66 replies to this topic

[Dry_Twig]

25 dead ants in a fast growing species isn’t too big of a deal. Sugar water won’t go rotten. Yeasts will ferment it into alcohol, which is something any sugar eating animal is going to encounter all the time in nature. Some insects, such as fruit flies, even seek it out.

I forgot to mention it was actually maple syrup water, which maybe has more organics or something, all I know is that it smelled terrible and was super cloudy. Its good know that, though, now I can stop replacing my sugar test tubes every few days. 

[ANTdrew]

From my experience fermenting meads with natural yeast, fermentation starts slowly after four days at room temperature.
Your best bet would be to get Sunburst that does not ferment because of preservatives in it.

[NickAnter]

Most definitely not the termite itself, termites are extremely sensitive to pretty much everything, whereas Solenopsis xyloni are super hardy. It could have been something that the food touched though.

[Dry_Twig]

Most definitely not the termite itself, termites are extremely sensitive to pretty much everything, whereas Solenopsis xyloni are super hardy. It could have been something that the food touched though.

Yeah, I uh, may have taken it from a pool....  

From my experience fermenting meads with natural yeast, fermentation starts slowly after four days at room temperature.
Your best bet would be to get Sunburst that does not ferment because of preservatives in it.

I'll probably get it in the near future, when the colony shows more interest in sugars. Right now, crickets and mealworms are all they eat.

[NickAnter]

 

Most definitely not the termite itself, termites are extremely sensitive to pretty much everything, whereas Solenopsis xyloni are super hardy. It could have been something that the food touched though.

Yeah, I uh, may have taken it from a pool.... 

 

If it was a heavily chlorinated pool that might have caused a problem.

[Dry_Twig]

Update!

-------------------------------------------

The colony has exploded in growth since the last update and they eat around 1.5 crickets a day or 3 meal/superworms(they don't like sugars as much, for some reason). I'd estimate they have around 350-400 workers, but its probably off by quite a bit. Currently, I feed them sunflower seeds, mealworms, superworms, crickets, frozen bloodworms, and sugar water, but I'll be adding some more to the rotation soon. Not much else to add, so I'll just put some pictures below. (Is there an easier way to include pictures in posts other than gallery and other image hosting websites?)

 

Trash phone pictures, since my camera broke:

 

Brood!:

 

Tiny plants that sprouted out of nowhere, I'll let them stay:

 

Top down view of their digging:

 

Oh, and here's a hyperlapse of them eating:

Edited by Dry_Twig, October 4 2020 - 8:50 PM.

[ANTdrew]

That colony looks awesome! Nice tunnels.

[RushmoreAnts]

(Is there an easier way to include pictures in posts other than gallery and other image hosting websites?)

Not that I'm aware of, however I find that Imgur.com is a manageable platform; it's as simple as uploading, clicking, and dragging into the post.

[Dry_Twig]

This is probably going to be the last update   ever for this journal. I just saw them carrying a huge gaster around and a few minutes after that, a head and thorax of a queen. I suppose its possible that they produced alates,(they only have ~450 workers though) but the fact that it was a queen(with no wings), not a male makes me feel like this was the real queen. I'll just let the workers live out the rest of their days and maybe try again next year  .  

I'm guessing she died during the die-off or something and they just brought her out now.

Edit: Are wax worms poisonous for ants? I tried them for the first time right before they brought her out.

Edited by Dry_Twig, October 7 2020 - 7:47 AM.

[TechAnt]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Edited by TechAnt, October 7 2020 - 8:01 AM.

[Ants_Dakota]

This is probably going to be the last update   ever for this journal. I just saw them carrying a huge gaster around and a few minutes after that, a head and thorax of a queen. I suppose its possible that they produced alates,(they only have ~450 workers though) but the fact that it was a queen(with no wings), not a male makes me feel like this was the real queen. I'll just let the workers live out the rest of their days and maybe try again next year  .  

I'm guessing she died during the die-off or something and just just brought her out now.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

[ANTdrew]

Damn, man. Sorry.
Waxworms are totally safe if you got them from a reputable source.

[Dry_Twig]

Mini-Update:

They are eating way less protein, as expected. Intake has gone from a volume of 3 mealworm units -> 0.5 mealworm units. Way more workers, since pupae are still enclosing and from looking at the tunnels, many more are on the way! For some reason, sugar intake has gone down as well, which is weird, because I thought only workers and the queen ate sugars and I'm pretty sure the queen didn't consume that much sugars. Anyways, I planted a tiny sprout from the outdoors as a test for future plantings. I'm planning to fully cover the tank with plants and introduce ants again next summer, when I (hopefully) get a colony going.

[NickAnter]

Don't lose hope, they may well have made an alate and killed it.

[Dry_Twig]

Don't lose hope, they may well have made an alate and killed it.

I've been hoping that, but they are far from mature and it was a female alate, so I wouldn't be surprised if the colony does eventually die. I guess I'll know in a few weeks when all the current papua enclose. Solenopsis do grow fast, though, and some of the majors are almost as big as the queen. Maybe it was a mistake(does that happen?) and they killed her after they realized it or something.

[Antkeeper01]

I hope it wasn't the queen.

[RushmoreAnts]

This is probably going to be the last update   ever for this journal. I just saw them carrying a huge gaster around and a few minutes after that, a head and thorax of a queen. I suppose its possible that they produced alates,(they only have ~450 workers though) but the fact that it was a queen(with no wings), not a male makes me feel like this was the real queen. I'll just let the workers live out the rest of their days and maybe try again next year  .  

I'm guessing she died during the die-off or something and they just brought her out now.

Edit: Are wax worms poisonous for ants? I tried them for the first time right before they brought her out.

Why did three people like this post???
 

[TechAnt]

 

This is probably going to be the last update   ever for this journal. I just saw them carrying a huge gaster around and a few minutes after that, a head and thorax of a queen. I suppose its possible that they produced alates,(they only have ~450 workers though) but the fact that it was a queen(with no wings), not a male makes me feel like this was the real queen. I'll just let the workers live out the rest of their days and maybe try again next year  .  

I'm guessing she died during the die-off or something and they just brought her out now.

Edit: Are wax worms poisonous for ants? I tried them for the first time right before they brought her out.

Why did three people like this post???
 

 

liking can also mean supporting people.

[KitsAntVa]

It also helps build reputation
Like antdrew and how he’s been here for 2 years but probably has the highest reputation point of all of us.

[Dry_Twig]

Another mini-update:

They eat so much less than before - if I put in any insects or seeds, only one or two ants come and eat, except for crickets, which they love and I don't see any larvae or eggs, so that must be why. There are always tons and tons of ants (250ish) above the nest for some reason, I guess they don't have any babies to take care of. Instead, they've taken to drinking the barrier