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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2012 17:56:26 GMT 1
its a problem ive never thought off till just now but i received some myrmica rubra from a friend this morning. about 20 workers and 2 queens but they came in a small tube with some damp moss in and the ant farm i have ready for them is too small to just put the tub in without a lid... so how would i transfer the ants? i understand just tipping them out would be bad, i expected to receive a test tube and i would have hooked that up to the tubing into the nest. hope that all made sence ha cheers
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Post by Myrm on May 17, 2012 18:41:10 GMT 1
Is the tube too small or too big for the ports on the nesting box?
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2012 18:46:33 GMT 1
im not sure we on the same wavelengh, lol the tube i have comming off my nesting box (blocked with cotton wool usually) is 6mm. but the tub that the ants arrived in is more of erm.. say a sauce tub or something simular. the tub its self is too wide to fit into the nesting box.
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Post by Myrm on May 17, 2012 18:50:40 GMT 1
Oh, I see. Sorry. Personally I would scoop them out gently and place them into the ant farm. Normally for this I would use a teaspoon and gently scoop them out and tap them into the ant farm. As long as you are careful tapping them into the ant farm will be fine. After all, ants are sent in the post and I can bet the postal system is not too gentle with them, so ants sent in the post have been battered around a lot and they survive. I am sure tipping them out into the farm will be okay.
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2012 18:50:41 GMT 1
im not sure we on the same wavelengh, lol the tube i have comming off my nesting box (blocked with cotton wool usually) is 6mm. but the tub that the ants arrived in is more of erm.. say a sauce tub or something simular. the tub its self is too wide to fit into the nesting box. If the tub is inexpensive you could drill a 6mm hole in it and attack the tubing to the nesting box to it. This will let the ants move in at their own speed and gives you a temporary feeding area if you don't have one Can we get a picture of your setup for a better idea of what you are talking about ?
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2012 8:55:37 GMT 1
The following method works with most species.
Place a tube of smallish size with wet cotton on one end in the container with the ants you want to collect. Now, just be patient. They will move in relatively quickly, depending on how big the container is and the environment outside of the tube. In your case, you can use a tube one size larger so it fits right over the tube you have coming from your nest. Hope this helps.
You can see a video that shows a similar scenario on my youtube channel linked below called "A Tale of Two Colonies".
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2012 17:04:45 GMT 1
thanks for the tips everyone. i went with myrms advice in the end as it was just easier and simpler. plus the tub they arrived in wasnt big enough to fit any sort of tube in really. and i didnt want to be putting holes in the tub where the ants were,just incase it went wrong. thanks for the advice anyway. ive started a new topic about the rubra, pictures will follow soon
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