🐜 Camponotus nicobarensis – Week 10 | An Unexpected Move Into the New Arena

📈 Current Status

• Queen: 1
• Workers: approx. 16
• Brood: moved along with the colony
• Nest location: no longer in the test tube

This week brought a development I honestly didn’t expect from my Camponotus nicobarensis colony:

The ants moved out of the test tube.

But instead of relocating into the prepared gypsum nest, they chose something completely different — they settled inside the newly connected arena filled with branches.

Since then, the test tube has been completely empty.

🚚 The Test Tube Is Empty

Over the last few weeks, I had already expected that the colony would eventually move out of the test tube.

What I didn’t expect was where they would move.

Rather than choosing the prepared gypsum nest, the ants abandoned the test tube entirely and relocated into the new branch-filled arena instead.

So the original founding nest has now been fully given up.

🌿 Not Into the Gypsum Nest – But Into the Branch Arena

The surprising part isn’t the move itself, but the destination.

Instead of settling into the protected gypsum nest, the colony apparently chose the new arena with all the branches and hiding spots as its new home.

At the moment, they are so well hidden in that area that I can barely see them anymore.

That makes observation much harder, but it also shows that the colony clearly considers this spot more suitable than the nest I had actually prepared for them.

👀 Almost Completely Out of Sight

Since the move, the ants have become much harder to observe.

Inside the test tube, I could easily check on the queen, brood, and workers whenever I wanted. Now they are hidden somewhere between branches, cork, and small cover spots, making them almost invisible most of the time.

For documenting the colony, that is of course a bit unfortunate — but at the same time, it is fascinating to see how strongly the ants make their own decisions about where they want to live.

🤔 Why Did They Choose That Spot?

Of course, I can only speculate why they picked this area instead of the gypsum nest.

Possible reasons could be:

• more cover between the branches
• a more secure feeling than in the open gypsum nest
• a microclimate they prefer
• less exposure to light or outside disturbance

Once again, it seems that Camponotus nicobarensis has its own ideas about housing — regardless of what the keeper originally planned.

🧠 Personal Thoughts

Even though the colony is now much harder to observe, I still find this development extremely interesting.

The move shows that the ants actively evaluate their surroundings and make their own choices.

You can prepare a setup as carefully as you want — in the end, the colony will decide for itself which area feels right.

And honestly, unexpected developments like this are exactly what make antkeeping so interesting to me.

🔎 Looking Ahead

For the next days and weeks, I’m especially curious about:

• whether the colony will stay in this area long-term
• whether they might eventually move into the gypsum nest after all
• how the brood develops in their new hiding place
• and whether I’ll still be able to make realistic worker counts in the future 😄

👉 Have you ever had a colony completely ignore a prepared nest and move into a totally different part of the setup instead?