136 replies to this topic

[Becky]

Ants eating stuff. They didn't want maple syrup for two weeks but now they suddenly like it again.

 

 

Here they are working on a fresh fly. Next to it you can see a roach they have completely scraped out over the last two days.

 

 

 

 

They seem to like the tubing a lot and have again put most of their brood there.

I'm wondering how many larvae are in that tubing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They built a new floor in the farm. Yesterday this wasn't there, my tiny master builders just did all of it over night.

 

 

 

 

 

They even added tiny entrance holes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They also have been busy on the backside of the farm.

 

 

Edited by Becky, June 11 2020 - 6:52 AM.

[RushmoreAnts]

Wow! Around here, Myrmica don’t have extensive nests like this, and queens stay only a couple inches from the surface (making capture a whole lot easier, if you know what I mean). Part of me wants digging Myrmica, though.

[Kaelwizard]

Wow! Around here, Myrmica don’t have extensive nests like this, and queens stay only a couple inches from the surface (making capture a whole lot easier, if you know what I mean). Part of me wants digging Myrmica, though.

My Myrmica queen last year duh as deep as she could.

[Becky]

Yesterday I gave them fly larvae and they even dragged one of them into the tubing.

 

 

 

 

This morning they got a locust, they're still working on it.

 

 

 

 

Brood in a tube.

 

 

 

The front side of the farm. They are still adding new chambers and new levels.

 

 

 

 

The back side of the farm. They also strangely store a lot of pupae in the lower chambers.

 

 

 

 

There's also a big pile of pupae at the top of the farm.

 

 

 

 

I also had a few escapees over the last days - one ant suddenly appeared on another shelf and another one hitched a ride on my arm.

They have the annoying tendency to let themselves drop when I try to catch them.

 

They probably both got out while I was cleaning the outworld from all the garbage they made.

Both are now reunited with the colony.

 

[Becky]

Yesterday...

 

 

... today. They must be very hungry.

 

 

 

 

 

For some reason they put the pupae into the tubing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

They have still much space to dig.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's looking like Swiss Cheese!

 

 

 

 

I probably found my first drones although my colony is just ten months old.

I haven't seen queen brood yet but they are much harder to identify.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm wondering how many queens and drones lie hidden here.

 

 

[Antennal_Scrobe]

Perhaps they put the pupae in the tube because its hotter in there? Heat-loving ants like Crematogaster are notorious for doing those types of things. Or maybe they were trying to put them in their mound or right under their rock as they would in the wild to warm them up, and ended up deciding that the tube was the closest thing to that? Ants are weird.

Edited by Antennal_Scrobe, June 27 2020 - 11:13 AM.

[RushmoreAnts]

If you find more queens this year I believe they will accept them. Myrmica queens don’t live very long.

Edited by AntsDakota, June 27 2020 - 11:31 AM.

[TechAnt]

Hey, Can I use your information about Myrmica Rubra at the start of the thread, I am in progress of making a ant website for a bunch of species. I needed information on them for the site, I will credit you for all information/images I use.

[Becky]

Perhaps they put the pupae in the tube because its hotter in there? Heat-loving ants like Crematogaster are notorious for doing those types of things. Or maybe they were trying to put them in their mound or right under their rock as they would in the wild to warm them up, and ended up deciding that the tube was the closest thing to that? Ants are weird.

 

Yes, I think the reason is temperature. It's been very hot during the last days.

It was a surprising new behavior that they put the pupae into the tubing.

 

If you find more queens this year I believe they will accept them. Myrmica queens don’t live very long.

 

I will look out for queens this year but there is also a chance they may inbreed.

 

Hey, Can I use your information about Myrmica Rubra at the start of the thread, I am in progress of making a ant website for a bunch of species. I needed information on them for the site, I will credit you for all information/images I use.

Yes, you can use the info but it is more a general info on Myrmica as a genus and my colony is not Myrmica rubra (also not ruginodis or any other species close to rubra), so the pictures do not fit.

Right now I don't know what species of Myrmica they are.

[TechAnt]

Perhaps they put the pupae in the tube because its hotter in there? Heat-loving ants like Crematogaster are notorious for doing those types of things. Or maybe they were trying to put them in their mound or right under their rock as they would in the wild to warm them up, and ended up deciding that the tube was the closest thing to that? Ants are weird.

 
Yes, I think the reason is temperature. It's been very hot during the last days.
It was a surprising new behavior that they put the pupae into the tubing.
 

If you find more queens this year I believe they will accept them. Myrmica queens don’t live very long.

 
I will look out for queens this year but there is also a chance they may inbreed.
 

Hey, Can I use your information about Myrmica Rubra at the start of the thread, I am in progress of making a ant website for a bunch of species. I needed information on them for the site, I will credit you for all information/images I use.

Yes, you can use the info but it is more a general info on Myrmica as a genus and my colony is not Myrmica rubra (also not ruginodis or any other species close to rubra), so the pictures do not fit.
Right now I don't know what species of Myrmica they are.

Thanks anyways though!

[Becky]

Didn't think this would happen so fast  - I spotted my first drone!
 

 

 

 

[Temperateants]

It's really neat that you feed your ants shrimp. Does shrimp count as arthropod protein? I know that they are arthropods, and then by that logic your will your ants do well with lobster or crab? Are the varieties of protein similar to that of arthropods or insects?

[Becky]

It's really neat that you feed your ants shrimp. Does shrimp count as arthropod protein? I know that they are arthropods, and then by that logic your will your ants do well with lobster or crab? Are the varieties of protein similar to that of arthropods or insects?

 

Ants may eat crab or lobster if they like it. Myrmica and Lasius ants also often raid pots with cat or dog food when those are placed outside.

Some scientists use shrimps to expand the diet of their ants and give them amino acids and salt they may not get from their standard lab food (they often use food gels based on agar).

Shrimps are rich in protein but it's hard to compare them to feeder insects because the nutritional values of fruit flies, mealworms, crickets and roaches are very very different.

My colony loves shrimps, the colony of my boyfriend not so much (they prefer insects). We are not entirely sure if they are the same species though.

Edited by Becky, June 27 2020 - 3:50 PM.

[Becky]

This week they got shrimpies (as usual) and a waxworm which they liked a lot.

 

 

 

 

Brood, brood and more brood...

 

 

 

 

 

They have a lot of males now.

 

 

 

They expand and dig new chambers and at the same time they change the old ones at the top.

I'm wondering where all the sand is going.

 

 

 

 

 

[TechAnt]

Do they have another place where they could put the sand?

[Aunt]

Hey, are there gonna be any other updates?

[Becky]

Do they have another place where they could put the sand?

 

They usually either dropped it into the vinyl tubing or the outworld.

 

Hey, are there gonna be any other updates?

 

Hey, there won't any further updates about this colony. Due to personal issues and lack of time I wasn't able to continue the journal over the last 1.5 years.

Unfortunately the queen died at some point during spring and by now there are only a handful of workers left.