136 replies to this topic

[Becky]

Their population is growing fast. They may double their numbers until the end of the next week.

 

 

 

 

Here they are eating a small cricket. Usually those are completely gone after two days.

 

 

 

They used the cotton to plug up the straw.

 

 

 

 

The workers have become very active and don't care about discturbance like taking of the lid, shaking or breathing.

They immediately come out now when there's new food.

[Becky]

They finally moved into their new home!

The old one is very dirty.

 

 

 

 

Here they are in their new clean tube.

Now we can see them better than in the last weeks.

They are probably 35-40 workers - brood not included.

 

 

 

 

Long time no see!

 

[ANTdrew]

Sounds like they’re thriving! Did you ever think about posting your photos through the gallery? They would be easier to see.

[TennesseeAnts]

I can see them. Great job with the colony btw!

[ANTdrew]

 I can't see these links in mobile version, and the photo sharing sites are blocked on my work computer. I've never seen a single photo in like 60% of the journals on here unless folks take the time to post through the gallery.

[Serafine]

 I can't see these links in mobile version, and the photo sharing sites are blocked on my work computer. I've never seen a single photo in like 60% of the journals on here unless folks take the time to post through the gallery.

You can always quote the post and copy-paste the links into your mobile browser (the full links become visible in the quoted post when you set it to plain text).

If you can't see the pictures on mobile there's probably something wrong with your browser settings (it might be set to not display pictures to save bandwith or something like that).

Edited by Serafine, December 10 2019 - 10:58 AM.

[Becky]

Hello!

This ant couldn't wait to find out what delicious meal is waiting for her today.

 

 

 

 

Delicious it was indeed! They got two big green bottle flies which were quickly swarmed.

There are quite a few ants on every picture but sometimes you have to look very closely to see them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the expert level one - there are four ants on this picture. Can you find all of them?

 

 

 

 

They are really tiny. I love their vibrant coloration and the two bright spots on the gaster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also counted them!

They are around 40 workers plus the queen!

 

 

Here are some more statistics:

It took 41 days from the first egg (Sep. 2nd) to the first worker (Oct 13th).

From the first worker to today's 40 workers it took another 62 days.

That means 103 days from one egg to 40 workers and lots of brood in all stages.

They will need an additional outworld box very soon, I will probably make one during the holidays.

 

[Becky]

The Christmas gift for my ants has arrived, donated by my boyfriend.

It should be ready in time (expected time to dry is 2-3 days, at least for the outworld).

 

 

 

The contents of the package: a vertical farm and an outworld.

 

 

 

This is not corn.

It's aquarium pebbles as a drainage/water reservoir layer.

 

 

 

Yummy!

It looks a bit... awkward.

 

 

 

 

The vertical farm completed, still needs to dry.

The upper (nesting) layer consists of desert substrate (sand, clay, pebbles) and yellow desert sand.

 

 

 

Um...

This is the outworld bottom substrate made of red sand-clay mix and yellow desert sand.

It should turn out a lot brighter when it's dry.

 

 

 

The fully outworld, still wet.

For decoration I used some shells, a decorative resin tree we had still lying around and some old stone turtles.

The water tubes will be covered with a piece of brown cardboard, maybe I'll try to glue some sand onto it so it doesn't stand out as much.

 

 

 

Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone!

[Becky]

Oh I almost forgot... here are some pictures of them in their tube.

Doesn't look like they are going to slow down any time soon.

 

 

 

[Antennal_Scrobe]

I would keep in mind that Myrmica generally like high humidity, or so I've heard. I don't know exactly how high they like it, because I own cavity nesting Myrmica, which I assume are an exception to the rule, as walnuts and acorns tend to be quite a bit dryer than the soil that your M. rubra would live in.

[Becky]

Yesterday I connected the small box to the new outworld which has dried faster than I expected. It's still a bit moist but not much.

The farm isn't dry yet and will be added later.

 

 

 

After an hour I suddenly saw movement in the tube.

 

 

 

Some of them had already found their way into the new outworld and were busy exploring it.

 

 

 

 

The feeder with maple syrup was found quickly and it seemed they liked it.

 

 

 

 

 

The ants like to hide under the cardboard sheet where the water tubes are and the upper right corner seems to be very popular, there's always one ant hanging around.

I hope they don't want to dig in there.

 

 

[Becky]

Today I tried if my ants like shrimps. They do.

It took around 10 minutes for the first worker to find it, not even half a minute later there were already around 20 workers at the dish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After about 20 minutes of workers running back and forth between the dish and the nest the rush calmed down.

There are still workers present but only a few.

 

 

 

 

[Becky]

Yesterday I observed how one ant attacked another ant, probably a very young one.

The darker worker killed the pale worker and since then the dead worker frequently is carried around by other workers.

I am not sure what happened but I hope it's an isolated case.

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a short view into the tube.

Most of the eggs have turned into larvae and there are new eggs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TennesseeAnts]

They are growing very fast! Have you been stung yet? I've kept fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) and it happened every time I fed them.

[Becky]

No, I haven't been stung yet.

I am very careful when giving them food, the fruit flies are just dropped into the outworld and the more moist food comes on a dish so it doesn't mess up the substrate.

For cleaning I use tweezers and a brush.

I am trying to not get into direct contact with the ants so they don't have the opportunity to sting me.

So far they seem to be very calm and timid and not aggressive at all. That may of course change when the colony grows.

[TennesseeAnts]

That's interesting. I've never heard of a timid Myrmica rubra colony.

[Becky]

It's probably because it's such a small colony.

They are curious but they aren't very aggressive yet.

They will surely get more bold when the colony grows bigger.

[TennesseeAnts]

Certainly.

[Becky]

I gave them cat food (with tuna and shrimp) yesterday. They liked it but not as much as the raw shrimps.

 

 

 

 

 

One ant wanted to drag a piece into the nest but another ant pulled into the opposite direction.

 

 

 

One worker finally prevailed and was able to drag the shrimp piece into the tubing.

 

 

 

 

 

Almost at home...

 

[Becky]

The farm is now connected to the rest of the setup. I had to buy new tubing because all the ones I had left didn't fit into the farm's connector.

 

 

 

Just a nice shot of two ants.

 

 

 

The round table dining on shrimps again.

 

 

 

One ambitious ant even decided to carry some of it back home.

 

 

 

 

The first worker found her way towards the new farm. She explored it for a while but seemed to have problems finding back home.

After three hours of walking back and forth in the tubing I picked her up and put her back into the outworld. Better luck next time.

 

 

 

 

 

Not sure what to write about this - they're getting more. Enjoy!