115 replies to this topic

[Lillyrose]

One thing to consider with tapinoma is a simple setup so there are less areas of possible escape so a all in one setup would be preferable.

She'll be in a test tube for a while... I'll put the tube into a box if I keep her ... I have some formicariums but so far I really prefer the box and tube method

[ANTdrew]

Here’s the finished Antpartment with outworld.

Attached Images

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[AntBoi3030]

I found one of those boxes and and an outworld that is exactly the same as your lol.

[Lillyrose]

Here’s the finished Antpartment with outworld.

Don't be jealous guys .. I'm getting ANTdrew custom made formicarium:-)

[ANTdrew]

I found one of those boxes and and an outworld that is exactly the same as your lol.

Where??? I can’t find the compartment containers anywhere now.

[AntBoi3030]

My family saw me looking at it and gave it to me so no idea where you can find them.

[Lillyrose]

It's been a while since I've updated. I had some life stuff pop up that I had to deal with.

I got my ant apartments from Antdrew and have it sitting on the side. I'm excited to move the girls on in, but after looking at the size of the girl and the apartments I'm going to wait a little longer and let them grow some more.

You all have to understand. I've never kept ants before and so many of these milestones are brand new to me. Well the tetra have reached a milestone ... there is always ants running around. None of my other colonies do that yet. If they come out it is only to grab food and go back.. maybe in the case of the Crematogaster to patrol .. but just a quick once around and back. The tetra have reached the point that they're just out and about. I'm super proud of them.

I went out last night and found some new queens as well. For those who have been reading you know I killed almost all my none cast queens by letting a towel fall over the heating cord. Everyone got way too hot.

Well the very first thing I did was find this beautiful girl ... and accidently squish her trying to get her from the container to the tube. Shaking hands strike again.


I actually found another one I think .. but they through me off. I swore they were males... i am not good at id.

I also found several males and females of these




I also found a massive MASSIVE Hercules beetle and a few odd looking bugs.


The cast queen I brood boasted ended up eating almost all the brood because I gave her a ton of larvae and it was all I could find lol... poor queen. Well, that's OK. She picked her favorite and I happen to see the first worker while she was still very pale and hid under her mother.






Antdrew got me some Temnothorax and I'm super excited about them. I built a really neat (to me) home for them and promptly forgot it out in the rain to fall apart. Sooooo yea.

Some of my queens have eggs and a couple now have workers. I don't plan to keep 30 colonies so I'll have to think about what to do and who I want to keep.

Edited by Lillyrose, July 10 2021 - 8:54 AM.

[ANTdrew]

Wow. Nice work! The first queen looks like Colobopsis. The second queen is Nylanderia, probably vividula. Congrats on the castaneus worker! That was pretty quick. Does the end of your post mean the Temnothorax already have workers??

Edited by ANTdrew, July 10 2021 - 9:12 AM.

[Lillyrose]

Wow. Nice work! The first queen looks like Colobopsis. The second queen is Nylanderia, probably vividula. Congrats on the castaneus worker! That was pretty quick. Does the end of your post mean the Temnothorax already have workers??

Not yet .. in one tube the three queens are surrounding a shared brood pile .. in the other two queens each have their own pile and the third is gone ... sooooo they're not as friendly as the first tube.

[Kaelwizard]

Wow. Nice work! The first queen looks like Colobopsis. The second queen is Nylanderia, probably vividula. Congrats on the castaneus worker! That was pretty quick. Does the end of your post mean the Temnothorax already have workers??

How can you tell it is Nylanderia?

Never mind I forgot what the queens looked like.

Edited by Kaelwizard, July 10 2021 - 10:03 AM.

[ANTdrew]

Wow. Nice work! The first queen looks like Colobopsis. The second queen is Nylanderia, probably vividula. Congrats on the castaneus worker! That was pretty quick. Does the end of your post mean the Temnothorax already have workers??

How can you tell it is Nylanderia?

Never mind I forgot what the queens looked like.

I’m judging off time of year, general look, and the reddish thorax. I see these queens every day now in my colony, so I’m very familiar with them.

[Lillyrose]

Good morning and happy August! I'll have to see what kind of any queens will fly in August because I have no idea.

I'm totally in love with how my ants work at different stages and different colonies. I love having them all to see and compare. I've laid them in a line on my shelf based on how much I enjoy watching them.

First.

I've heard a lot of hate for Tetramorium but I love these girls. I currently have a series of boxes. In each box is a tube with a queen and workers. The tube sits in sand. In every box the sand is flat and plain, unless the ants are messy and there is food parts.... but in the Tetramorium box the sand is used to create custom ramps and bridges, entrances and sneaky little bumps that hide groups.

