Watering and cotton care

Ants drink from damp surfaces, and their brood needs humidity. Each American Ant nest keeps one area damp and the rest drier, so the colony can choose where to be.

Wet cotton balls without soaking them, then press them into the cotton cups. The cotton should bulge above each cup and touch the underside of the printed-hole Hydration Insert.

The Scout's water is its 16 mm test tube. The damp cotton faces the queen chamber through a small opening, so the queen can drink and the chamber stays humid.

A full tube lasts a founding queen for months. Check the water line every few weeks. When it runs low, or the colony has outgrown the Scout, Link it to a Founder and let the tube run dry. The moving guide shows how.

The Founder has one cotton cup beneath its water well. Wet cotton sits in the cup and touches the underside of the printed-hole Hydration Insert, keeping the floor damp for the ants.

Lift the Top to re-wet or replace the cotton. Use one large or two regular cotton balls, damp but not dripping; replace moldy cotton right away.

The humid right half has two water wells, each over its own cotton cup. Wet cotton touches the underside of each printed-hole Hydration Insert; there is no shared reservoir or fill port.

Lift the Top to re-wet or replace the cotton in either cup. Use damp, not dripping, cotton and replace moldy cotton right away.

Each quadrant has its own cotton cup beneath its water well and printed-hole Hydration Insert. The four separate cups keep each colony's water source isolated, preventing mold from spreading between colonies.

Lift the Top to access the cups, then re-wet or replace the cotton in the cup you are checking. Use damp, not dripping, cotton; replace moldy cotton right away.

The outworlds have no built-in water. Push a Test-Tube Adapter holding a water tube into a spare port from outside, and foragers can drink without you lifting the lid. Replace the tube when it runs low.

• Too dry: the cotton looks pale and dry, and the colony crowds next to the water. Lift the Top and re-wet or replace it.
• Too wet: water pools in the chambers, the lid fogs over, or mold keeps coming back. Use cotton that's damp, not dripping, and fit a Vent Plug for more airflow.

A little condensation near the water is normal.