Hello ,

Spring has arrived, and everything is getting very busy!

In spring ants often clean out their nests of all the debris and waste that has been building up during their winter diapause. They also take this opportunity to expand the nest and dig new chambers to accommodate some of the colony’s expansion that is expected in summer. I have seen how one my ant colonies brought out fly legs and bits from the nest, and that after last having flies in the beginning of May! That means they stored the fly bits for over three months!

A very interesting observation that has been made, by a few ant keepers and myself, is that the ants will have a dedicated trash pile in their enclosure for the entire spring and summer parts of the year. But, if you are to introduce some springtails, which are fungivores and detritivores (meaning they eat and live off fungi and decomposing things), they do not throw their rubbish on a trash pile anymore, but they store it somewhere inside of the nest.

I believe that this is a way of keeping the beneficial springtails close by to help keep the nest clean throughout the warmer months. The springtails will not only clean up the trash pile but will move through the nest eating any spots of fungi or even ant excrement/poop when they come across it. So, springtails in an ants’ nest, can be seen, as a clean-up crew!

Weekly Top Shot: Flower chewing droptail!