4 replies to this topic

[futurebird]

I'm sitting at my desk enjoying a video when I see an ant. She's tiny. So tiny that at first I didn't even think she was from one of my colonies. But, after picking her up I see she is a Camponotus discolor, the smallest one I've ever seen. She was almost as small as a Lasius niger worker.

 

Gently, I take her back to their nest and put her back where she belongs. I assume she must have escaped when I last fed them and I just didn't see her since she was so little. A day or two passes... and it happens again... A super TINY carpenter ant crosses my desk. Again I move to return her, but now I wonder if there is a bigger issue. I check their enclosure carefully. I see no obvious problems. So, I let it go. 

 

Then today I find TWO tiny ants. 

 

uh. oh.

 

They are getting out and I don't know how. A more careful inspection uncovers a tiny little hole chewed on one of the plugs on their second outworld. I was only seeing tiny ants, because they are they only ones who could fit. But they were working to scale the whole operation up... it would not be long until their major would be marching all around my apartment. 

 

 

I've sealed the hole, but this dang colony. They always have a project like this in some corner of their nest. The chewed tube is a sight to see... it must have taken them WEEKS to do that. I made a new plug and filled it with nylon which none of my ants have ever been able to chew through. 

 

I had no idea that they could produce workers so tiny! Another ant superpower. 

 

If you see sneaky *little* ants from your polymorphic sp... know something's up. 

 

I found another place they are "working on" ... they will need to chew about a full inch of tube for this to work... getting some nylon to cover the cracks. You can see how slow the progress is. Maybe I should give the majors something else to chew? 

 

Edited by futurebird, August 3 2024 - 8:41 AM.

[ANTdrew]

My Crematogaster and Pheidole did this to their plugs a while back. Super annoying!

[Ernteameise]

I'm sitting at my desk enjoying a video when I see an ant. She's tiny. So tiny that at first I didn't even think she was from one of my colonies. But, after picking her up I see she is a Camponotus discolor, the smallest one I've ever seen. She was almost as small as a Lasius niger worker.

 

Gently, I take her back to their nest and put her back where she belongs. I assume she must have escaped when I last fed them and I just didn't see her since she was so little. A day or two passes... and it happens again... A super TINY carpenter ant crosses my desk. Again I move to return her, but now I wonder if there is a bigger issue. I check their enclosure carefully. I see no obvious problems. So, I let it go. 

 

Then today I find TWO tiny ants. 

 

uh. oh.

 

They are getting out and I don't know how. A more careful inspection uncovers a tiny little hole chewed on one of the plugs on their second outworld. I was only seeing tiny ants, because they are they only ones who could fit. But they were working to scale the whole operation up... it would not be long until their major would be marching all around my apartment. 

 

 

I've sealed the hole, but this dang colony. They always have a project like this in some corner of their nest. The chewed tube is a sight to see... it must have taken them WEEKS to do that. I made a new plug and filled it with nylon which none of my ants have ever been able to chew through. 

 

I had no idea that they could produce workers so tiny! Another ant superpower. 

 

If you see sneaky *little* ants from your polymorphic sp... know something's up. 

 

I found another place they are "working on" ... they will need to chew about a full inch of tube for this to work... getting some nylon to cover the cracks. You can see how slow the progress is. Maybe I should give the majors something else to chew? 

 

Oh wow.

Looking at this plug, I am reminded of the Doctor Who story where the Doctor takes 2 billion years to punch a hole through a wall of diamond.

Dedication.

[Mushu]

That's some dedication. Definitely one of my worse fears, especially if a colony gets large enough. Glad you caught them before the operation completed.

[BleepingBleepers]

That's another reason why I didn't want to get small ants, they can escape through smaller holes / crevices like your extra small carpenters.

 

Another thing I noticed with my carpenter ants (I only keep two kinds of ants so I can't comment on others) is when they're hungry, they go all out in trying to escape. They will constantly rush barriers and chew on everything for a way out. So my first time ant keeper's dream of "Wow I want a massive colony with 10 THOUSAND+ of these ants!!!" quickly died as even in just the couple hundreds, their increasing number, size, activity level, aggression and space requirement is starting to alarm me. I'm told they don't eat much but as soon as I stop feeding them as much and they get hungry, they're chewing on everything to get out. I'm hoping to update my journal very soon, it's been awhile.