10 replies to this topic

[AntsMAN]

This is the second time now. They are chewing threw all their tubing. Last night found about 50-100 walking around, took me hours searching and I know there's more wondering around. I put some cotton and tape around the hole. I didn't have time this morning before work to do anything.

It's a colony of about 500 or more now and the super majors are making short work of the rubber tubing.

 

Any suggestions?

 

I do have a 20 gallon fish tank, but the corners are silicone so the fluon or talc mix doesn't work.

[EthanNgo678]

Put tape on top of the silicone and then put fluon over it.

[Joehostile85]

What I’ve found is if you’re not providing them with enough food or the food that they want you get mass escapes like this. They are leaving for a reason, could be the nest is not suitable (maybe they are experiencing a lot of vibrations for example),they are trying to forage or they are swarming a threat to the nest.

Otherwise it is not normal for a typical colony to have 1/5 of its workforce trying to escape their nest. Unless this breach is near the core of the nest and they are swarming to protect the nest.

I have a tetramorium colony that has 2k-10k workers (There’s so many I don’t even know how to estimate their numbers at this point). They basically eat unlimited amounts of food and I don’t even use a lid or any kind of fluon or barrier, but I can tell how hungry they are by how many ants are in the outworld. If I see a large amount of ants in the outworld I literally give them a handful of crickets. Within a few hours the crickets are gone and only about a dozen or so ants liger around the outworld.

Sure you can beef up your escape defences to prevent them from being able to escape in the first place. But I would try to consider the reasons behind their wanting to escape.

[TennesseeAnts]

My chromaiodes colony (250 workers) has been doing this too. What I have done is feed them a bunch of food when I see lots of ants in the outworld, like @Joehostile85 was saying. Seems to work pretty well.

[drtrmiller]

What I’ve found is if you’re not providing them with enough food or the food that they want you get mass escapes like this.

 

Also water.  Thirsty ants go crazy in search of water before suddenly dying en masse.

[Leo]

Lmao all mine are already gone

[Rstheant]

Also, you should make a lid or something for your Camponotus. They tend not to walk on silicone.

[TennesseeAnts]

What species is this?

[Serafine]

1) Make sure they have enough water. Also water tubes (basic test tube setups) in the outworld can take a lot of pressure off the main nest when it gets too crowded (the majority of my Camponotus barbaricus colony doesn't actually live in the main nest but in test tube satellite nests and clay shrimp tubes scattered around their various outworlds).

 

2) Make sure they have enough food (sugars and protein). If providing enough insects is an issue try stuff like cat food (pure meat or liquid cat food). Hungry ants will always try to escape.

 

3) Make sure they have enough room to walk around and places in the other outworlds where they can hide (water tubes work well for this). Camponotus are not meant to exist in closed spaces, they need some territory to expand into. Older ants in particular will always try to establish outposts away from the main nest.

 

4) Do not use thin vinyl tubing. There is tubing with a thickness of 4mm and more (I'm using 18/14mm tubing for most of my setup and I know from other people that even Messor have problems chewing through this). If vinyl tubing really doesn't work switch to the transparent plastic tubes they use for leafcutter ants.

 

5) Use a frame and a lid. A glass frame with Fluon on the underside is impossible for most ants to traverse (especially large ants). It also means you don't have any ugly fluon or oil stripes on the sides of the tank.

Edited by Serafine, March 7 2019 - 3:04 AM.

[iXvXi]

I went through a lot to get my Camponotus pennsylvanicus. colony to stay in their 75 gallon tank.

Some things I learned along the way:

Too much humidity will send the colony out to look for a habitat more suitable. This also makes most barriers ineffective. Too little can also do this as well.

Lack of resources which was already suggested.

They can chew through almost anything, so it's best to persuade them to "stay". I've had them chew through layers of strong wire mesh within hours.

After all the frustration, I decided to simply make something that was designed specifically for them. (Store bought solutions not tailored to ants almost never work out the way you intend).

I made a plexiglass lid which was siliconed in place and epoxied over to harden the seal. I cut holes in the plexiglass so I could reuse byformica's mesh lids; which I highly reccomend if you can find them.

Note that they can still chew through this but with much greater effort. I typically will see a trail of ants working on a particular spot, which I can slowly try to figure out what is bothering them and remedy it before too many workers "help" escape.

Try to make sure there are no exposing tubing or overhangs. Anything they can get their mandibles on will prove unable to house them. Good luck!

Edited by iXvXi, March 8 2019 - 6:54 PM.

[TennesseeAnts]

Camponotus subbarbatus are good at chewing through grout....