Moving a colony between nests

Move a colony when it runs out of room: brood and workers fill every chamber, or the queen's space is crowded. A nest that's far too big for a small colony is harder for it to keep clean and humid, so go up one size at a time.

The usual path is a test tube or Scout, then a Founder, then a Homestead. A Four Corners keeps up to four small colonies side by side.

• Fill the new nest's water and let it settle for a day.
• Plug every port you won't use, on both pieces.
• Keep the room steady and quiet while they move.

Push a Test-Tube Adapter that matches your tube (16, 18 or 20 mm) into a spare port on the new nest. Then pull the dry cotton plug out of the tube and slide the tube's open end into the adapter.

The colony moves into the damp nest on its own, and moves faster once the tube starts to dry out.

Ants often dig into the cotton and refuse to leave it. If the nest joins a Frontier, drop the cotton into the outworld so any ants on it can walk home.

Coming soon for nests with no outworld: the Move-In Dock (16 mm tubes only), used instead of the adapter. The cotton goes into its vented chamber, the tube pushes into its socket, and the path runs downhill into the nest. On a Scout, set the Scout on a Scout Riser first. When the queen is in, pull the dock and push in the Port Plug that rides on its end. Until the dock is out, use the adapter as above.

Set the Scout on a Scout Riser so its port lines up with the Founder's. Push a Link into a Founder port, then pull the Scout's Port Plug and push the Scout onto the other end of the Link.

Take the Cover off the Scout and let its tube run dry. As the Scout dries out, the colony moves across to the Founder's damp floor on its own.

Or keep the Scout as the queen chamber: leave its Cover on and leave it Linked to the Founder. The queen stays in the dark Scout while the workers spread out into the Founder.

Link a port on the old nest to a port on the new one. Founder, Homestead, Four Corners and the Frontiers all have their ports at the same height, so they join straight across on a flat surface.

Make the old nest less inviting: let its water run low while the new nest has full water.

Each quadrant takes one colony. Connect the colony's tube (with a Test-Tube Adapter) or its Scout (on its Riser, with a Link) to that quadrant's own port.

Some colonies move in a day; others take a couple of weeks. Leave them to it, and don't shake or tap the old home to hurry them.

Once the old home is empty, disconnect it, then plug the open port on the new nest or Link an outworld there. Clean the old home as described in the cleaning guide.