212 replies to this topic

[MinigunL5]

 

I found a Formica subsericea queen that overwintered under a rock. She got nanitics after a while. 6 in total. Then one day I put a a thick layer of baby powder and rubbing alcohol and closed the lid. I came back to some dead workers and some spazzing out. I put the ones that were still alive back in the tube(they were moving around randomly) and they survived. So now my Formica only have 2 workers. So basically I accidentally killed 2/3 of my Formica workers with isopropyl alcohol fumes.

it could have been the baby powder. it stops ants from breathing if you put too much.

 

I don't think so

[ANTdrew]

Update 1-27-2021

 

 Yrse and her colony have been hibernating for a long time now in the back of my refrigerator. I think they will be the first colony I wake up this new year. They are still in one of Dspdrew's dirt box formicariums, but I plan to move them out of it soon. What I am envisioning is using one of the tall, clear food containers from Target to make a bigger version of the dirt box for them to expand in. I'll be starting this project once I get my January paycheck, which can't come soon enough! I really hope Yrse starts pumping out eggs again after her sleepy time. Stay tuned!

[ANTdrew]

Update 2-8-2021

 

Hope springs eternal in the heart of man! I'm thinking big this year for Yrse and her colony, even though she stopped producing brood way back in June. Her Dspdrew dirt box is basically maxed out, so I set to work last week to fashion a crude replica of the ant farm style Dspdrew has perfected. I'm actually pretty proud how this is turning out, and I've dubbed it the "Formica-Farm." 

 

It's an Oxo Pop food storage container, with an inner chamber fashioned from an old cashew nut container from Costco. I embedded the nut container in a bottom layer of Perfect Cast with a watering tube fashioned out of a sawed off test tube. 

 

I also may have out-Booged the Boog with a new casting technique. I took cool shaped rocks and made an impression in my kids' sandbox. Then I poured in Perfect Cast plaster to make a perfect sand coated cast. You could honestly make any shape this way! What I chose to do are floating shelves, so the ants won't mess with their liquid feeder.

 

 

Now all I need to do is find good substrate and warm up the colony before dumping them in. Stay tuned! 

 

 

 

 

Edited by ANTdrew, February 8 2021 - 7:53 AM.

[TennesseeAnts]

Impressive! I'm excited to see how this turns out.

Edited by TennesseeAnts, February 8 2021 - 8:12 AM.

[ANTdrew]

Update 2-10-2021

 

I finished my build yesterday by adding in the digging substrate to the FormicaFarm. I used a mix of clay soil and light colored sand that I pre-baked this time because I didn't enjoy the nasty nematodes the last time I tried to go bioactive. I'll be adding in a bunch of springtails to this and eventually dumping in Yrse and her colony. The hydration from below is working really well!

 

 

[TennesseeAnts]

Truly amazing! Can't wait for them to move in!

Edited by TennesseeAnts, February 10 2021 - 8:33 AM.

[AleeGuy]

The plaster floor on the substrate setup is a genius idea. I'm pumped up to see them on that setup ngl!

[ANTdrew]

The plaster floor on the substrate setup is a genius idea. I'm pumped up to see them on that setup ngl!

Thanks, but it is Dspdrew's idea.

[antsandmore]

so is kind of like a bioactive dirt box for more natural circumstances and living conditions?

[Syber_ant]

that's a nice queen!

[Scherme]

I love this. Do you have a window to see the water level in nut jar? Do you plan to top it off each time you have to fill it?

 

I might have to try this myself, my father eats those cashews from Costco like crazy and actually keeps the jars. 

 

Those cast rocks look awesome, that idea was definitely on point. Time to get a sandbox. 

[AleeGuy]

The plaster floor on the substrate setup is a genius idea. I'm pumped up to see them on that setup ngl!

Thanks, but it is Dspdrew's idea.

Oh, but it's still cewl.

