154 replies to this topic

[OhNoNotAgain]

2020.4.10 

 

Remember I said fraggles learned? Well, they are now expert fruit fly catchers, instead of the haphazard and clueless bumbling they used to do.

Now when they scent fruit flies in their Fortress outworld (like when I dump some in like I did today), a bunch of workers rush out and they run around catching fruit flies. And instead of hauling them to the garbage dump, they haul them into the nest into a neat pile, and then bring their brood over.

 

The chamber on the left (which connects to the outworld) is where the fraggles bring the fruit flies. I think I took this photo soon after they collected fruit flies, because you can see the huge mob of ants that aren't usually there in such quantity. The right chamber has the water tower where most of them usually like to hang out. (You can still see a lot there, in the darkest shadowy corner. That's where the queen likes to hide.)

 

The glass is a watery mess because I had a water accident a few days ago. I was filling a nestmate with water and accidentally flooded the nest. The glass got really messy afterward.

 

I did take the red filter off to see if they will stop freaking out in the light so much.

With the red filter off there are fewer workers hanging out in the levels above.

 

After the interior has had a chance to dry out a bit, I am going to try to figure out how I can clean the glass.  I don't like condensation as I know it can kill ants, but trying to clean the glass is also difficult and can kill ants.

 

 

And to reiterate, the way I taught fraggles that fruit flies are food is I dumped some fruit flies into the nest directly, as well as their small mini-hearth outworld (pre-Fortress). When their few workers were in their BIG, separate outworld (pre-Fortress), the workers bumbled around, attacked fruit flies more like enemy ants, then dumped them in the trash. In other words, the adventurous explorer workers couldn't figure out that fruit flies were food. But fraggles had enough smart stay-at-home ants that when fruit flies were shoved into the nest or brought through the nest on the way to the external big outworld trash, some ants figured out the food value. Once some ants started to "get" that fruit flies were food, the memo slowly made its way through the whole colony.

 

It seems to depend on colonies as to whether or not they immediately figure out what to do with fruit flies or not. My C. sansabeanus still don't get it.

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, April 10 2020 - 10:08 PM.

[OhNoNotAgain]

2020.4.18

 

 

So remember how after I turned off heat back in January, the fraggles started ripping apart their cocooned pupating sisters and eating them? (Photos in previous entries.) It was gross. The fraggles have a way of gathering around a victim in the nest then ripping it apart. It's like they each grab a part of the victim and all pull in different directions.

 

Anyway, in the past few days, I had an explosion of fruit flies (golden hydei). So I've been dumping some of the excess into ant outworlds. (Boy they love running around hunting in the outworld.) I took a look in the nest and was VERY happy to see a couple things.

 

 

The fraggles are ripping apart FRUIT FLIES for a change. Something they should be ripping apart. Not their own nearly full-grown sisters.

And what's this in the bottom left?

 

 

That's right, a new crop of cocooned pupae. Yay!

It's been just over a month since I turned the heat back on (mid-March). So that's good to know.

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, April 18 2020 - 12:54 PM.

[OhNoNotAgain]

2020.4.22

I just had to update with some more notes about their behavior. I also may have fed them more fruit flies (I can't remember) since 4 days ago, like maybe 2 days ago another batch.

 

1. When they were harvesting fruit flies, rather than kill and bring in, I noticed they left a lot of the fruit fly bodies lying around the outworld. I think they were gradually brought in closer to the entrance to the nest. Then gradually the bodies were brought into the nest for processing. (I think this took some time.) This is unlike my Veros where I think the killed fruit flies are brought immediately into the nest. I also think this behavior is new for the fraggles. I don't remember the bodies piling up in the outworld before.

 

2. They had areas in the nest for processing the fruit flies, as per above post.

 

3. In the picture from the last post, the middle right chamber in the photo of the 6 chambers turned into a fruit fly corpse storage area in addition to being for processing.

 

4. Today I noticed the storage area was being emptied. The fruit flies corpses are apparently no longer nutritive and are being taken to the garbage dump. (A feeding dish where most of their detritus is now being piled. Should make it easy to clean the outworld, lol.)

