133 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

Update 1-31-2015

 

The worker deaths have stopped. I cleaned the last dead worker out about a week ago, and haven't seen another since. I am beginning to think that moving ant colonies might some how cause a number of them to die after all, I just don't know exactly why.

 

Finally this queen has laid a huge new pile of eggs--at least 50 or more. It's hard to tell whether this had something to do with them being in this new setup or not, because most all of my other Pogonomyrmex colonies, no matter what they're living in, have started laying eggs as well.

[InsideAntz]

Good to hear... don't know how you juggle all of your colonies.

 

TheTetramorium's are my number one species but the Pogonomyrmex's are a close second

[dspdrew]

Update 3-30-2015
 
The large ant farm box I moved these into is clearly helping them now. They went from having no brood to now having well over a hundred pupae and larvae, and a pile of probably around a hundred eggs.
 
All my new colonies have recently laid more eggs finally. I moved one of these into one of my small ant farm boxes. It was just the queen and one worker, but they quickly dug a nest. I waited a while before dropping their small pile of eggs in next to the entrance so they wouldn't get lost during their digging. They moved them down and put them in a safe place.
 

 

[dspdrew]

Update 3-31-2015

 

I moved the other small colony of these into one of the small ant farm boxes also today. This colony had a few workers, and a pretty good sized pile of eggs.

[drtrmiller]

Disappointed to see you abandon your recent projects for all your ants to go into boxes of dirt.  It's like you've given up.

Edited by drtrmiller, April 1 2015 - 12:46 AM.

[antmaniac]

Ant keeping needs to be patient, too much patient. Then overwhelming attention when lots colonies, I think. Hope all your colonies go well.

[dspdrew]

Disappointed to see you abandon your recent projects for all your ants to go into boxes of dirt.  It's like you've given up.

 

Boxes of dirt hahaha. Noway, I haven't abandoned anything. These are just really easy to make, and I have colonies that are on the verge of dying (most basically nothing but deadbeat queens left). These boxes of dirt are in no way optimal, but are very comfortable to the ants. The hydration system basically relies on a guess of how much water to add. A little too much can flood them, and too little might be unoticeably dry. Also the shape and size is already annoying me. They are square, so that is good, but I have them stacked three deep, and I have to keep moving them around to see what's going on inside them. So no, if it looks like I gave up on my formicariums, I didn't at all. Not a chance.

 

Edit: I even started updating the prototype last night. For now I'm just moving forward with the mold I have already. I will make a new one whenever I finally get the right program installed and get a 3D drawing of it made.

Edited by dspdrew, April 1 2015 - 8:53 AM.

[dean_k]

I think I may go with a box of dirt with my Aphaenogaster picea queen. I don't have any hope left for her, so this might work for her.

Edited by dean_k, April 1 2015 - 11:20 AM.

[dspdrew]

Update 4-30-2015
 
One of the new colonies I recently put in one of the small boxes has died, leaving one new colony remaining.

 

The large colony is still doing well and continuing to grow.

[dspdrew]

Update 7-9-2015
 
The remaining new colony in the ant farm box still hasn't really grown, but the queen is still alive.

 

I found a bunch more of these queens on 7-7-2015, in Goffs, California, which is in the high Mojave Desert. I dug them up from their founding chambers two days after a big storm dropped over an inch of rain there.

[dspdrew]

Update 7-27-2015
 
These had huge mating flights all over in the high desert 7-19-2015 through 7-22-2015. I picked up a few more from 29 Palms, Yucca Valley, and Adelanto, California.

 

The queen I had in the dirt box is down to zero workers now, so I moved her back into a test tube.

 

My original colony is still doing well and producing a lot.

[Thomas_Nguyen2456]

Hey Drew, my pogonomyrmex rugosus queen seems to enjoy the light and is not bothered when i pick up the container. Even though you said they are very nervous

[dermy]

Hey Drew, my pogonomyrmex rugosus queen seems to enjoy the light and is not bothered when i pick up the container. Even though you said they are very nervous

I think with queens each one can be a little bit different, some don't like the light and others do. Some are also much more calm and some can just be crazy.

[Thomas_Nguyen2456]

 

Hey Drew, my pogonomyrmex rugosus queen seems to enjoy the light and is not bothered when i pick up the container. Even though you said they are very nervous

I think with queens each one can be a little bit different, some don't like the light and others do. Some are also much more calm and some can just be crazy.

 

My queen has had one worker but she doesn't lay anymore eggs

[dspdrew]

In my experience, this species seems to be very slow growing in the beginning.

[nurbs]

Yeah, they seem to be slow. The ones I found this year just got their first workers.

[dspdrew]

Update 10-5-2015
 
I moved my large colony into this 10 gallon, recently vacant ant farm box or "dirt shack" as drtrmiller likes to refer to them as. This species digs very large tunnels, so they should stay up against the glass which will make them much more interesting to watch.
 
I pulled the plug out of the bottom of the large dirt box they were in, and set it on the surface of the 10 gallon tank. They immediately started exploring.
 

 
 
I piled a little gravel up in front of the hole for them so they could go in and out.
 

 
 
For some reason, they completely cleaned every last piece of trash (except that very large piece of Pizza Hut sausage) and dead ant from the surface of the dirt box, and piled it all in one corner of the tank.
 

 

 

 
 
Here you can see the nest they have now started to dig. Strangely, they actually filled any of the holes dug by the previous ants that were in here.
 

 
 
The new colony I had in the test tube from before died, and some of the new queens have died or been given away. right now, I have two new colonies with just one worker each. One is in a test tube container, and the other is in a small dirt box.

[LC3]

Do ants prefer digging up against glass? Seems like ants like digging beside something but they don't like glass.

[dspdrew]

Well they like it dark, so they aren't usually going to dig their tunnels against the glass if they can help it. They will even plaster dirt all over the glass to block out the light. As for starting a nest, they almost always go right to the side of whatever container they're in, and if it has corners, most likely there.

[dspdrew]

Strange video of my large colony running in circles around the shine of a light, and then scattering the second the light is turned off.

 

I posted more about it here (http://www.formicult...es-around-light).