130 replies to this topic

[OhNoNotAgain]

2020.3.12

Gave them bits of shrimp because Costco.

 

V1: They gathered around and seemed to like it, then later dragged it to the trash pile.

 

V2: The foragers ignored it. I got annoyed and tilted the tube with the shrimp piece in it, causing it to fall all the way to the cotton. Surprise, surprise, the ants in the nest actually were interested. Yet another case of foragers ignoring something ants inside actually want to eat.

[anttics]

Hello. I have a colony of V. Pergandei. Whose queen died. There might be 1000 workers. They are just waiting to die. Would you like to take them and maybe introduce a queen and give them a reason to live again. They are 4 months old. Usually they live close to 1 year. Super majors live pass 1 year.

[OhNoNotAgain]

Wow, would that work?
I’m a little concerned that it might prove fatal to the queen. Or that if it’s a crappy queen it’ll be a waste of all those workers....

[OhNoNotAgain]

2020.3.18

 

Update:

V1: I gave them a 2nd test tube since their first one is (1) almost out of water and (2) really gross. So far they've mostly ignored the new tube, though today after I put in some poppy seeds, they stuck some poppy seeds onto the cotton. In their (old, gross) tube they have a large pile of brood and a bunch of workers (estimate 60-70). Their heating pad is set to mid-70's right now.

 

V2: Ugh, these poor guys. ANOTHER dead worker. And they are so fixated on the cotton, again. This colony is seriously heading for a cliff No brood. Even my Pogonomyrmex californicus, who lost all their brood and apparently a bunch of workers when I turned off the heat, now have a small brood pile again (their heating pad is set to mid-80's). But these Veros ... nada.

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, March 18 2020 - 3:21 PM.

[TheMicroPlanet]

Are the workers dying in the cotton?

[zantezaint]

Do they still go for the Gerber Chicken with Gravy despite the 40mg sodium content?

[OhNoNotAgain]

To answer the above questions:

1. No, I don't think they are dying in the cotton. Or if they are, their corpses are hauled just outside the test tube so I can't tell.

2. Vero2 never did go for it. Vero1 went for it. Didn't someone say ants like some amount of salt? But salt isn't actually listed as an ingredient, though as baby foods go, yeah 40mg is a bit high.

[OhNoNotAgain]

2020.3.23

 

Vero1: Doing just fine, though their old test tube is starting to dry out and no one's moved to the new tube yet. I gave them more chicken and gravy baby food and they cleaned every last trace of the drop

 

Vero2: Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I can't believe how many workers they've lost. On the theory that something is seriously wrong with their set up (nevermind it's pretty much the same as Vero1) I put the queen and last workers into a mini-hearth today, along with a dead fly and some seeds and their ant nectar. As typical they aren't very cohesive and didn't exactly take care of each other very well, but after a long time finally all of them are in the nest. We will see what happens. Worst case they all die and I have to figure out a way to sterilize the mini-hearth in case it's pathogen-related.

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, March 23 2020 - 5:18 PM.

[OhNoNotAgain]

2020.4.1 through 2020.4.7 

During pandemic lockdown, I actually have had LESS time than before. So updates are kind of sporadic and the ants are a bit neglected. However, I finally have enough time to do an update (yay kiddie Spring Break).

 

Vero2 (Derpymessor) update: Queen and last surviving workers still in mini-hearth. One worker absolutely refuses to stay near the queen - generally about 2-3 cm away. The other stays about a centimeter away. They are just hanging out, not doing anything. I put in occasional fly pieces and I don't think anything happens. No brood.

 

 

Veromessor1 update:

 

They moved!

 

I can imagine someone out there is wondering why I didn't just give Vero1 a new test tube. (Actually in a previous update I said I was trying that.) I've been having problems with my test tubes. Also I have a new unused THA Fallen Fortress. And take a look at the first photo. Basically it turns out Veromessor chew cotton up. See these stringy bits? I didn't know what it was at first, but it turns out they've begun turning cotton into bits of cotton thread and dumping it in their trash. The other colony, Vero2/Derpymessor, expended a ton of energy chewing cotton and I didn't want to see Vero1 go down the same route.

 

Anyway on April 1st, I gave up on the idea of a new test tube (on Discord, test tube fan JenC was not happy with me). I attached a tube to the Fallen Fortress and used cotton and tape to attach it to the test tube. I put a camping lantern near the test tube. I put the seedling heating mat under the Fallen Fortress. Then I sat back to watch the show.

 

But it wasn't much of a show.

 

Unlike C. fragilis, which moves at the speed of energy drink buzz with a heaping side of anxiety, Veromessor pergandei move at their own very slow relaxed pace. Yes, a few workers soon were exploring the outworld of the FF, but ... that was it. I took some time lapse videos. I gave them fruit flies, which they eventually caught. I gave them some poppy seeds in the new outworld, which they piled into a neat little pile. But that was it. Some hours later on Discord I was like, "I think the workers discovered the nest!" But not really. They kept walking up to the nest entrance, sniffing around, then leaving.

