12 replies to this topic

[NZAntKeeper]

Hey everyone, is my nest too dirty? Should I clean it all out? What are the chances of mold growing in there?

[Alabama Anter]

Picture?

[NZAntKeeper]

Yea up soon

[Alabama Anter]

Hmmm if that is mold, i would suggest a small cleanup.

[NZAntKeeper]

It's not mold it's just lots of ant poop I think with insect parts

[Crystals]

Nothing to worry about at this stage. If it is easy to block off a chamber and clean it without disturbing the ants, go for it, but otherwise I wouldn't worry yet.

It looks more like ground up insect parts to me that some species store in their nests.

[Serafine]

This is not mold it is ant engineering. They use these garbage piles and the warm gases that are emerging from them to create an air flow inside the nest so they don't suffocate from a carbon dioxide build-up.

This is entirely normal and as the colony grows one day they will most likely dispose all the waste into the outworld overnight.

 

You should probably clean out the nest before or after their next hibernation period, that's a good time to do this.

Edited by Serafine, December 20 2016 - 10:21 PM.

[NZAntKeeper]

Alright thank you everyone, I'll try get them to move into a test tube then clean the nest and put them back in some time.

[drtrmiller]

This is not mold it is ant engineering. They use these garbage piles and the warm gases that are emerging from them to create an air flow inside the nest so they don't suffocate from a carbon dioxide build-up.
This is entirely normal and as the colony grows one day they will most likely dispose all the waste into the outworld overnight.

I'm aware of this as it relates to fungus grower ants. But can you please locate and link any articles or sources that relate to non-fungus growers? I'd like to read them.

[Serafine]

I'm aware of this as it relates to fungus grower ants. But can you please locate and link any articles or sources that relate to non-fungus growers? I'd like to read them.

I've read this over and over again from several different sources through the years although I can't give you a specific one right now.

 

Well, there's at least one video on the AntsCanada channel where Mikey mentions that it is VERY common for young colonies of pretty much any species of ant (including carpenter ants and tropical fire ants) to create a waste depot in one of the omninest chambers for exactly this reason (the warm air flows upwards through the vertical gaps which lowers the atmospheric pressure within the nest and sucks fresh air through the horizontal gaps between the acrylic plates). And this makes sense because all ant species will face the same air flow/CO² build-up problem, whether they are growing fungus or not (although the fungus gardens are probably making it a lot worse).

Edited by Serafine, December 21 2016 - 6:01 AM.

[Batspiderfish]

Sufficed to say that this 'mess' doesn't look like a problem at all.

[drtrmiller]

With all due respect to Mikey, most of his videos are not exactly credible sources of information, especially when absent a list of references/citations. That would be like saying something is so because I or someone else wrote it on this forum.

Notwithstanding that, most ants in nature, with Atta sp. as an exception, place midden piles well outside and away from the nest so that the pungent smell emanating from the rotting waste does not attract predators.

Pre-formed formicaries are distinctly different from nests in nature, in that the foreign materials smell differently, and the lighting conditions make it so the ants can only poorly distinguish between where the nest ends, and the outside world begins. You are giving the ants far too much credit to imply they are exhibiting some advanced gas-exchange behavior within their artificial nest. In fact, the microbial decomposition will do little to exchange gases from outside, but will most certainly consume a good amount of oxygen inside, making a well-ventilated nest all that more important. The acrylic nest, being composed of multiple layers of material, makes it sufficiently ventilated by design.

The most likely explanation, is that the colony has placed the midden pile within the formicarium because they have excess, unused space there, and small colonies don't like to travel very far.

Edited by drtrmiller, December 21 2016 - 3:13 PM.

[Solenoqueen]

Shortly saying, the mess doesn't pose a problem of severe sort, just a cleanup during hibernation period would help. Just insect parts.