40 replies to this topic

[Scherme]

It has been a while, things are going..... well?

 

Their numbers increased, so I kept feeding and feeding and they have much higher numbers, if I had to guess.... maybe 50-60 workers?

 

They ALSO started chewing holes in my THA mini hearth... fun. I don't have the money for another nest. 

LUCKILY over the past month I have been designing a nest, based of the AntsMexico nest.

 

I used its structure to help create a new nest with the help of a friend who has a 3d printer and is skilled with the modelling software. He has no interest in ants.

He calls it the "Schermicarium"

 

It is essentially a cheap, 3D printed mock up of a AC hybrid nest, but much smaller.
 

He printed a first prototype and I gave my input, then he printed again. Each time I gave more and more input until finally I was getting closer to something that worked.

Perfect time too, because I needed a nest fast. I asked him to make the last noted changes quickly and start on a print, because I was running out of time. 

 

So this is what I got so far:
 

and I even made some "nest buddies" for it 

 

The material is PLA, the nests I got my Camponotus in are PLA and the previous owner said they last years with water in them.

cut the glass and installed the mesh myself. All in all this nest cost about $4 to make.

Time to move my Tetras from their $60 nest to this $4 nest. for that price they could last a month and would still be worth it. 

 

I pulled their nest mate out and emptied the water out, and put it back with no plug to increase airflow into their nest chamber.

Then I pulled the light block cap off and faced the glass towards a desklamp i had shining right at the nest.

I took the heating cable away and hooked it up in the channel made for heating cables in the new Schermicarium

added water to the Schermicarium and then hooked up the 2 nests and went to bed.

 

When I woke up I saw some of the first brood being carried into the new nest. 

When I got home from work:

 

I stole one of my Camponotus outworlds and hooked it up, i don't expect them to find it or look for it anytime soon.

I will give them a few days to decrease in numbers from the THA nest as they are still running back and forth from it. 

 

[RushmoreAnts]

 

I used its structure to help create a new nest with the help of a friend who has a 3d printer and is skilled with the modelling software. He has no interest in ants.

He calls it the "Schermicarium"

 

It is essentially a cheap, 3D printed mock up of a AC hybrid nest, but much smaller.
 

He printed a first prototype and I gave my input, then he printed again. Each time I gave more and more input until finally I was getting closer to something that worked.

Perfect time too, because I needed a nest fast. I asked him to make the last noted changes quickly and start on a print, because I was running out of time. 

 

So this is what I got so far:
 

 

 

and I even made some "nest buddies" for it 

 

 

The material is PLA, the nests I got my Camponotus in are PLA and the previous owner said they last years with water in them.

cut the glass and installed the mesh myself. All in all this nest cost about $4 to make.

Time to move my Tetras from their $60 nest to this $4 nest. for that price they could last a month and would still be worth it.

 

Would you, by any chance, be interested in selling on our new site (link to the project general description in my signature)? We are a platform for new sellers, and hope to help in promoting their brands, along with our own.
 

[Scherme]

I will get back to you on that. My design is not finalized, I have only put one together and am testing it now. 

[Scherme]

Alright, I saved this update for last of my beginning of 2021 updates. 

 

This colony has... 500+ workers now? Idk that is just a ROUGH guess. They are taking up several of my nests chambers at this point. 

Even this picture is old, I am going to try and setup the tripod and get some good pics this week. 

 

Mountains of brood, who LOVE the most humid spot in my nest. So many foragers in the outworld. 

 

Thankfully my mealworm colony bloomed at just the right point too because these tetras are hungry. They swarm any insect I put in there and drag em all over the place. 

Pretty much 1 mealworm per day at this point, I have a constant supply of sugar solution via a byformica 1ml liquid feeder and still keeping several husked sunflower and pumpkin seeds. 

They always seem to be working on at least 1 seed, hollowing it out or dragging (in the case of sunflower) them into the nest. 

 

The tube leading to the nest is full of junk and the nest is getting rather dirty too, but it doesn't seem to slow them down. They do bring trash to the corners of the outworld. I've actually noticed them piling trash on a wet cotton ball in the outworld, I am thinking I might encourage this as it is easy cleanup for me to just pull out the cotton ball. 
 

Over this weekend I spotted several workers on the OUTSIDE of the nest. After a while I pinpointed where they were escaping from and fixed it. A TINY spot where the hot glue didn't quite seal the glass to the nest was their point of escape. They didn't seem to swarm out of it, but there were several worker patrolling the outside of the nest. They DID  end up swarming as I disconnected the outworld and unplugged several ports trying to find where they were escaping, thankfully my aspirator made quick work of recollecting them and all is well. 