 

The lantern ran out of batteries. The time lapse videos showed only ants wandering around the outworld.

 

I moved the set up next to C. fragilis' Fortress and decided to just check on them periodically to see how they were doing.

 

The next day one or two workers had finally discovered the nest.

 

That was all. Back in the test tube, things went on as usual. They did have to clean up a mess I accidentally made when I moved the FF, where a bunch of seed and brood fell into the long connector tube. That took a couple days.

 

Days passed....

 

A few workers discovered the FF nest area.

A day or two later a couple poppy seeds appeared in the FF nest area.

 

Finally, today, almost a full week after I set them up for their move, I checked on them and the test tube was almost empty! The nest of the FF now contained the queen, the nursery ants, the brood, their seed stores. I was bummed I'd missed their big move, but I do think it's cool they finally did it!

 

Picture of the cotton bits:

I had no idea what it was at first until I saw the ants pulling cotton and chewing it up.

 

This is the rough set up so you can see the test tube and the connection tube to the Fallen Fortress:

For any newbies, since the test tube is bigger than the connection tube, some clean cotton fills the gap between tubes, and then tape holds it together. I don't completely seal with tape as it's probably better to allow gas exchange through the cotton.

 

I put them next to the C. fragilis Fortress since it was clear nothing would happen very quickly. The tube highway actually goes over the fraggles' Fortress.

You can see the mess in the connecting tube where apparently I'd accidentally caused seeds and brood to fall in. It took them a looong time to clean up. They are so much slower about things than C. fragilis or Tetramorium.

 

Today I checked and ... what? Tube is finally (almost) empty?! It only took 6 days....

There are still some holdout ants hanging out in the tube, of course. You can also see how they were digging into the cotton.

 

Queen and brood in the nest of the Fallen Fortress at long last:

I like how they put the seed in a different "room" than the brood.

I don't like the condensation ... I may adjust the placement on the seedling mat and see what happens.

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, April 7 2020 - 12:47 PM.

[JenC]

Mmm.

[OhNoNotAgain]

2020.4.10

 

Vero2's queen is dead. I do think something strange was going on with them as the workers were dying one by one and the surviving workers weren't attending her - so maybe her pheromones levels were messed up, too. In any case RIP.

 

Vero1: A couple days ago I gave them some more seeds, including quinoa which they haven't had in a while, and shortly after a pile of quinoa appeared in their nest. I also had some excess fruit flies so I gave some to them and to the fraggles, and watched both colonies go on a fruit fly hunting frenzy. That was pretty cool.

[OhNoNotAgain]

Now I'm wondering how to sterilize the mini hearth. Hmmm. First thing maybe I'll freeze it to kill off the last two workers humanely. Then maybe some H202 and/or some vinegar (to kill any bacteria). Then maybe just let it sit for some months. Bleach the glass door.... Mayyyybe heat the rest of it. Thinking

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, April 10 2020 - 9:21 AM.

[OhNoNotAgain]

2020.4.10 cont'd

Thought I'd post a few pics of Vero1 to show how they are doing. Apologies for horrid lighting necessitating futzing around with a photo editor.

 

Of the compartments in the Fallen Fortress, the ants are primarily occupying two. The most humid (causing some condensation on the glass) is for the brood, and the second most humid is for seeds. 

 

I don't know what they think of this as opposed to their previous test tube, but they do seem to like hunting fruit flies in the outworld.

 

 

Close up of the brood being tended. Unlike poor Vero2, where the queen seemed disinterested in the brood when she briefly had some (what happened to her to mess her up I'm not sure), Vero1's queen is often tending the brood. As are many of the workers, as they should be.

They did seem to stick some debris to the condensation though. 

 

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, April 10 2020 - 9:46 PM.

[OhNoNotAgain]

2020.4.18

It's only been a few days but the Veros have collected a huge pile of more seed, and have been regularly feasting on fruit flies (because I had a golden hydei population explosion ... and to think I bought the fruit flies just for two little slings ... so glad they aren't going to waste). It's fun watching the pergandei running around their Fallen Fortress outworld hunting fruit flies.

 

Anyway I looked into the nest and for the first time I see them storing brood in two different areas of the nest. Plus look how much bigger the seed pile is. It's only been some days since the last photos I took. And yes, the brood are over the water tower, so the ants definitely want them kept in the most humid areas.

 

Apologies  - the photo is left/right OPPOSITE of the last entry's photo of the same two rooms. The seed pile is still in the same place in the nest, but the photo is the other way around.

 

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, April 18 2020 - 12:59 PM.

[OhNoNotAgain]

2020.4.25

So I'm not sure how it happened, but after I refilled the water tower in the Fallen Fortress, suddenly the whole nest glass became covered in condensation. Ugh, I know, not good. I once lost a queen to condensation. But I still don't know why it happened because I have NOT changed anything at all. Maybe the daytime temperature went up a few degrees (because the weather is getting hotter) and this was enough to kick the evaporation into high gear.

