132 replies to this topic

[LAnt]

very jealous

[dspdrew]

Update 7-9-2014
 
I moved the largest colony, the one with eight workers, into a foraging container. I poured a little sand in it and sprinkled a bunch of different seeds on top.
 

 

 

[Gregory2455]

Caught another P.californicus queen today while she was foraging! I hope I can get at least one to be as good as this...

What size test tubes do you use?

What kind of seeds do you use? Still the bluegrass?

[dspdrew]

I use 16mm x 150mm test tubes. The grass seeds I'm using now I think are Anthoxanthum occidentale, but I'm not sure. I haven't been using those Blue Grass seeds lately. Yeah, finding Pogonomyrmex is really pretty easy because they're always out foraging. Did you find one of the bicolor P. californicus, or the concolorous ones?

[Gregory2455]

Yes she was concolorous, both of them are. 

Edited by Gregory2455, July 9 2014 - 11:40 AM.

[LAnt]

Gregory, is this in the same area as Andrew's find

Edited by LAnt, July 9 2014 - 4:30 PM.

[Gregory2455]

Gregory, is this in the same area as Andrew's find

No, It was in the Santa Susana mountains just southeast of Simi Valley, CA. Pretty close to the Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park.

Edited by Gregory2455, July 9 2014 - 10:44 PM.

[dspdrew]

Update 10-2-2014
 
The colony I moved into the foraging container got up to about 30 workers, but started losing them faster than they were being produced. I cannot figure out why, so I took two more of my largest colonies from the test tubes which seem to all be doing great for the most part, and moved them into foraging containers as well. I'll see how well these do, and if they have problems, then I will need to figure out exactly what is wrong with their environment.

 

One of the colonies in the jars died. The remaining two seem to be doing great. I see quite a few workers out every day, and I can always, barely make out a very large pile of brood down inside the nests.

[Tpro4]

If you want I could help you out with a colony. no seriously

Btw how to add the thingy at the bottom like Greg with the thank you Thingie?

[Gregory2455]

That is the signature Tpro, you can edit it by going into your profile.

[Tpro4]

Okay shank you

[dspdrew]

Update 10-10-2014
 
The first colony in the foraging container is still losing workers, while the two new ones I setup a week ago have only lost one worker each. The rest of the colonies living in test tubes only, all seem to be rapidly losing workers now. Since most of their test tubes were getting low on water, I setup fresh new test tubes for all of them.

[dspdrew]

Update 12-28-2014
 
I am now down to five colonies: two in jars, and three in foraging containers. some colonies have done pretty well in the foraging containers, and some, not so much. Right now, one colony has about 18 workers, another has around 30, and the third has 150. The colony with 150 workers has been my best colony, so every time a queen would die, I would give them her brood. I also was given quite a bit of brood by Chromerust when one of his queens died. This colony must be doing pretty well though, because i know at least around 60 of those workers came from their queen. They have quite a few full-sized workers now too.
 

 
 
The colonies in the jars are doing great. I have no idea how many workers they both have, but I estimate somewhere around 50 each. The jars they're in are all cracked and getting worse all the time. I put way too much Hydrostone in the bottoms of them, and it has expanded quite a bit, causing them to split.
 

 
 
I created a little square antfarm style formicarium for each of them, in hopes that I can get them to move in and I can throw these broken up jars away.
 

 
 
I connected them to the jars with some vinyl tubing and put heat pads under the jars to help dry them out. Hopefully once they're completely dry, the ants will decide to make a new home in the more moist dirt of the new formicarium.
 

 

 

 
 
One colony is already very busy digging a new nest.
 

[drtrmiller]

What tool do you use to cut the holes in the lids?

 

And won't the heat under the jar have the unintended effect of keeping the old nest warm and moist, given that there is not adequate ventilation to dry it out?

[dspdrew]

I cut out the tops using a table saw and a drill press. The lids on the jars are actually off now.

[drtrmiller]

I just wish there was some way to reduce the amount of small particles that end up caked on the viewing surface, without increasing the risk of cave-ins.  

 

Dirt nests just seem...dirty, to me.

[dspdrew]

Yeah, that was part of the reason I made this. I want to start trying different ways to let the ants dig while still having a clear view of them. This is definitely not one of those ways.

[LAnt]

Do you use a heat lamp or mat generally because now its getting quite cold.

[dspdrew]

No. It is getting cold outside, but it should not normally be that cold inside your house unless your roof is missing or something. I have been keeping my apartment cooler than normal now that it's winter time to give my pets a more natural environment.

[drtrmiller]

Drew, you should have tried an agar-based setup :~P