9 replies to this topic

[MarcSquires]

Hey all! I haven't been on the forums for a while, but my Camponotus Fragilis colony is doing very well, with a few more than 20 workers in the colony, which is housed in dspdrew's acrylic founding formicarium. I decided I wanted to allow them to explore a bit further, and have placed the formicarium inside an outworld I made, and opened part of it so they could easily explore. Unfortunately, they seem very, very inactive, and aren't really even trying to explore. They haven't even noticed the change as far as I can tell. Is there possibly a reason my ants are so inactive? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Skwiggledork]

I am a newbie, so these are only guesses, but from what I've read the first bunch of workers are really cautious. It would be devastating to the colony to loose any workers at this stage, where as once the colony gets larger, they can risk more without risking dying off. Also, I don't know anything about C.fragilis, but could they be nocturnal or crepuscular and you just aren't looking at the right time? Do you see any ants come out? they might only use one ant to forage at the moment. I am trying to move my one Crematogaster sp. colony into an antkit starter kit. I hooked up a piece of a straw to the one port and into their test tube sealed off with cotton. They moved into the straw one night while I was at work, so I took the straw and placed it in the outworld and hadn't seen them come out. Yesterday about 5 in the morning they were exploring the outworld and nest. Still haven't moved into the nest, but I know they are alive.

[MegaMyrmex]

What I do is I place some honey kr a dead fruit fly at the entrance of the tubing that connects the outworld to the nest. It seems to work most of the time. Place the food at the entrance of the outworld and the ants will eventually comr to explore it.

[MarcSquires]

I am a newbie, so these are only guesses, but from what I've read the first bunch of workers are really cautious. It would be devastating to the colony to loose any workers at this stage, where as once the colony gets larger, they can risk more without risking dying off. Also, I don't know anything about C.fragilis, but could they be nocturnal or crepuscular and you just aren't looking at the right time? Do you see any ants come out? they might only use one ant to forage at the moment. I am trying to move my one Crematogaster sp. colony into an antkit starter kit. I hooked up a piece of a straw to the one port and into their test tube sealed off with cotton. They moved into the straw one night while I was at work, so I took the straw and placed it in the outworld and hadn't seen them come out. Yesterday about 5 in the morning they were exploring the outworld and nest. Still haven't moved into the nest, but I know they are alive.

 

 

What I do is I place some honey kr a dead fruit fly at the entrance of the tubing that connects the outworld to the nest. It seems to work most of the time. Place the food at the entrance of the outworld and the ants will eventually comr to explore it.

Thank you guys! I will definitely try putting food at the entrance to the outworld, and I'm going to set up a time lapse to see if any ants explore overnight. My fingers are crossed

[Serafine]

That's entirely normal for small Camponotus colonies. Mine didn't really explore the outworld until they were around 40-50 workers (at which point they occasionally had 3 workers outside though most of the time it was still a single worker doing all the foraging). All you can do is wait, your ants won't walk further then they absolutely must until they have far more workers.

[MarcSquires]

That's entirely normal for small Camponotus colonies. Mine didn't really explore the outworld until they were around 40-50 workers (at which point they occasionally had 3 workers outside though most of the time it was still a single worker doing all the foraging). All you can do is wait, your ants won't walk further then they absolutely must until they have far more workers.

Oh! that's very useful information. I hope this isn't the case for my colony but it's definitely good to know. Should I continue feeding them in the small section outside my nest where they have been receiving food, or will that discourage them from exploring further? Thanks!

[Canadian anter]

I have realized that many species only use a certain percentage of their workers. My Lasius only forage with about 0.2% of their workers

[MarcSquires]

I usually only see 1 worker foraging in the small open area I use to feed the ants. Even that solitary worker usually is really moving all that much. They do seem slightly interesting in the honey i've just given them though.

[CoolColJ]

Depends on the Genus/species. Some of my young colonies have had most of the nanitics explore/forage, leaving only 1 behind to help the queen.

While others only send one out, while others not at all

[MarcSquires]

Depends on the Genus/species. Some of my young colonies have had most of the nanitics explore/forage, leaving only 1 behind to help the queen.

While others only send one out, while others not at all

Also good to know. I think my colony is the latter. Thanks!