War study and rival colony interaction experiment

Hey yall, I wanted to discuss my colony interaction project I wanted to setup to study ant warfare and relations with different colonies interacting, and hopefully in some cases provided the most space they’ll coexist after fighting.

I plan to do this once my 2 c. Novaeboracensis colonies reach a few hundred strong. By then I should have a nest and a sizable outworld for them. I want to make it so it’s like in the wild and the colonies won’t treat it as a nest invasion but a skirmish or resource battle.

1. I plan to get a decent sized neutral outworld for the battlefield or shared foraging area. I will connect 2 long 6-8’ vinyl tubing with valve blockers to this neutral territory coiling them to reduce setup space. I hope this will simulate a long foraging trail and make it seem like the rivals aren’t so close to the nest. Apply fluon and leave lid open for formic acid ventilation.

2. I will decor this neutral territory with natural Minnesotan forest floor. I will of course have resources in there like a sugar water feeder, and a protein dish for both sides to discover.

3. Observe the interactions. I will halt the project if a good squad of rival ants enter the home outworld of the other colony by blocking off the neutral zone with the valves(I will remove rivals personally with tweezers from home outworld), leaving the remaining ants there to recover with tweezers or continue to explore this neutral zone. This is to not cause a colony wide panick(which I’m hoping the long tubing and neutral outworld will prevent this)

Thanks for reading I’m intrigued to try this.