Took a video of one of my M. mexicanus colonies the other night
Took a video of one of my M. mexicanus colonies the other night
My ants | My free feeder design | PM or email me if you need and 3d printing, cnc machining, or manufacturing done: http://www.lrmachining.com
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How many workers are in this colony?
I think it has 12-14 workers. Not sure if those cocoons have opened up yet
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I heard that if the workers have nothing to hang upside down too than they use the queen as a replete. Noticing that your tube only has a bit of san at the bottom how do you plan to get the repletes?
The M. mexicanus don't seem to have any trouble with walking on the glass but that has been on my mind as well. I don't have a solution yet.
My ants | My free feeder design | PM or email me if you need and 3d printing, cnc machining, or manufacturing done: http://www.lrmachining.com
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You'd have to freeze the wood first.
But, would putting a small piece of wood work for your Myrmecocystus colony? The idea came up because my Drywood termites have tons of wood in their tubing and they've been there for over a month. No mold or anything. Maybe its the wood I used (it was sitting out for ages in the garage and was incredibly dry, plus I froze it for over a day to kill anything, like mites). I just made sure the wood didn't touch the wet cotton inside the tubing, so there is about half an inch gap from the wood to the cotton. Some of the wood is even a bit wet, and no mold at all.
Just a suggestion. But, your results may vary.
Edited by Vendayn, October 14 2015 - 9:42 PM.
Life has had me pretty busy lately, if its not one thing its everything else! Thankfully the ants seem to be doing just fine, they didn't even notice I was neglecting them.
The Novomessor cockerelli colony of mine is doing great:
The center section of that formicarium has 2 microscope slides stuck to the lid with silicone - it works amazingly for taking photos.
My ants | My free feeder design | PM or email me if you need and 3d printing, cnc machining, or manufacturing done: http://www.lrmachining.com
Make your own mold/fungus/bacteria resistant test tube water! Don't get ripped off! Read my simple guide: http://www.formicult...-simple-how-to/
"Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is." - Isaac Asimov
These free range Liometopum occidentale are doing the best of any of my colonies:
That pile of brood
My ants | My free feeder design | PM or email me if you need and 3d printing, cnc machining, or manufacturing done: http://www.lrmachining.com
Make your own mold/fungus/bacteria resistant test tube water! Don't get ripped off! Read my simple guide: http://www.formicult...-simple-how-to/
"Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is." - Isaac Asimov
These free range Liometopum occidentale are doing the best of any of my colonies:
What are they eating?
The sticky icky.
What are they eating?
Anything and everything. Sometimes I feed them powdered egg yolk or nectar mix. Mostly they scavenge dead bugs and eat fungus gnats.
My ants | My free feeder design | PM or email me if you need and 3d printing, cnc machining, or manufacturing done: http://www.lrmachining.com
Make your own mold/fungus/bacteria resistant test tube water! Don't get ripped off! Read my simple guide: http://www.formicult...-simple-how-to/
"Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is." - Isaac Asimov
You should post a video of your Liometopetum. They look incredible.
Currently Keeping:
Trachymyrmex septentrionalis
Pheidole pilifera
Forelius sp. (Monogynous, bicolored) "Midwestern Forelius"
Crematogaster cerasi
Pheidole bicarinata
Aphaenogaster rudis
Camponotus chromaiodes
Formica sp. (microgena species)
Nylanderia cf. arenivega
Blurry Dorymyrmex:
Myrmecocystus:
M. navajo:
My ants | My free feeder design | PM or email me if you need and 3d printing, cnc machining, or manufacturing done: http://www.lrmachining.com
Make your own mold/fungus/bacteria resistant test tube water! Don't get ripped off! Read my simple guide: http://www.formicult...-simple-how-to/
"Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is." - Isaac Asimov
Free range Liometopum occidentale colony:
I might try taking some more video of these guys in a day or two.
My ants | My free feeder design | PM or email me if you need and 3d printing, cnc machining, or manufacturing done: http://www.lrmachining.com
Make your own mold/fungus/bacteria resistant test tube water! Don't get ripped off! Read my simple guide: http://www.formicult...-simple-how-to/
"Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is." - Isaac Asimov
Here is some video of the free range colony:
My ants | My free feeder design | PM or email me if you need and 3d printing, cnc machining, or manufacturing done: http://www.lrmachining.com
Make your own mold/fungus/bacteria resistant test tube water! Don't get ripped off! Read my simple guide: http://www.formicult...-simple-how-to/
"Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is." - Isaac Asimov
Liometopum occidentale feeding frenzy over some nectar mix
My ants | My free feeder design | PM or email me if you need and 3d printing, cnc machining, or manufacturing done: http://www.lrmachining.com
Make your own mold/fungus/bacteria resistant test tube water! Don't get ripped off! Read my simple guide: http://www.formicult...-simple-how-to/
"Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is." - Isaac Asimov
For some reason this lost some sharpness when being cropped...but still a cool photo! Pogonomyrmex californicus
My ants | My free feeder design | PM or email me if you need and 3d printing, cnc machining, or manufacturing done: http://www.lrmachining.com
Make your own mold/fungus/bacteria resistant test tube water! Don't get ripped off! Read my simple guide: http://www.formicult...-simple-how-to/
"Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is." - Isaac Asimov
Your Liometopum occidentale colony looks like it's doing really well. The Crematogaster colony I free-ranged for a while is doing really well too. It would be cool if this was tried more often, so we could see if ants really do much better living this way.
BTW, if you let HTML shrink pictures (which this forum does if they are over 800px wide), it looks like crap. The best thing to do is resize them to 800px using a photo editor before embedding them.
Myrmecocystus mexicanus have repletes now
My ants | My free feeder design | PM or email me if you need and 3d printing, cnc machining, or manufacturing done: http://www.lrmachining.com
Make your own mold/fungus/bacteria resistant test tube water! Don't get ripped off! Read my simple guide: http://www.formicult...-simple-how-to/
"Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is." - Isaac Asimov
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