56 replies to this topic

[ANTdrew]

I edited your title now that I’m a mod.

[ColAnt735]

All hail Moderator ANTdrew! Dspdrew please give ANTdrew a custom title known as the CrematoModerator. By the way futurebird nice colony!

Edited by ColAnt735, April 7 2022 - 9:14 AM.

[ANTdrew]

All hail Moderator ANTdrew! Dspdrew please give ANTdrew a custom title known as the CrematoModerator. By the way futurebird nice colony!

CreModogaster

[ColAnt735]

 

All hail Moderator ANTdrew! Dspdrew please give ANTdrew a custom title known as the CrematoModerator. By the way futurebird nice colony!

CreModogaster

 

How are your naming skills so good? Dspdrew should actually give ANTdrew the cusom title of "CreModogaster," suggested by the CreModogaster himself.

[futurebird]

What was the change? I didn't even notice. 

 

And now I'm sad that the new video I made (which is one of my best yet if I say so myself) if buried on the last page.

 

But if there was a spelling error... thanks.

[ANTdrew]

My apologies. It said Futuerbird, also capitalized Camponotus.

[futurebird]

One more video of this colony. They have so much brood! I will do a colony overview and census later this week but for now here is a larvae weaving her cocoon. 

 

[futurebird]

An escaped carpenter ant takes an unauthorized "vacation" in the Pogonomyrmex's outworld. 

 

It's really neat how the Pogonomyrmex don’t really notice her. I would have assumed going in there would be certain death for any non-Pogonomyrmex. But, they mostly didn’t care. I guess she went in because after being on the lam for 4 days she was thirsty and hungry. She was mostly stealing food!

 

Here is what happened:

 

 

She did have a few close calls before I was able to get her out of there. 

 

[futurebird]

I found out where the awkward teens hang out in this colony. There are a lot of young majors, they aren't needed to work in the nursery and still too young to go out and forage. 

 

They like to sit in a pile in this one corner. 

 

If you shine light on them they scatter. 

Edited by futurebird, June 18 2023 - 11:07 AM.

[futurebird]

Since I've had this colony for over a year I made a video to celebrate all of their growth and the many nests they have been in. 

I decided to make it a music video with that song by "Kolony"

 

They have FINALY filled out the cork nest just like I hoped.  They are such a big and active colony. They eat two crickets every single day, more if I have them! I may need to add a foranto extension soon to their 2nd outworld. 

Edited by futurebird, June 23 2022 - 3:38 PM.

[futurebird]

This colony made it through the winter with no big problems. They are thriving and have two outworlds and 4 nesting sites.



They are absolute fiends for sugar:



Here is a fun experiment I did with them showing how they constantly move their brood in response to changes in temperature:



And here is a music video showing all the customizations they've made to their cork nest:

[Ernteameise]

Amazing videos

[futurebird]

This colony is still thriving. But I have not seen the queen for months. I don't even know what nest she is in. I want to do some clean up in their outworlds. There are brood in all three of their nests. I want to get them out of the little wooden nests and repurpose those. I think I might do this using an ice pack?

 

I could lean an ice pack on the small wooden nest and they would want to be in the heated nest more and clear out.  There aren't that many ants in the wooden nests as it is. They are just kind of half full hang out areas and unsightly. 

 

So I think for today I'll try to get them out of one of the small wooden nests and also get them out of one of the out worlds so I can give it a deep cleaning. Between their cork nest (now packed with ants) and their log that's enough space. I have covered both of these so they are dark and added a heat cable which they absolutely love. 

 

Once I get the first small wooden nest cleared out and one outworld cleaned in a week or so I'll do the other wooden nest and outworld. 

 

It would be nice to know where the queen is before this all goes down. I'll spend some time observing before making any drastic moves.  

 

These ants like moisture a bit more than other carpenters. So I think they like the cork a bit better than the wood. But a few days ago I found out the hard way that using my water dropper to add a few drops of water to their cork nest causes them to panic. I think they thought it was flooding. It was very spectacular. They were flowing around like water... This colony somehow became HUGE when I wasn't looking. 

 

To think it all started with just seven of them. And their mother is in there somewhere since I still need fresh brood and eggs on the regular. 

 

I think I will give them a cork hide in their outworld as I did with my pennslyvanicus colony, that made their outworld less messy looking and lets the ants who like to hang around outside the nest do what they want. It's like they are tucked in the bark of a tree and everyone is happy. 

 

I may give this colony some moss in their outworld. More posts to come. 

[futurebird]

Just a quick photo of the current egg plie in this colony. I'm still working on their living space. 

 

 

They have a lot of pupae in the heated part of their cork nest... some are rather large... but I don't think they are alates. They vary in size a good deal and some of the majors are twice the size of the minors. 

[futurebird]

I remember when there were just 9 ants in this colony, and I bought them this cork AntCube nest ... it seemed like they'd never move in. Here is how it looked new:

 

 

And here is how it looks now:

 

 

The girls have really done a number on it to maximize their brood space! This colony is huge. They have this cork nest, a branch nest, and two outworlds. They also like to try to nest in the long tube that connects the outworlds. I'm a little worried about what I can do with the cork nest as it continues to disintegrate. They will need a new home at some point. 

 

 

The ants don't seem to care that they don't have many new options for expansion. Look at all that brood. This summer is going to be big. I've been feeding them a little less, but I hate to leave their sugar feeder empty for too long. I have not seen the queen. I think she is deep in the branch nest as I see eggs there at regular intervals.

 

They continue to be confused by vertical surfaces. They will pick up a bit of trash, climb the wall, drop it ... then repeat over and over. It makes me think they need more space... but it doesn't occur to them to take the trash to the far away outworld ... so I've started just removing the bits of cork and other trash with tweezers to help them. Poor girls. 

[Ernteameise]

Great colony.

And amazing growth!

[Locness]

I like how they've chewed it up, got a nice natural look to it. They've even tunneled into it.