Intro 5-13-2019
The very first queen I ever caught was a Tetramorium immigrans queen found on my patio on June 16, 2018. This colony has absolutely thrived under my care, so much so that I can hardly keep up with them. I had created them one of Chrystal's bead container formicariums, which worked out nicely for a while, but they quickly outgrew it and found some way to exit the thing. As a result, I decided I would like to move them into a terrarium that could contain them for a good while. I had a three gallon betta fish tank that I refashioned for this purpose. The tank is acrylic and measures 10x10x10 inches. I drilled an entry hole in the top for tubing and a drainage hole at the bottom that I lined with micro-mesh.
To begin setting up the terrarium, I made a drainage layer with some pebbles and charcoal on top. To divide this layer from the soil, I used coconut fiber flower basket liners I found at Home Depot. Then I filled the thing up with a thick layer of soil from my yard, which is straight up clay! I mixed a little bit of sand into this as I went to help some with drainage.
Tetramorium love nesting under rocks, so I placed a flat rock on top, which already had some lichen spots growing on it. Around this rock, I put some patches of star moss and thread moss, and I planted two lawn violets. I don't want too many plants to overcrowd the tank; the violets should stay pretty small. After planting, I went in my compost bin, under rocks, and in my log pile to find various decomposers like spring tails, isopods, millipedes, and wood roaches. I'm somewhat doubtful all of these things will survive the onslaught of my Tetramorium, but time will tell.
A big plot twist came as I started to observe more and more Monomorium minimum workers in the tank and some carrying brood. It seems I had inadvertently dug up part of a colony and perhaps a queen! I doubt they will survive the Tetramorium blitzkrieg either, but again, time will tell.
I hooked up the ants' old tubs and tubes set up and then had to leave to go have Mother's Day dinner at my parent's house. When I returned a few hours later, I was amazed to see most of the brood already moved in and a bunch of excavated soil. By morning, all the brood and 90% of the workers were in the terrarium. I will probably dump any stragglers tonight.
I'm hoping at least some of these creatures like these isopods will coexist. I guess that will be the most interesting aspect of going down this natural nesting road. More updates to come...
Edited by ANTdrew, May 13 2019 - 10:43 AM.
"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.