87 replies to this topic

[XZero38]

So checking in on my tetra this morning and she has around 25 workers at this point.

The number of foraging ants is also increasing went from 3 a couple days ago to 8 this morning after i gave them some sunburst and a small bit of ground up meat.

It was interesting watching the process of one ant finding the food and going to let everyone else know.

 

Ill have to post pictures soon

Edited by XZero38, August 5 2016 - 7:26 AM.

[sgheaton]

that's one thing I'm really wanting to see. How do they find the piece of cat food and let everyone else know? 

[XZero38]

Its all done through scent marking but its still interesting to actually watch happen

[sgheaton]

So we should probably meet over for a drink at my place and see what crazy none-sense is going on in my yard now. I'm hoping it rains and they all get washed away naturally...........

[XZero38]

I've been saying I'm gonna post pictures and here they are!

This is the tetramorium sp e queen that i kept out of the 4 she has the brood of the other 3 queens that i had

As you can see she is doing quite well and has 25-30 workers at this point.

She has quite a bit of pupae so I'm expecting a pretty large surge of workers here in the coming weeks.

[XZero38]

So its been almost two months since I've updated anything with pictures about this colony.

They are growing quite quickly I'm guessing roughly 50+ workers at this point.

Since my last update this colony has been moved into an antscanada hybrid nest with an AC outworld.

I know some of the angles are a little weird but i was trying to get some good pictures cause the lighting was complete crap in that room.

[ant fan]

Lots of queens - I know how exciting it is to find and want so many queens as I felt the same way, but find it much more satisfying with just 1 or 2 colonies.  Enjoying them much more - focused on them more, spoiled them more and have great success with them exploding in numbers. Good luck and enjoy. 

[XZero38]

This colony is currently in hibernation and i will post pictures when i bring them out of it.

 

Looking at these older pictures, the formicarium looks extremely empty to when i put them in hibernation in November.

This colony has exploded in numbers and they eat quite a bit of food and the pile of brood has grown quite large as well.

[noebl1]

Do you heat them (I think I see a cable.)  I kept mine in my office with no heating cable (temps in 70s and low 80s in summer), and they grew stably with no noticeable deaths, but only to about 30-40 workers by the Fall hibernation.  Still are in test tubes and plenty of room in there for them

[XZero38]

Do you heat them (I think I see a cable.)  I kept mine in my office with no heating cable (temps in 70s and low 80s in summer), and they grew stably with no noticeable deaths, but only to about 30-40 workers by the Fall hibernation.  Still are in test tubes and plenty of room in there for them

Yeah i had a heating cable heating 3 different colonies. Which let the workers move the brood around the nest as they needed usually the pupae and larva were moved closer to the heating cable and on occasion eggs as well. I would turn the heating cable off at night and turn it back on before i went to work in the morning to try and simulate the sun heating the ground.

[XZero38]

I brought this colony out of hibernation late last week and they are doing well i didn't put a heat cable on them for the first couple days to see how they would react and they didn't show much activity. After putting a heat cable on the nest and giving them some peanut butter and sunburst the colony started becoming very active. 

So far this is the only colony i have brought out of hibernation, the rest of my colonies will follow in a week or two

[sgheaton]

Well.... it's nice here now yeah? 60-70's this week. I was planning on March though I'll have to see now being as you've brought yours.
 

[XZero38]

So even though i brought this colony out of hibernation and fed them they are remaining fairly inactive, Ill see a couple workers in the outworld but nothing like it was before hibernation. This is still the only colony that i have taken out of hibernation so far. Its still be pretty cold here in Colorado. My house is usually kept at 60 degree when I'm there but when I'm not home my thermostat doesnt warm the house at all so it can get to the low 50s inside. As of now it doesnt look like there have been any casualties from hibernation all my queens seem to be alive from what i can tell.

[sgheaton]

Glad to hear you yourself survived the winter in your new house. 

[XZero38]

Quick update on this colony

They have been very active lately, lots of workers in the outworld. I ended up giving them a pre-crushed cricket last night and this morning it was gone. No signs of it in the outworld other then the piece of foil i gave it to them on, and even in their nest i couldn't find it.

Here are a few pictures from last night.

 

It doesnt look like there are very many workers but there are quite a lot of them in the piles of brood and piled up together.

[sgheaton]

The pictures I've been more interested in. I'll have to draw the path my colony has taken in their formicarium. There is new brood in their works though they are avoiding the heating wire. 

 

what's the white powder in the water tray? I'm assuming the white stuff inside is from the ants. 

[XZero38]

i think its just something from the perlite that's used as the hydration medium

[sgheaton]

Oh yeah? I always thought ACs had a mesh bottom and the entire formicarium was over a water trough that would evaporate up into chambers. 

[MichiganAnts]

Oh yeah? I always thought ACs had a mesh bottom and the entire formicarium was over a water trough that would evaporate up into chambers. 

it could be due to him using soft water? i know that i tend to get white residue in my watering cup if all the water evaporates

[XZero38]

There is a mesh on the bottom of the formicarium. the perlite is under it and holds moisture long then just leaving it as a pool of water.

 

I just recently started using soft water when i took them out of hibernation before that there was no water filtration.