 

It's quite an interesting staged process of killing, harvesting, storing, processing, discarding.

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, April 22 2020 - 3:19 PM.

[ANTdrew]

These sound a lot more entertaining to keep than most Camponotus.

Edited by ANTdrew, April 23 2020 - 5:52 AM.

[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.

 

They have taken the bloodworms to the darkest corner of the second floor, where they are processing them. This is the same place they were processing dead fruit flies. I guess they are finding dry bloodworms acceptable and don't need larvae to pre-eat them.

 

I do have this problem that their water nestmate keeps leaking, flooding the first floor of the nest. Whenever this happens more sand gets stuck to the glass and stays there even after the water evaporates. Right now I can hardly see anything in the first level. I really think I might have to buy extra glass and swap it out.

 

I also have this problem that I have practically lost track of the queen and almost forgotten what she looks like. There are enough large major-ish workers wandering around with distended gasters that I keep mistaking them for the queen. Again, they practically ALL have that characteristic weird "tear"/"rip" marking on the sides of the gaster - just like the queen - so it's really confusing. No other fragilis I've ever seen in photos have that tear/rip on the sides of their gasters. It seems to be genetic as it has been passed on to so many of the majors/medians or whatever they are. And unlike C. sansabeanus, the queen is not that much bigger than her daughters, so again ... hard to tell.

 

I THINK the queen is hiding in the darkest back corner above the water tower (again, I took off their red filter), but between the dirty glass and the sheer number of hefty daughters with similar markings, I can't seem to find her.

 

NOTE: I think I tried bloodworm soup with these guys before, last year, and they didn't like it. So I'm surprised this year they like DRY bloodworms. But I've noticed colonies start to accept more variety as they get more workers.

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, May 4 2020 - 10:07 PM.

[TheAntGuy]

At that many workers, those are most definitely majors and not medians. Weird how they have that mark on them.

[mbullock42086]

At that many workers, those are most definitely majors and not medians. Weird how they have that mark on them.

I don't think i see any majors- I've been keeping absquatulator which is basically identical in behavior and appearance and the majors I've seen are as big as the queen.  My majors NEVER leave unless i accidentally flood them too much whilst hydrating the soil, they appear to be mostly utilized for moving brood and pupae and releasing them from their cocoons.

[OhNoNotAgain]

2020.5.24

So I've been semi-neglecting the fraggles for a bit. I ran out of fruit flies because I had a massive mite infestation appear and had to freeze the lot. (Unfortunately the salsabean colony is now crawling with mites.)

Recently I fed the fraggles some defrosted and re-heated lamb and shrimp, which they appreciated.

I didn't have the heart to kill a cute young dubia. Ugh. It was too cute and helpless.

 

But the fraggles hadn't been fed anything for some days.

 

So today I started culling fly pupae, which I have wayyyy too many of (I got them initially for jumping spiders). I discovered they are much more edible if you circumnavigate the pupal cylinder and pry off half the tough membrane, sort of like opening a toy capsule or cracking open a toy plastic egg. 

It either leaves an oozing puddle of yuck, or it exposes a partially developed fly pupa. Either way the fraggles seem to like the food. I'm surprised they don't drag them off to the nest, though. Next time I'll try completely removing the capsule of a pupa and see if the fraggles drag the pupa home. They seemed to enjoy ripping THEIR OWN PUPATING SISTERS TO SHREDS so like ... why not fly pupae? (Seriously, fraggles, what was up with that?) Anyway I hope this food helps. I feel bad about not feeding them much the past week or so due to fruit fly mite fiasco.

 

EDIT: OH yeah, I also saw what I THINK(?) is another major ... but with a pale head, not dark. So weird. I need to get pics.

 

Also, I'll be updating the first post in this journal with general notes that I've observed with my fraggles.

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, May 24 2020 - 1:07 AM.

