Edited by ANTdrew, May 14 2020 - 4:35 AM.
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Edited by ANTdrew, May 14 2020 - 4:35 AM.
Try 100% silicone. You can easily find at Lowes.
I accidentally froze all my ants
Edited by ANTdrew, May 19 2020 - 2:52 PM.
Edited by ANTdrew, May 22 2020 - 10:27 AM.
Would the fumes of that curing be harmful to them?
I have a tube already. Maybe I’ll plug their escape holes with hot glue, then cover everything with a thick bead of silicone? That will look lovely!
Silicone does not have any fumes, i think.
Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. -Proverbs 6: 6-8
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Video update:
Here is a nice video showing my prize Divas:
https://drive.google...zh-gZynnAGvtj-H
Nice video, They are really swarming!
Ants I have: Tapinoma sessile(2 queen colony). RED MORPH Camponotus neacticus(now has pupae!), Tetramorium immigrans (x3), Aphaenogaster sp, Temnothorax sp, Brachymyrmex sp. possibly infertile , Ponera pennsylvanica, and Pheidole morrisi!
Other insects: Polistes sp. Queen
Ants I need: Pheidole sp., Trachymyrmex sp., Crematogaster cerasi , Dorymyrmex sp. Most wanted: Pheidole morrisii
Update 5-28-2020
With this colony, I've been feeling like the little Dutch boy plugging up the dike lately. On multiple occasions, they've chewed new gaps in the hot glue sealing their glass on the Nucleus III nest, and I've found small numbers of ants wandering outside the formicarium. I went ahead and put a bead of mounting putty all along the seam because I think they cannot chew through it. The holes I plugged with the stuff a month ago have held strong, so I'm cautiously optimistic. It doesn't look the best, but it beats the alternative, that's for sure.
In better news, I've been able to really clean their Nucleus outworld thoroughly now because most of the workers are up in the new "desert outpost" and I made one of the DIY aspirators. It's oddly satisfying vacuuming up their crap after watching it pile up for months. The aspirator is super helpful for quickly collecting fugitive ants as well, where in the past I would have just given up.
There's nothing else to report really other than their rampant growth. These girls empty a byFormica mega feeder in under a week now. Will I see alates later this year?? Stay tuned...
Edited by ANTdrew, May 28 2020 - 7:11 AM.
Post script:
I finally got to see the Crematogaster cf ashmeadi queen my twin found a few weeks ago today. She’s smaller than my cerasi queens, and I’m happy to report that she’s laid eggs. Pretty pumped for a new species! How long should these take, FTA?
Oh, they're fast. From egg to worker is no more than 4 and a half weeks. A friend of mine raised Queen Valentine for the first month, and when she gave her back then the colony got it's first workers almost immediately. Heat is the key, and larvae will grow infinitely fast if given enough protein.
I accidentally froze all my ants
They've been kind of lukewarm about protein of late, but I feed them a mix of mealworms, dubia roaches, fruit flies, along with wild caught stuff like beetles, spiders, earwigs, and termites. I occasionally will pre-masticate some cooked meats for them and drop a wad in their outworld.
They've been kind of lukewarm about protein of late, but I feed them a mix of mealworms, dubia roaches, fruit flies, along with wild caught stuff like beetles, spiders, earwigs, and termites. I occasionally will pre-masticate some cooked meats for them and drop a wad in their outworld.
It's kinda weird, but they enjoy saliva(human). Pre-masticated food sounds like a good idea.
I accidentally froze all my ants
Photo Update 5-31-2020
There have been no escapes in over 48 hours!
Feeding time:
Update 6-12-2020
I just finished "teaching" my last distance learning class of the year, so summer has officially begun! Some more good news is that there is really nothing to report with my Crematogasters, which means there have been no escapes since I put up the decorative putty band on their Nucleus. The number of foragers up in the desert outpost is pretty amazing sometimes. They all go nuts every time I open the lid. These ants drink water like it's 1999 for some reason, more than any other species I've kept. I have a large byFormica feeder filled with water in the outpost, one in the Nucleus outworld, and a nestmate with water in the Nucleus.
I fed them banded crickets for the first time last night, and they crushed them:
I hate to admit this, but your colony is probably larger than mine now. The Valentines have had a massive die off in the last week, combined with escapes. They're still huge, but probably not more than 3000 strong now. The worst part is that when they escaped then some rouge workers killed my Formica subsericea colony by entering through the crack in their mini hearth (Cremas could fit through, but not Formica).
I accidentally froze all my ants
I hate to admit this, but your colony is probably larger than mine now. The Valentines have had a massive die off in the last week, combined with escapes. They're still huge, but probably not more than 3000 strong now. The worst part is that when they escaped then some rouge workers killed my Formica subsericea colony by entering through the crack in their mini hearth (Cremas could fit through, but not Formica).
Oh wow... That sucks....
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