Just spotted a solitary ant wandering around outside the tanks. Most impressed as the lids have been on all day and I’ve been pretty diligent in my escape-proofing. She’s now safely back on the inside with her family. Gave them woodlouse for their welcome home party.
Mystery solved – one of my hole-blocking bungs had fallen out so it was more opportunism than the result of a devious plot.
Written on Sat Jul 05 2008 @ 15:45
blog comments powered by DisqusRather than just reading about how the ants are getting on you can now look in on them: ant-cam
Just spotted a solitary ant wandering around outside the tanks. Most impressed as the lids have been on all day and I’ve been pretty diligent in my escape-proofing. She’s now safely back on the inside with her family. Gave them woodlouse for their welcome home party.
Thanks to some strategically placed bits of wooden meat skewer a few of the ants have found their way along the plastic tubing to the nesting box. Unfortunately they don’t seem too impressed by the nice damp sand/loam mixture I’ve lovingly prepared for them to make a new home in. I guess their test tube is just too cozy.
The ants weren’t being very adventurous this morning so I hoped some protein might get them all excited and busy. This meant going hunting for the tribe. The first thing I found under the wheely bin in the back garden was a (soon to be) unfortunate woodlouse. I did feel a bit guilty boiling it alive to finish it off and kill off any nasty mites it might be carrying – the moral quandaries of keeping ants!
My ants now have a big sand pit to play in and they seem to love it. It only took a few minutes for the first worker to emerge from the test tube and not long after there were 6 intrepid explorers scurrying around in wonderment at the vast sandiness of their new world.
creative commons licence