52 replies to this topic

[noebl1]

Also the color difference bugs my OCD side a bit, need to find some PLA filament the same color of the Hydrostone    Then again ants will make a mess eventually anyways, so will just ignore it.

 

Looking forward to taking them out of hibernation in a couple months.  But will be a bit before they will be added to this.  I have all the parts I need for the new 3D printer I am putting together to go up to 300x300mm prints (well a bit less since won't go edge to edge.)   Coworker is cutting the aluminum rails for me hopefully this weekend or next, then I can start assembling that.

 

Next design:  Find a better vinyl tubing adapter to pass thru the side of a container like an outworld.  If I print a two part adapter with ABS I can use acetone to glue in place, but after printing PLA for awhile, really don't want to go back to ABS.

Edited by noebl1, January 21 2017 - 1:41 PM.

[Leo]

nice

[noebl1]

I'm happy with how the formicarium turned out as the Hydrostone really lightened up as is dried, so color is pretty close to the PLA  Unless you really look at it, can't tell it was poured in at all from the top.

 

Checked on the ants today, looks like when we had a power loss a week ago or so ago, the wine chiller defaulted back to ~53F, so I just brought it back down again (the cheap sensor I had in there said 49.5F, so really no idea how long it was set higher.)  I have a WiFi temp sensor monitor ready to go for it that would have alerted me to this happening, but need to rip the fridge a part to find a way to bring in power, so was going to wait until Spring as not to disturb them.  Most of the wine chiller inhabitants seemed to be pretty spaced out still and hibernating, including the Camponotus I had, so think the slight rise in temp didn't mess them up too much.  The three Tetramorium colonies I have are all doing well as all three queens appear to be alive, and no obvious signs of dead workers, though slightly more active at 49F than they were at 46F. Also noticed one of the colonies moved their brood pile that was underneath the cotton swab out in the open a bit so I could finally see it.  Looks to be about a couple dozen larvae pilled up for this Spring getting ready to go.  I promised one of the members two of the three colonies since I don't need all three, so hoping they make it just a couple more months of hibernation for him.

[noebl1]

Thinking I may take them out of hibernation this week. I was going to wait another 2-3 weeks; been in since Nov 5th but wasn't really cold for them in the basement until Nov 22 when I got a wine chiller.  However noticed that the water in their test tubes is dangerously low if not completely out.  They are connected to the test tube portal clones I made, and I know at least two of the colonies have found the second water source as saw some in there at some point, but not sure if they are hydrating enough with it.  Thinking the fear of them drying out may out weigh the wait for a couple more weeks of hibernation.  We're seeing Tetramorium active locally due to the warmer temps, so wild ones have woken up some what (until it cools off a bit later this week).  Thoughts?

[Nathant2131]

I notice that Tetramoium have very short hibernations in the wild. (or at least locally) I had them foraging In mid-late Nov and a few colonies already started waking up last weekend. Never knew how cold tolerant they were.

[noebl1]

I pulled them out last night from the chiller, 3 of the test tubes they are in are indeed totally dry.  I noticed in one of the water test tubes, there was a forager in there, so there's hope.  Basement temp is 55F, so will let them slowly warm up over the next couple of days.    We had another power failure last week, so the chiller reset back to 52F this time, so they are slowly creeping up temp wise anyways.  The other ants in there, including the Camponotus, were still very much hibernating.  

[noebl1]

I indeed took them out about 2 week ago, and looks like very little causalities (looks like on average 1-3 per tube may have died.)   They are readily taking Sun Burst nectar and pretty much any protein I offer right now (strangely really like chicken.)   They also have all found the 2nd tubes full of water and going there to hydrate.  I am curious if they end up moving to the new tubes on their own.

 

I noticed one design issue with the top of the test tube portals I made.  The spacing on the mesh is so dense, it's really hard to see the tiny ants on the bottom.  May look at alternatives. You can see (or barely see ) what I am talking about here for visibility:

Edited by noebl1, March 17 2017 - 2:05 PM.

[noebl1]

Small update as been awhile but nothing terrible exciting.

 

Down to two colonies as gave one away a few weeks ago to another member as all three have been doing well.  Had another bump in workers, so started to think about moving at least one of them up to using one of the formicariums I printed.

One of them up close; about 1/3 of the workers visible:

 

 

Made some progress on my formicarium prototype I plan to use for them if it works out.  Ended up using a stepper bit based on suggestions from other post, and worked really well.  Did have one small superficial crack as mainly  I got a bit impatient while drilling   I may print a drilling template to better support the plastic.  Here it is so far:

 

 

Going to let this sit for a few days to see how the hydration works.  I used a natural sponge, hoping that doesn't cause any issues.

 

[noebl1]

These guys are still doing pretty well considering some of my mistakes.  I finally hooked up the nest design I was testing to their portal, and ran into a problem... My plan was to have the nest in the cabinet below, and the outworld area on the top.  All well and good until I realized (and I thought I read it somewhere), that Tetramorium apparently are terrible climbers.  So they would get down into the new nest area, then get stuck as too steep to get back up.  Finally realized my mistake, and then made things worse.  When I picked up the nest and brought it up out of the cabinet, I tilted it by accident and then proceeded to flood one of the test tube portals.  I quickly cleaned it up, but then ended up having a bunch of escapees I had to gather up.  They did an excellent job defending their nest.  In the end, the ones that were stuck in the nest finally starting going back to the test tube, and noticed they are starting to explore it again now that the tubing it much less steep.

 

[AntsCalifornia]

Can you give me the plans to this 3d print. I've been looking forever for a simple design like this. I'm planning on making something like this for S. xyloni, Pheidole , brachymyrmex, and S. molesta. I'll still have to look for more designs to make for my bigger ant species.

[noebl1]

Can you give me the plans to this 3d print. I've been looking forever for a simple design like this. I'm planning on making something like this for S. xyloni, pheidole, brachymyrmex, and S. molesta. I'll still have to look for more designs to make for my bigger ant species.

 

No problem at all; can be used for non-commercial purposes.  Can't seem to upload non-images to the forum, but PM me your email and I can send it across.

[noebl1]

Just a quick update after pulling from their 2nd hibernation, this nest design was a total fail for a few factors:

• Colony was still too small
• The walls were way too high
• Hydrostone as @dspdrew found dissolves with water passing thru it

I've started testing in the Learning as I go 3D printing nests thread a newer nest design, which switches to using tile instead of Hydrostone, and cut the height of the chambers in more than half. However still not quite happy with this design yet, may make the chambers a bit shallower:

 

In the mean time, I've also decided I really don't like the Test Tube portal clones with these small ants, as they are a PITA to keep clean as the Tetramorium are constantly trying to escape thru the top.  I just pulled them out of the wine fridge from their 2nd hibernation, removed them from the test tube portal, and added cotton to cap off their test tube.  They're sitting in the basement temps in the low 50s to slowly warm them (and the water up to avoid flooding.)  Probably bring them upstairs in a few days.

 

I'm now trying a different approach to these smaller colonies, and using Boxbox pencil containers from The Container Store with hydrostone at the bottom, scattered with loose sand and coconut fiber.  Made a couple of these over the weekend in prep for them; just waiting for it to finishing curing:

Edited by noebl1, March 4 2018 - 5:55 PM.

[noebl1]

Well, for some reason I lost both queens, with one back on the end of March, and the second one today.  No workers were lost, only the queens started acting unusual (kept leaving the test tube), and then shortly later died.