 

I have redesigned the nest layout and even split this nest in half to make a mini nest more suitable for smaller colonies. I am waiting on the prototypes for both. They should be working prototypes. I am also in the process of designing some other small accessories for quality of life that have yet to be printed. 

 

These tetras have been fun. They are easy, give em protein, sugar, water and warmth and they have just exploded. 

[ANTdrew]

Be careful with using hot glue for escape proofing. A lot of ants have no problems chewing through it. Silicone is a better way to go. Learned this the hard way!

[Kaelwizard]

Why is this one star? It's a good journal.

 

Rated 5 stars.

Edited by Kaelwizard, January 4 2021 - 1:47 PM.

[ANTdrew]

It’s that user going around giving every journal one star. This is getting out of hand.

[Scherme]

Be careful with using hot glue for escape proofing. A lot of ants have no problems chewing through it. Silicone is a better way to go. Learned this the hard way!

The glass for the next set of nests will be secured with silicone, they should also be a tighter fit (hopefully) 

Moving them into this nest was a rushed job, they started digging through my tha mini hearth so i needed something fast.

[TennesseeAnts]

It’s that user going around giving every journal one star. This is getting out of hand.

Which user???

[Kaelwizard]

 

It’s that user going around giving every journal one star. This is getting out of hand.

Which user???

 

Not sure but I found another thread yesterday.

[Ants_Dakota]

 

 

It’s that user going around giving every journal one star. This is getting out of hand.

Which user???

 

Not sure but I found another thread yesterday.

 

i found multiple threads yesterday. if you see this user, just know you are not funny, and that we can ask andrew to tell us who is doing this. 

[gs5248]

 

It has been a while, things are going..... well?

 

Their numbers increased, so I kept feeding and feeding and they have much higher numbers, if I had to guess.... maybe 50-60 workers?

 

They ALSO started chewing holes in my THA mini hearth... fun. I don't have the money for another nest. 

LUCKILY over the past month I have been designing a nest, based of the AntsMexico nest.

 

I used its structure to help create a new nest with the help of a friend who has a 3d printer and is skilled with the modelling software. He has no interest in ants.

He calls it the "Schermicarium"

 

It is essentially a cheap, 3D printed mock up of a AC hybrid nest, but much smaller.
 

He printed a first prototype and I gave my input, then he printed again. Each time I gave more and more input until finally I was getting closer to something that worked.

Perfect time too, because I needed a nest fast. I asked him to make the last noted changes quickly and start on a print, because I was running out of time. 

 

So this is what I got so far:
 

 

 

and I even made some "nest buddies" for it 

 

 

The material is PLA, the nests I got my Camponotus in are PLA and the previous owner said they last years with water in them.

cut the glass and installed the mesh myself. All in all this nest cost about $4 to make.

Time to move my Tetras from their $60 nest to this $4 nest. for that price they could last a month and would still be worth it. 

 

I pulled their nest mate out and emptied the water out, and put it back with no plug to increase airflow into their nest chamber.

Then I pulled the light block cap off and faced the glass towards a desklamp i had shining right at the nest.

I took the heating cable away and hooked it up in the channel made for heating cables in the new Schermicarium

added water to the Schermicarium and then hooked up the 2 nests and went to bed.

 

When I woke up I saw some of the first brood being carried into the new nest. 

When I got home from work:

 

 

I stole one of my Camponotus outworlds and hooked it up, i don't expect them to find it or look for it anytime soon.

I will give them a few days to decrease in numbers from the THA nest as they are still running back and forth from it. 

 

 

I know this is a really late reply, but I had the exact same problem with my tetramorium in my mini hearth! I thought the type 3 material it was indestructible, but I guess not.

[Scherme]

 

 

It has been a while, things are going..... well?

 

Their numbers increased, so I kept feeding and feeding and they have much higher numbers, if I had to guess.... maybe 50-60 workers?

 

They ALSO started chewing holes in my THA mini hearth... fun. I don't have the money for another nest. 

LUCKILY over the past month I have been designing a nest, based of the AntsMexico nest.

 

I used its structure to help create a new nest with the help of a friend who has a 3d printer and is skilled with the modelling software. He has no interest in ants.

He calls it the "Schermicarium"

 

It is essentially a cheap, 3D printed mock up of a AC hybrid nest, but much smaller.
 

He printed a first prototype and I gave my input, then he printed again. Each time I gave more and more input until finally I was getting closer to something that worked.

Perfect time too, because I needed a nest fast. I asked him to make the last noted changes quickly and start on a print, because I was running out of time. 

