Trying to save a plant

Sometimes the things that seem unimportant are the ones that cause the most pain in our hearts. I've had this plant since it was a baby succulent. I've propagated it many times. It was very vibrant the last time I had it in my hands. I just thought it needed some water, so I added some and then moved it to another spot where it would get more sunlight.  It was this past week, when I went to check on all my plants on the top shelf, that I realized the plant didn't need water or more sun. It was being eaten by ants. I was very sad to see how they had destroyed it. I had to cut it down to its bare minimum. I improvised some pots and set about planting.  I have some pot lids and plastic objects to recycle. I used a soldering iron to make small holes in the concave plastic lids.  Then I placed the pot base under the improvised pot. Inside, I put some pebbles and fertilized soil. I placed several cuttings from the mother plant inside.  In the end, I was left with a pot of small plants cut from the mother plant. I am monitoring the pots to see how they are doing with this transplant. I have other small plants that are offspring of the now lost mother plant, but I don't want these cuttings to die, and I am doing everything I can to help them thrive now without the ants.  It's been five days since the transplant, and I hope to take more pictures soon to show how they're doing. I have a lot of faith that they will thrive. I don't like losing a mother plant because of my carelessness, for not checking what was really happening to my beautiful plant in time.