[ANTdrew]

I love this. Do you have a window to see the water level in nut jar? Do you plan to top it off each time you have to fill it?

I might have to try this myself, my father eats those cashews from Costco like crazy and actually keeps the jars.

Those cast rocks look awesome, that idea was definitely on point. Time to get a sandbox.

The nut jar is mainly just for blocking their digging, and hydration happens by seeping up from the bottom through the hydrostone. One cup of water was enough to hydrate it initially. I’ll just need to keep it moderately moist, which is no more complicated than watering a house plant in my experience.

[ANTdrew]

Update 2-11-2021

 

I pulled Yrse's colony out of my fridge yesterday afternoon. She'd been in there since early October, so that makes it four months of diapause. So far, I've only seen four dead workers. There are a lot of workers down in the tunnels, and I even got some good looks at the queen, who is looking healthy and vigorous. I really hope she gets off her gaster and starts laying again. I will dump them into the FormicaFarm at some point this weekend.

I can think of few things that would be cooler than having a really big colony of Formica.

Edited by ANTdrew, February 11 2021 - 9:10 AM.

[ANTdrew]

Update 2-13-2021

This morning I dumped my Formica argentea colony into the FormicaFarm. It went surprisingly smooth as I was able to just shake them out with some hard whacks to the bottom of the old dirt box they were in (which actually didn't have that much dirt left in it due to their tunneling). I got great looks at queen Yrse and was able to count all the workers. It turns out there are quite a few more workers than I previously estimated: 53! I think that's pretty good size for a first year's growth. I have high hopes for Yrse this year.

Here is the old dirt box next to the FormicaFarm for scale. It's a significant size upgrade:


Workers huddling on the floating shelves. I love the sleek look of these ants.



Here's a GIF of the queen herself:



They started digging almost immediately in one of the pre-dug holes I made in a corner. They are about two inches deep as of now. I just started heating them, so hopefully that will help speed up their tunneling.

Edited by ANTdrew, February 13 2021 - 5:29 PM.

[ANTdrew]

Of course some heavy condensation formed when I started heating the FormicaFarm. I wrapped a heat cable around, so it touched three sides. The whole thing fogged up so bad I couldn’t see in anymore. I need to figure out a better way to heat this thing. Thoughts?

[AleeGuy]

Magnetic aquarium glass cleaners might work for the outworld of the setup, don't know about the chambers though.

[ANTdrew]

Thanks, Allee. The glass cleared once I turned off the heat. I’m trying to tape the cable up around the top of the container to see if that helps. That would mimic more natural conditions of heat from above as well. I may also look into some heat lamps for my ant shelves.

[ANTdrew]

This set up is working. If I heat only the upper glass, it stays clear from condensation. The ants have settled under one of the floating shelves. They’ve built a structure up under it with soil pellets. Clever girls.
I also dumped in a bunch of Sinella springtails.

[ANTdrew]

Update 2-17-2021

 

I'm pretty happy with how the FormicaFarm has been working out so far! The substrate is staying nicely hydrated, but I've managed to get condensation down by positioning the heat cable only around the upper acrylic of the container. The colony has set up shop underneath one of the lower hanging shelves, which they've tunneled under and surrounded with a sort of wall of soil. They've started digging a lot more recently, so I'm having fun watching what they will create. I've fed the colony a few wild caught crickets. I haven't seen them actively feeding off them, but a small one I put last night has disappeared, so I assume they dragged it into their lair. I'll just keep the protein flowing and hope for more brood production soon from my girl, Yrse.

The springtails seem to be mingling well with the timid Formica. I even saw one lurking about in their nest area they had formed under the shelf. I have two species of springtails in there.

 

Here is a photo of their nest area. There are ants in here, I promise!

 

Here's a question for folks more versed in terrariums: should I add some isopods in here? It would be cool to have more creatures in there, but the overall area is kind of small (5.5" x 5.5"). I wouldn't want them overwhelming the tank or anything. What are your thoughts?