I actually am struggling with the idea of moving them, I love watching them and I'm tempted to give them a second tube.



I made them a cute little plaster plate but they pull all food off. Sometimes, especially if they have the heat pad, rather than brining food into the tube for larvae, they bring larvae out and put them under the tube for faster feeding. I just today decided trying putting my wire behind all 7 boxes. So I'm not sure if they will continue doing that or not.

Second

The Crematogaster are amazing. They had a prison break and I had to design a special lid to handle them and the humidity and air flow. You can check out their journal for more details about that. These girls have gone through a big upheaval, they're tank orientation, decorations, and lid have all changed. This has left them *exploring the new space* but I expect that will only last so long till they need a new home.



When given choices about what to eat, they seem to like it all. Nibbling on cricket, fruit fly, chicken, walnut, and muffin at the same time.

They have a new rock to explore and thanks to the heat bring there I expect them to make a satalite nest there soon.


This is an example of a difference. The tetra have way more workers and are content in their space. The Crematogaster have less but by Golly they are ready to get out and go! They want to explore, conquer, and grow.

Third .

The nylanderia (native?) are brand new and normally wouldn't have the second third spot in line but they've stolen my heart. I checked on the tube recently and discovered the queen snuck some workers on me. I tried to feed them in the tube. To my surprise these girls were ready to get out. They don't seem aggressive, just really wanted to explore.

Normally new colonies take a while to spot workers foraging, but these girls have one lady out already. The girls are tiny tiny tiny, but super spunky.


They are even smaller than the first two and I'm always afraid I will squish them. Lol. When given a bit of cricket, chicken, fruit fly, muffin, and walnut these girls wanted chicken first. They don't eat much though.. yet.


4th is one I hadn't been paying attention to because she was at the workers, but not willing to come out yet stage. Today is actually the first day I see a worker coming out. And she's being stubborn too! I moved the outworld and she took off, but came back out again!


The other day she had cricket and even though I added the same choices I gave the others she's currently only working on the cricket. My thought is there aren't many workers or larvae and she just doesn't need a lot yet... so she's sticking with what she knows.

New foods are exciting but for an ant a food new to the colony can mean death .. so new food is treated more suspiciously.


The last threw haven't yet started adventuring out so there isn't much to update.




The Camponotus chrom has 3 workers and 1 cocoon, several eggs. The Camponotus cast has two workers, some eggs and a massive cocoon. I actually think she might be infertile, the workers were boosted and I think this new one might be a male acolyte. Maybe not, maybe they just are big but I'm suspicious. Finally is the formica, she's not ready to explore yet but she has two or three workers.

[Antkeeper01]

where did you get those containers and the testtubes?

[Lillyrose]

where did you get those containers and the testtubes?

The test tubes are just the ones from this site
https://www.kartersc...ubes_s/1300.htm

The boxes are from Amazon
https://www.amazon.c...ob_b_asin_title

[Antkeeper01]

 

where did you get those containers and the testtubes?

The test tubes are just the ones from this site
https://www.kartersc...ubes_s/1300.htm

The boxes are from Amazon
https://www.amazon.c...ob_b_asin_title

 

 

 

where did you get those containers and the testtubes?

The test tubes are just the ones from this site
https://www.kartersc...ubes_s/1300.htm

The boxes are from Amazon
https://www.amazon.c...ob_b_asin_title

 

interesting i may buy some of the containers

[Lillyrose]

I had a great time catching queens and couldn't stop checking on them. Then, I went back to work and just haven't had much time to do anything with my ants.

I got excited and got a lot of queens but I realized I had too many to keep up with. It's one thing in the summer but once they all have workers and need water and food and protein it became a lot of work!

I have 11 boxes with colonies, I had thoughts of selling but .. I like them.

I decided to take a break collecting queens for now and see what happens with what I've got.

I've also started keeping spiders .. I have a tiny tiny tiny jumper, a bold jumper, and a black widow.

I love all my little critters but I def bit off more than I could comfortably chew.

I got an amazing nest from Antdrew (seriously.. ask him about his antpartmenrs ... they are adorable and super functional) but my husband and I agreed to put something less prone to escaping in them. I'm not 100% sure which of my colonies will be moving in there.. but I've got it ready! I'm thinking camponotus nercs or maybe the nylanderia.

My camponotus chrom is having a hard time. She keeps getting diarrhea and moving farther down her tube. I'm not sure what's going on with her.

One of the Camponotus cast, the one I brood boasted, seems to be infertile as she hasn't laid any eggs. She has three workers but one of them had a super chunky torso ... but no wings? Rather confused about her.