[OhNoNotAgain]

2020.5.30

 

Well, not only have my Veromessor been trying to break out recently, but tonight the fraggles learned how to fly. Or glide. Or SPROING.

 

GAH.

 

The Fortress design I have has "ground" sloping up to near the top of the outworld. There's a thin area of bare plastic. I put in Fluon, of course, and that has been enough.

 

Until now.

 

Tonight I decided to drop in a treat and I opened the outworld top at night. Well. Fraggles went crazy. They are SO FAST. Basically they cannonball around the outworld. This time they've figured out if they run REALLY fast, they basically careen up the walls and go right OVER the Fluon. And also right OVER Vaseline (because I put some on once I realized they could jump out). Basically they have learned they can launch themselves so fast their momentum just plain carries them over any inconvenient surfaces.

 

Basically my large ant colonies are going crazy. I'm a little worried what the 200+ Tetramorium will be up to now!!

[ANTdrew]

From experience, I can say that the cute THA outworlds simply do not work with large colonies. Fluon starts to fail, so removing the lid without escapees becomes impossible. You will need to attach larger foraging containers with very good ventilation. I find that fluon works best in taller containers. Unfortunately, no ant companies sell large outworlds, so you may need to design your own.

[FSTP]

From experience, I can say that the cute THA outworlds simply do not work with large colonies. Fluon starts to fail, so removing the lid without escapees becomes impossible. You will need to attach larger foraging containers with very good ventilation. I find that fluon works best in taller containers. Unfortunately, no ant companies sell large outworlds, so you may need to design your own.

 

Yes this is exactly true. For my C. fragilis I started them in a single mini hearth but it was clear the foraging space was way to small. So I gave them a larger tank that was roughly 18x12x12 and it is now way to small still. You can see it some videos of them in my youtue videos. My colony is roughly 1200-1500 in size and they're going nutso pututso for a larger area. I'm working on getting them one.

Edited by FSTP, May 31 2020 - 5:58 AM.

[OhNoNotAgain]

2020.6.02

So I'm not QUITE up for moving them to a larger formicarium yet. As an experiment, today I did the following:

 

• I waited til there was only one worker in the outworld (afternoon). I've been waiting a few days, actually, but today's the first time I caught them with just one. I think one reason I had a cannonball problem a couple days ago is it was midnight and they are unsurprisingly more active at night.
• I plugged the outworld entrance with cotton.
• I wiped off the Vaseline that they had thoroughly encrusted with sand. Even as of yesterday two workers were camped out by the Vaseline, apparently doing quality control inspections on the sand job.
• I wiped on some food grade mineral oil since I doubt I can thoroughly clean the outworld well enough to reapply Fluon anyway, plus they cannonball over Fluon anyhow. I don't expect it to work long-term, but I'd like to understand the failure modes. (Someone in the Tarheels FB group mentioned using baby oil, which I don't have.)
• Gave them a snack of several cut-open fly pupae.

The ants were typical nervous nellies at first, touching the mineral oil, flinching, and running away as if chased by something horrible.

I know this is just initial behavior, though, and soon they will be plotting how to get over it.

 

EDIT: They are already covering it over with sand. 

 

This time attaching a picture of the narrow gap they can easily launch themselves over.

 

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, June 2 2020 - 7:11 PM.

[OhNoNotAgain]

2020.6.4

I'm continuing to wage a low-level campaign against the fraggles, waiting til late afternoon (when there aren't many foragers) and wiping off the sand grains while reapplying mineral oil, etc.

If I find something that seems to work really well I'll let you know lol

 

In other news, since I dropped the heating pad temp down to mid-80's (in fact dropped it further down today because house temp is 80 and the room is west-facing and gets even warmer), the fraggles moved much of their older brood upstairs, off the bottom floor.

 

Here's a not-very-good pic of the inside of their nest as of of about 11pm. They are behind a low wall so it's hard to get a decent pic.