 

It's really hard to see a thing, but today, when I was once again feeding ants excess fruit flies (really am overrun by the little hydei), I noticed the huge mass of poppy seeds and other seeds that you can see in previous photos had been moved OUTSIDE, into the outworld.

 

I think the larvae are now piled in the secondary chamber, the queen is still in the first chamber, but all the seeds were put outside. Possibly the humidity in the nest was considered TOO high for seeds, but still good for brood.

 

In the meantime I think I will turn their heating thermostat down a bit AFTER some of the water has evaporated away off the window. I really wish THA nests came with a way to wipe the window from the outside lol.

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, April 25 2020 - 7:02 PM.

[OhNoNotAgain]

5/4/2020

As I noted in the Tetra journal, all my remaining ants (except C. sansabeanus) are actually dragging home DRY bloodworms. Not soup. Dry.

The Veros still have a good pile of seeds and I just added more water to their water tower because their nest window actually lost all its condensation ... suggesting the tower is dry. They have tons of brood and more and more workers are starting to hang out in the other compartments of the nest.

[OhNoNotAgain]

2020.5.5

Yay, photos.

 

Here's a top-down view of the nest.

Notice they have now spread into previously unused chambers.

The brood is now carpeting the two chambers that are over the water tower.

The larger pile is white, has eyes, and many seem to have limbs forming.

The smaller, darker pile seems to be younger larvae still in their really worm-like phase.

 

Because the smaller, darker brood is super hard to see, I took another photo of them.

You can see the mesh covering of the water tower under them.

 

Queen seems to spend most of her time with the older brood. EDIT: Oops, I looked at them just now and she's with the younger brood. lol

She seems to be a good, attentive mum.

 

Looks like they may outgrow this Fallen Fortress within the next couple months?!

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, May 5 2020 - 10:30 AM.

[Canadant]

Nice journal. I have hemp hearts here I'll try with my tetras.

Looms like most ants like to lay their brood on the water tower mesh in their formicarium.

[OhNoNotAgain]

I also added some more quinoa and amaranth mix today (the stuff bought months ago from Whole Foods), as it looked like primarily poppy seeds were left in the nest seed piles but not much else (as per photo above). They very excitedly started hauling in the new seeds, which are now piled in the entrance hall, and the feeding dish is empty. I guess they were sick of poppy seeds and wanted their seed variety back.

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, May 5 2020 - 7:51 PM.

[OhNoNotAgain]

5.21.2020 AAAAAAGGGHHHHHHHHHH NEAR DISASTER

 

Soooooo. I just got a new shipment of ants, which I may write about soon. BUT while I was making room for the new ants in my very cramped ant rolling shelf, moving fortresses around and stuff, DISASTER STRUCK! A nestmate fell out of my Veromessor's Fallen Fortress. I had Veromessor pergandei everywhere! On the outside of the Fallen Fortress. On the shelving. On other formicaria. On the floor. On me, of course.

 

I put the Fallen Fortress on the floor, and after carefully putting the nestmate back in, hurriedly began catching ants with a paintbrush and dropping them back into the Fallen Fortress outworld. This is about when I realized the back door plug to the outworld had ALSO fallen out. I had even MORE ants running around on the floor.

 

AAAAAGHHHHHH

 

So I found the plug and sealed up the back door and picked up more ants and dropped them back in the outworld. (Thankfully the Fluon barrier is still working so I could leave the top off.)

 

At one point I saw one ant carrying another (living) ant around, trying to climb the outworld wall as if trying to throw out an infected corpse. Why? I suddenly began to worry the ants on the floor were picking up ANT GERMS and ANT COOTIES and whatever it was that had killed off Derpymessor. I had also spilled a dead Pogonomyrmex colony's formicarium dirt all over the floor last week-ish, AND had grain mites wandering around from fruit fly cultures gone rogue, so there were possibly Pogonomyrmex COOTIES and FF CULTURE MITES there too.

 

But this gave me an idea.

 

I took Derpymessor's old mini-hearth (the place where the queen died). Here's what I'd done to the mini-hearth:

 

1. froze it to kill the last Derpymessor workers

2. Soaked it for a while in an H2O2 solution

3. Soaked it for a while in a mild vinegar solution

4. Rinsed very thoroughly.

5. Let it dry a few days

 

I hadn't let it dry as long as I'd wanted to, but I figured what the heck. I took the ant being carried around by the other ant and dumped her into the mini-hearth. Then I took a skewer and began picking out ants that were insisting on trying to escape the Fallen Fortress outworld, and dumping them into the mini-hearth.

 

Basically I now have split some of the Veromessor1 colony off into the mini-hearth as guinea pigs. I will see if anything untoward happens to them - that is, if the mini-hearth appears to be safe for habitation by other ants.

 

Unfortunately this isn't the best experiment ever. One problem is the ants most active in trying to escape the outworld may be older workers, so the ones I put in the mini-hearth may start dying off soon on their own. Another problem is I already returned a bunch of lost ants to the Fallen Fortress, and they may have picked up ANT GERMS AND COOTIES already, so basically both groups may now be infected.

 

I fed them some both some seeds and we will see what happens.