 

So this is what I got so far:
 

 

 

and I even made some "nest buddies" for it 

 

 

The material is PLA, the nests I got my Camponotus in are PLA and the previous owner said they last years with water in them.

cut the glass and installed the mesh myself. All in all this nest cost about $4 to make.

Time to move my Tetras from their $60 nest to this $4 nest. for that price they could last a month and would still be worth it. 

 

I pulled their nest mate out and emptied the water out, and put it back with no plug to increase airflow into their nest chamber.

Then I pulled the light block cap off and faced the glass towards a desklamp i had shining right at the nest.

I took the heating cable away and hooked it up in the channel made for heating cables in the new Schermicarium

added water to the Schermicarium and then hooked up the 2 nests and went to bed.

 

When I woke up I saw some of the first brood being carried into the new nest. 

When I got home from work:

 

 

I stole one of my Camponotus outworlds and hooked it up, i don't expect them to find it or look for it anytime soon.

I will give them a few days to decrease in numbers from the THA nest as they are still running back and forth from it. 

 

 

I know this is a really late reply, but I had the exact same problem with my tetramorium in my mini hearth! I thought the type 3 material it was indestructible, but I guess not.

 

I have heard one other story of this happening as well. I really wanted the mini hearth for prenolepis imp so I'll try to repair it and hopefully get myself a P. imparis this spring. 

[Antkeeper01]

 

 

 

It’s that user going around giving every journal one star. This is getting out of hand.

Which user???

 

Not sure but I found another thread yesterday.

 

i found multiple threads yesterday. if you see this user, just know you are not funny, and that we can ask andrew to tell us who is doing this. 

 

wasnt it vendayn

[Scherme]

 

 

 

 

It’s that user going around giving every journal one star. This is getting out of hand.

Which user???

 

Not sure but I found another thread yesterday.

 

i found multiple threads yesterday. if you see this user, just know you are not funny, and that we can ask andrew to tell us who is doing this. 

 

wasnt it venday

A week late and not journal related.

[ANTdrew]

The only species I've ever had escape a mini-hearth is Tetramorium. I don't even know how they do it, to be honest. My Nylanderia and Pheidole, which are way smaller are fine in them with zero escapes.

[Scherme]

The only species I've ever had escape a mini-hearth is Tetramorium. I don't even know how they do it, to be honest. My Nylanderia and Pheidole, which are way smaller are fine in them with zero escapes.

thankfully I noticed before there was any escape, I just noticed the start to a few tunnels in the corners that didn't exist before.

It funny though , I have had some times where my tetras have flooded out (like when I remove a tube or some cotton or something), but a few times I have gone in to check them out and there would just be 1 single worker sitting on top of the lid for the outworld.. I don't know if it is one that I didn't get from the couple times I have removed tubes and had to suck em all up with an aspirator or not. I just removed the top and turned it upside down, they would fall back in line. Thankfully I think any escape routes I might have are too big for queens. 

[Spazmops]

I have Tetramorium in a minihearth at the moment and I haven't had an issue, but I'm dreading when they come out of diapause and explode in population. 

[gs5248]

 

The only species I've ever had escape a mini-hearth is Tetramorium. I don't even know how they do it, to be honest. My Nylanderia and Pheidole, which are way smaller are fine in them with zero escapes.

thankfully I noticed before there was any escape, I just noticed the start to a few tunnels in the corners that didn't exist before.

It funny though , I have had some times where my tetras have flooded out (like when I remove a tube or some cotton or something), but a few times I have gone in to check them out and there would just be 1 single worker sitting on top of the lid for the outworld.. I don't know if it is one that I didn't get from the couple times I have removed tubes and had to suck em all up with an aspirator or not. I just removed the top and turned it upside down, they would fall back in line. Thankfully I think any escape routes I might have are too big for queens. 

 

Yeah that is really weird. My tetras were also tunneling in the corner. Now I have them in a fallen fortress and they seem to not be tunneling. Strange.

[Scherme]

These don't seem to be getting tired of mealworms. That and wet cat food and pumpkin seeds. 

Found a wasp coming out of hiding, wife asked me to get rid of it. Free ant food I guess.

They are starting to really fill out the Schermicarium

I have a new outworld on order, A larger version of what comes on top of THA minihearths. I'll be cleaning this one out and using it for the Camponotus soon. I am experimenting with keeping live plants in my outworlds. This is "turtle vine", it exploded on my kitchen window sill and rooted in tap water in 2 days so i figured "why not?"

Bug Salad, Yummy Yummy

Edited by Scherme, February 10 2021 - 10:35 AM.