

-Jon

 

 

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[ColdBloodedCreaturae]

Hello there. I've had many pets in the past. New to Ant keeping and I'm not sure what to do here. I purchased a Honeypot queen with about 10-12 workers + about 12 eggs. They are in a handmade little modular farm created by an ant breeder from the Reptile Super Show.

I placed the ants into the little farm from out of the test tube setup they were purchased in. My question is this.. Should I move the queen to the bottom of the setup? (There is humidity below + water source below) but the queen and her eggs are all above the ground, and she's kind of fat in the booty. There is a way for her to get below but it's a tighter squeeze through the tubing.. will she eventually go below the surface or should I move her down there? So far all the ants are above the surface. 

 

Please and thank you. New to ant keeping, and I know, I will have to move my colony after about 6-8 months into something bigger. 

 

-Jon

Deleted

Edited by ColdBloodedCritters, January 8 2023 - 3:45 PM.

[NicholasP]

Never buy honey pots as a first species. I'd recommend moving her down there carefully by opening the glass down there and plopping her in but wait until others answer just in case.

[JonnyTorch]

Never buy honey pots as a first species. I'd recommend moving her down there carefully by opening the glass down there and plopping her in but wait until others answer just in case.

Well they are already bought. I feed mealworms to my tarantulas, and honeypots eat mealworms and nectar. What's wrong with honeypots for a first species? 

[Antlover24]

I don't have much experience with pots but from my colony I saw the same thing where they didn't want to move into their nest and stayed in their outworld because of the hight humidity and when I forced them in I lost a couple workers from condensation droplets drowning workers. So if you do forcefully and gently move them I would try to lower the humidity of the nest before hand and wipe down the glass.

[JonnyTorch]

I don't have much experience with pots but from my colony I saw the same thing where they didn't want to move into their nest and stayed in their outworld because of the hight humidity and when I forced them in I lost a couple workers from condensation droplets drowning workers. So if you do forcefully and gently move them I would try to lower the humidity of the nest before hand and wipe down the glass.

Sounds good. Thank you. They are myrmecocystus mexicanus. The breeder/seller recommended I put the queen inside the nest. I put her down there and the workers haven't begun migrating down yet or moving the eggs yet. The queen is kind of up on the walls facing the tube going upwards. But the condensation is lower and I'm just waiting for the workers to carry eggs down and the queen to get comfortable in the nest area. 

 

[YsTheAnt]

They should move down by themselves eventually. Removing the lid and blowing on the outworld can speed the process up, they hate mammal breath and will try to find somewhere safer for the brood and queen.

[Full_Frontal_Yeti]

If you have a heating cable, placing it in direct contact with the glass should prevent condensation happening. It happens when the temp inside the nest is too far off from the temperature of the glass(which is commonly colder). If the condensation is already present the heat cable may not be able to remove all of it, but should take care of most of if not all of it.

 

here is an image of my setup with a mini hearth like you have(no ants yet,  it's setup for testing temps and humidity before i put ants in it)

 

the heat cable's odd twist tension holds it in place there no tape or anything. This image is a few days ago, i now use it a little differently. it runs across the table then loops up going under the right side top magnet and over the left side top  magnet. It stay in that position better, the one in the image would slip off sometimes.

Always make sure to not put it in contact too near the water tower. If we heat the watertower a little too directly we always get condensation due to over saturated humidity when heating the water itself up too much.

 

good luck with your ants, this will be my first colony too when pogonomyrmex occidentalis arrives later this week.

[NicholasP]

 

I don't have much experience with pots but from my colony I saw the same thing where they didn't want to move into their nest and stayed in their outworld because of the hight humidity and when I forced them in I lost a couple workers from condensation droplets drowning workers. So if you do forcefully and gently move them I would try to lower the humidity of the nest before hand and wipe down the glass.

Sounds good. Thank you. They are myrmecocystus mexicanus. The breeder/seller recommended I put the queen inside the nest. I put her down there and the workers haven't begun migrating down yet or moving the eggs yet. The queen is kind of up on the walls facing the tube going upwards. But the condensation is lower and I'm just waiting for the workers to carry eggs down and the queen to get comfortable in the nest area. 

