22 replies to this topic

[dermy]

Day#1- September 4th/2015

 I was outside and found an old flower pot full of ants. I took the time to dump it and find out what was inside. Ended up with at least 1 queen and about 200 ish Workers. There is still tons in the Flower Pot and I would like to get those out too. Perhaps even find another Queen and start a Second Colony. I'm going to be trying Free-Ranging in larger Scale with this Colony. I have already tested it with a smaller Colony [1 Queen and about 10 Workers] and they seem to do alright, but with only 10 workers they don't seem very capable of taking down prey by themselves. I will be trying it in my basement like I have already tried with the Other Colony.

 

This time I will Probably need to monitor them better, and change a few things.

 

1- Make sure the nest remains in the same position, as this could confuse workers

2- Possibly leave them setup but unable to free-range for a few hours to get their bearings and make sure the queen can not escape! [I've already tested this and I'm pretty sure the queens can't get out]

3- Give them some sugars right off the bat, just because I'm free-ranging them doesn't mean they will be completely self-sufficient

 

I'm sure I'll get a lot of questions and stuff. I'll try to take some video of them Free-Ranging and stuff. I can't wait.

Edited by dermy, September 12 2015 - 4:35 PM.

[Billy]

Sounds interesting. How do you keep the queen from escaping? My Myrmica ruginodis queens aren't much bigger than the workers. 

[dermy]

I use a modified tube with a "queen excluding device thing" near the end.

[Billy]

Cool. Does that work by creating a gap small enough to prevent the passage of a queen but large enough to allow that of workers?

[dermy]

Yes that is how it works. I tested it by seeing if the queen could get out first then attached it to their current nesting container.

[LC3]

Cool hopefully your parents don't find out

[dermy]

An update on this, I have to post-pone it for a bit, stupid ants chewed through my Queen Excluding device. But I will Free-Range Again!

[William. T]

Sucks. I was interesting in this! But I am thinking of doing it, except with tubing outside.

[dspdrew]

An update on this, I have to post-pone it for a bit, stupid ants chewed through my Queen Excluding device. But I will Free-Range Again!

 

I figured that might happen. I'm assuming it was a screen, and probably not a steel one.

[dermy]

No but I bet metal screen would work. It was a stick piece thing that made the tube much narrower then normal. It worked well until they chewed it

[Billy]

How about a tiny ball of aluminium foil? Might take them a bit longer to chew through that.

[dermy]

To be honest, I'm thinking about cutting my losses, and waiting until one of my Larger species has workers. Then I know 100% sure that it will work. I'd hate to loose any colony

[dermy]

I'm going to keep this Journal going, even though it's not a free-ranging Colony, I've changed the Title and such to represent it as just a normal Journal. The Colony has at least 1 queen, and about 500+ Workers easily. I'm still currently working on getting the rest of the Colony out of the planter, there is just so many workers, and I'm trying my best to get them all. I still haven't given them a proper setup, but I'm in the process of giving them a nice Foraging area. They eat like crazy, so It can be hard to keep up with them [especially without a Foraging area].

 

When I get time I'll upload some Photos of it all.

 

 

 

 

I almost had a disaster, my brother [who else....] was messing with the colony. I got it just in time.

Edited by dermy, September 12 2015 - 6:13 PM.

[LC3]

Always your brother. I'm surprised you haven't hit him in the crotch with an osmium base ball bat... yet

[dermy]

No but It's getting very frustrating. I can't have anything go right because of him.

 

Colony has been eating well I'm going to give them some sugar on a stick.

[dermy]

September 15/2015-

I finally gave these guys the right setup they deserve, being my largest colony I gave them my largest setup. I gave them a "Modified Dirt Setup"

which means not really good visibility, but with two other colonies of this species I'm not too sad. Rather have a happy Colony then a sad one. I've been feeding them and they've been eating, mainly taking in protein [they had small larvae when I got them] so they should have a few more workers before Hibernation. Since I just collected them [and want to give them a little time to grow] I might just end up putting them in hibernation later then the other Colonies.

 

I'll get some pictures and stuff of their setup up soon.

[dermy]

These things are doing quite well, I've seen a bit of larvae, no eggs [hard to see in a dirt setup] so I'm thinking they will just grow the larvae and either hibernate soon or [hopefully] have them turn into workers first. I don't have the best success with Colonies over-wintering brood for some reason. Or at least not Myrmica.

[dermy]

I'm really thinking they either have a very happy laying queen somewhere [she has finally settled down and is no longer foraging!] or they still have larvae left, as they have been taking in lots of protein. I'll be hibernating this Colony this year, since I just got them and I doubt I could trick them into staying awake for me

[AntsAreUs]

Pictures?

[dermy]

Pictures?

 

Super sorry I've been really busy

 

I'll definitely get them sometime this week. Hopefully my shadow doesn't get in the way this time