 

[OhNoNotAgain]

2020.6.13

Nothing exciting. Gave them fresh nectar (Summer Honeysuckle that I forgot to shake vigorously first), some cut open fly pupae, and a few fruit flies and fruit fly pupae that were stuck to the fruit fly container lid. Sadly, the fraggles appear to have "forgotten" how to efficiently hunt fruit flies. Or could be the workers doing the chasing were new at it. We'll see if the fruit fly pupae eclose ... the ants had no idea what the pupae were. The full size cut open fly pupae, though, soon drew a cluster of ants.

 

Trophallaxis followed. Oh, and I found what I think is the queen again. She has what look like dark wing scars on her thorax, which the majors don't have. Yay, she's alive.

 

Some trophallaxis going on. These two were awfully cute. "Pweeze may I have some noms?" "Okee bleaarghbarfbarf"

 

Hi queen! I think.

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, June 13 2020 - 8:37 PM.

[TechAnt]

Queen, or worker with unusually fat gaster. Nah jk, that looks like a queen in my opinion, but what do I know lol.

[OhNoNotAgain]

Queen, or worker with unusually fat gaster. Nah jk, that looks like a queen in my opinion, but what do I know lol.

Yeah it got confusing because the majors are almost as big as the queen, some of the newer majors have the same coloration, AND fraggle gasters get really fat. Not full-on replete fat, but still bulging and big and pale.

[TechAnt]

Queen, or worker with unusually fat gaster. Nah jk, that looks like a queen in my opinion, but what do I know lol.

Yeah it got confusing because the majors are almost as big as the queen, some of the newer majors have the same coloration, AND fraggle gasters get really fat. Not full-on replete fat, but still bulging and big and pale.

Being honest, the way she looks at the camera, and stands on the brood pile in a defiant way. I would think it’s the queen with those motherly instincts. Also this is a “Mom takes a moment to pose her children” moment if that is truly the queen.

[OhNoNotAgain]

 

Being honest, the way she looks at the camera, and stands on the brood pile in a defiant way. I would think it’s the queen with those motherly instincts. Also this is a “Mom takes a moment to pose her children” moment if that is truly the queen.

 

 

Ah, I don't think so, but I like the imagery you evoke here! 

I mean she was probably quite happily being fed by the colony during the winter break when they were ripping apart their own pupae and eating them. 

But yes, I saw this pose and it looked very queenly. One reason I picked this photo lol.

[TechAnt]

Being honest, the way she looks at the camera, and stands on the brood pile in a defiant way. I would think it’s the queen with those motherly instincts. Also this is a “Mom takes a moment to pose her children” moment if that is truly the queen.

 
Ah, I don't think so, but I like the imagery you evoke here! 
I mean she was probably quite happily being fed by the colony during the winter break when they were ripping apart their own pupae and eating them. 
But yes, I saw this pose and it looked very queenly. One reason I picked this photo lol.

RIP unnamed brood.

[OhNoNotAgain]

2020.7.6

A couple days ago I euthanized my first ever dubia roach (a male) in the freezer (RIP, poor guy). Today I got the frozen dubia out and chopped it up for my larger colonies. Someone was disappointed that I hadn't updated this fraggles journal, so I am specifically updating it today, special. The photos today are not macro shots, sorry.

 

Dubia shortly after I put it in for the fraggles. They don't seem to care that it's still pretty cold. Notice the two majors hanging around nearby (though they don't really stop to help).

 

About 20some minutes after previous photo. The fraggles looked like they were stacked deeper on top of their food.

 

About the time of the above photo (maybe 30 minutes after adding the dubia bits?). I know this isn't a macro, but if you are able to zoom in (??), there's a lot of trophallaxis going on in there.

 

 

By the way, I just checked 4 hours after the above photos, and there are still a lot of workers on the dubia parts, though a little less than earlier.

 

Also I should note that I HAVE been sort of restricting their feeding, (1) because I don't have that many feeders yet, and (2) because I don't really want them to outgrow the Fortress as fast as the Veros have outgrown their Fallen Fortress. I'm not really wanting to move them into a Nucleus juuuust yet.... 

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, July 6 2020 - 9:39 PM.