 

 

What I do is I lightly blow on the workers. That startles them and makes them look for cover and so they run inside of the nest. Try it! It should work.

[NicholasP]

They should move down by themselves eventually. Removing the lid and blowing on the outworld can speed the process up, they hate mammal breath and will try to find somewhere safer for the brood and queen.

Correction, they hate any type of breath lol.

[Locness]

Cover up the nest portion and shine a light on the outworld. Minimize any disruption. They'll move in shortly after that. 

[JonnyTorch]

Hey all, I really appreciate your responses and help as this is my first attempt at starting a colony. Many other animals but ants are a first. 

An update for you.. I gently placed the queen down in the nest. The queen however is on the walls, facing the tube going to the outworld. Not sure if she'll eventually settle on the bottom and guard her eggs anytime soon.. What do you think?

As far as heating, I actually hate the look of the heating cables.. I'm a super minimalist.. So I decided to do this.. let me know what you think please?

The photos show a hidden heater, a heater mat hidden under a metal shelf. The heater cords are hidden and the mini hearth looks like it's sitting on the shelf without a heater. The mini heart is not overlapping the heater, but just behind the heater right in line with the glass.

As far as my research tells me this should be a good option. What do you think?

- Jon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Locness]

I can't tell in the picture, but have you filled up the water tank yet? 

[JonnyTorch]

Ya the water tank is 2/3 full for humidity and it has a water tube in the back

[Full_Frontal_Yeti]

Hey all, I really appreciate your responses and help as this is my first attempt at starting a colony. Many other animals but ants are a first. 

An update for you.. I gently placed the queen down in the nest. The queen however is on the walls, facing the tube going to the outworld. Not sure if she'll eventually settle on the bottom and guard her eggs anytime soon.. What do you think?

As far as heating, I actually hate the look of the heating cables.. I'm a super minimalist.. So I decided to do this.. let me know what you think please?

The photos show a hidden heater, a heater mat hidden under a metal shelf. The heater cords are hidden and the mini hearth looks like it's sitting on the shelf without a heater. The mini heart is not overlapping the heater, but just behind the heater right in line with the glass.

As far as my research tells me this should be a good option. What do you think?

- Jon

 

I feel you on the heat cable being visually ewww. I specifically got tarheelats formicariums as they are, to me, their own nice looking art objects to look at, and the heat cable really ruins the neat clean atheistic of them. I am endlessly thinking about formicarium designs with a 12v barrel plug on the back bottom and heating built into the walls of the formicarium so they can stay neat and tidy looking.

On a heatpad, from what all i seen and read, you'd want to place it such that the heating source was not all that close to the water tower so the water won't evaporate too fast causing condensation no matter what. I would consider orienting the heating pad to run along the left side edge/ under left quarter of the mini, rather than running along the whole front edge(which gets close to the right side water tower). Though if you are already using it this way and not getting condensation you're obviously good, but if you notice condensation still happening just moving the mat more to the left side away from the right side water tower might be all it needs.

Yeah i'm totally noob here too but i been doing a lot of homework in prep for this the last few weeks, as well as testing/working out out the temps and condensation issues before the ants are here these last few days.

Edited by Full_Frontal_Yeti, January 10 2023 - 11:47 AM.

[Ross123]

Use a little cotton ball to push the queen gentenly to the entrance of the nest

[Hothkinstroy]

If you still want help; I can tell you this. Although honey pots aren't the staple first ant species, they aren't super super difficult from what I know. If you hydrate the nest correctly, and heat the bottom, they'll probably move on their own. But, if they are stubborn and still refuse to move for whatever reason, get yourself some Featherweight Forceps off Amazon and move the queen yourself. They HAVE to be Featherweight Forceps or else you risk crushing the queen. The species you have appears to be Myrmecocystus Mexicanus, so looking up care youtube videos or care guides on this website is a good idea. Even though you're a beginner, there isn't anything wrong with keeping Mexicanus as a beginner species AS LONG AS YOU HAVE THE CARE INFORMATION AND HAVE LOGIC.

[rptraut]

Use a soft paint brush to herd the queen to the entrance.  You can also use a small paint brush to pick up smaller ants and put them where you want them.   Some make it easy by falling off when you tap the brush.