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[Aquaexploder]

So yesterday I noticed most of my Tetramorium queens digging at the cotton ball holding the water back in the test tube setup. Today I noticed that they actually have a little section of the cotton dug out and are trying to move the brood and the queen into it. What should I do?

[MaxGen]

If you are concerned they will dig all the way through, can you rotate the tube so that the tunnel is at the top?  Assuming you have some air in the water section, since I'm guessing the queen was in there long enough to found the colony.  That should minimize the risk of flooding.

 

Beyond that, you could try providing another tube for them to move into, but experience has shown me they can be reluctant to move when you want them to.

 

I imagine they are doing this because they want more humidity for the eggs and larva. They will probably stop digging when they reach cotton that is saturated with water.

 

Some of my Tetramorium are doing this as well by the way.  So far they haven't gone all the way through the cotton.