212 replies to this topic

[ANTdrew]

She has a bigger work force = more resources coming in and better care for the brood.

[Antcatcherpro3]

Oh. When my colony gets bigger in number I hope they will grow faster also.

[8NIN8]

LOL - they do look like ninjas (your photos are great)!


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[antsandmore]

wow that's a lot of eggs. My queen of that same spieces just started to lay more eggs. Yours grows faster then mine.

probably because he has a bigger colony.

[ANTdrew]

Update 3-18-2021

 

Yrse and her colony continue to do really well in the FormicaFarm. I can see lots of brood of various stages now in their tunnels, but most of it is pupae now. They started recently bringing up the pupae to the surface on top of the floating ledge they live under. I think that must be the hottest spot because it is right next to the heat cable. The only issue is when I lift the lid, they freak the heck out and beat a fast retreat. Here is a photo of some nice cocoons:

 

They also have some naked pupae, which I find interesting. I hope Yrse will continue this rate of brood production for a good while longer. They are really liking mealworms now.

[ANTdrew]

Update 4-27-2021

 

Wow, it's been a minute since I updated this journal. The colony is doing really great in their FormicaFarm, and I've had no issues with the setup, other than somewhat poor visibility and lighting for photos. The queen keeps pumping out eggs, and they have a lot of brood in all stages at this point. I estimate they are getting close to 75-80 ants with more on the way. They are tunneling like crazy, too. One day they piled up soil all the way to the roof of their lid, and that was after I had vacuumed out a bunch the night before. The springtails love the setup as well.

 

The out of focus white blob here is a big mass of new eggs:

[Antcatcherpro3]

By a minute you mean month right? That's a big blob of eggs.

Update 4-27-2021

 

Wow, it's been a minute since I updated this journal. The colony is doing really great in their FormicaFarm, and I've had no issues with the setup, other than somewhat poor visibility and lighting for photos. The queen keeps pumping out eggs, and they have a lot of brood in all stages at this point. I estimate they are getting close to 75-80 ants with more on the way. They are tunneling like crazy, too. One day they piled up soil all the way to the roof of their lid, and that was after I had vacuumed out a bunch the night before. The springtails love the setup as well.

 

The out of focus white blob here is a big mass of new eggs:

[NickAnter]

All hail the Formica.   Good job with this colony ANTdrew! Definitely need to see more Formica journals on here.

[ANTdrew]

Update 6-18-2021

 

This colony continues to do great in their dirt bucket FormicaFarm. They are probably well over a hundred workers now, and they are getting bolder and a lot more active. All the insects I give them disappear very rapidly. This is around the point when Yrse stopped laying eggs for the year last season, so I'm waiting to see if they follow that same pattern or if she'll produce more this time around.

 

Their tunneling is extensive:

 

I went out to my compost pile the other day and clapped my hands a few times to gather fruit flies. The Formica ladies loved it!

 

I hope to find more queens this summer, but it's always a challenge for me.

 

[TennesseeAnts]

Very good! I can't wait til they start producing alates! I just went out today and collected a T. septentrionalis queen and a Formica incerta queen, you should take a look!

[Antkeeper01]

yay!

[Canadant]

I love theses ants. I've been waiting a while for this journal to update. Not a lot of Formica journals on the go here.

Does this colony have a dedicated outworld or is it just the top of the natural setup? Would be nice to see this colony stretch their legs. I love the natural setup. Visibility is the only issue but I bet the ants are better off. After some time as an ant keeper we know what's going on in there so I guess it's not as important to peer in there.

Awesome

Thanks.

[Polyacanthus]

Really nice colony and journal. Was looking for other Formica journals and yeah, not a lot of them. Mine, that I believe to also be subsericea, appear to be recovering from their initial nanitic die-off last month, so that's good. They are nervous that's for sure. Today I coughed and that set them off. I wonder if it's not the open formicaria that are problematic, but that they are just always like that, you just don't notice when they're hidden. I imagine walking across my yard and the colonies underground are just going nuts!

Sorry to read about your pallidefulva, not much on here about them either but I oddly have more of them than anything else going. They are just about as jumpy as the subsericea.

Edited by Polyacanthus, June 29 2021 - 7:11 PM.

[cap_backfire]

OMG you guys have me paranoid about my Subsicera colony!   I found a queen with about a dozen or two of her daughters under a log, with a little bit of brood and brought them home and, as far as brood is concerned they are ANIMALS.   Tons of brood.   Also they are total spazzes so I try to leave them alone.   But now I want to create a "dirt box" for them and see how they do... We'll see.   I love watching them, especially since I've never seen a queen ant hustle like that but man.. I am by no means an intermediate ant keeper, even though so far all of my colonies are at least surviving (all but one is thriving).   

Here's to hoping they don't die off on me.   I like the idea of the dirt box so I can watch them tunnel and give them a little bit more security.   

 

Thanks SO MUCH for this journal.  I intend to use it quite a bit.  

[ANTdrew]

Thanks, brother. I say go for it! Your colony will thank you. The FormicaFarm is really easy to make, and I could even make one for you if you help cover the costs, which would be minimal.

[cap_backfire]

I think I have an idea of how to make one on my own and already have the items I'd need.   I think.   The items I have are glass though, so I might switch over to plastic.   
It LOOKS like you have a plastic storage bin (like a kitchen countertop style one?) with some kind of plaster insert inside to force them to make their tunnels up against the outer walls?   Is that correct?  And the plaster is for humidity regulation?  I'd really want to do it in the plastic so I can expand it out at some point and attach an outworld.   But since I found these girls just nesting under a fallen log I almost want to give them a piece of wood to nest under... But I love the idea of this style.  Maybe I can work out a happy medium.   

[ANTdrew]

It is an OXO pop food container from Target. The inside box is made from a cashew container from Costco. The inner box is embedded in a layer of hydrostone, and the hydration tube is a sawed off plastic test tube.

[cap_backfire]

Easy Peasy!   OK thanks man!  That's really good info!  

[ANTdrew]

So easy. You could make it in a morning.

[Aidanthielman]

How’s this colony doing? Also love the set up. I have a few dirt box’s form Drew and they are incredible!