39 replies to this topic

[Mathiacus]

Sorry to hear they are dying mate. That is an exceptional looking queen.

[silver tail]

thanks bro...
4 worker died, but the queen and 1 worker survive.

I don't know why they are dead. but they look like they are attending to the brood.

[silver tail]

My ants colony now

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[Mathiacus]

Nice! They bounced back nicely. That is a good looking little colony you have there. Well done.

[silver tail]

thanks you

 

update, there are 14 workers now and they start exploring and hunting

[silver tail]

update of my colony.

there are some cocoon that is much larger than other cocoon, like 2 times larger. will it be a soldier ant?

 

i think the colony number now is about 40.

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[Mathiacus]

Can you post a picture of the whole set up? I am curious about where the tubes go. :-)

[silver tail]

sure, i will post picture of the whole set up. but its still expending.

there are some chamber for me to drop the food, some chamber to contain the water. the ants pick some chamber to dumb all the waste like the poop and the left over food like meal worm skin.

 

i am actually planning to redo the whole set up, but how do i get them to move to the new house?

please advise from expert here

[Mathiacus]

I have had success with making the new nest dark and then shining a bright light on the old one. I'm not sure how well that would work if they have always been kept in the light. I am fairly sure that and letting the old one dry out are the most common methods.

[Mathiacus]

My R.metallica are just transferred by gravity and tweezers ;-)

[dspdrew]

Chilling the old nest, and warming the new one works too sometimes.

[Mathiacus]

I thought it was bad to chill tropical species?

[Crystals]

Not chill them like in the fridge, just use a damp towel dunked in cool water.  A few degrees difference is usually all it takes to convince heat loving species to move to the warmer spot.

Keep the new nest warm, moist, and dark and just let the old one dry.  Not sure how warm your house temperature is, sometimes room temperature is cool enough that some species of ants find a slightly warmer location more to their liking.

[Mathiacus]

Ah! Makes sense.

[silver tail]

thanks guys for the advise. now the chamber become so cramp and it full of ants.

do you think its wise to probe them to move to slightly bigger chamber?

i notice the queen isn't as productive as before. probably due to space constrain and probably i should start feeding them more?

 

and this morning i saw the 1st soldier(i think its soldier) with huge head and jaws. !!!

[Mathiacus]

Your system seems modular. Just add more areas to the existing setup.

[Gregory2455]

I want to see the soldier! You probably need to add more space judging by what you are saying.

[silver tail]

they actually don't occupy all the space i give them. they occupy one chamber, that's all. but i am worried that that particular chamber they are using are too small

[silver tail]

i can't really take a clear picture of the soldier now. its too full of the worker.

[silver tail]

Hi...I have been trying to get the queen move from smaller dull chamber to bigger and clearer one
I did what ever advised but fail.

I then try to catch the queen and move her. They are panic for a few.minutes and everything back to normal. But the worker remain in the old chamber looking after the eggs and the queen happily stay in new chamber with a few worker.

I catch a foreign ants injure it and throw it in to.the chamber to make them panic.
They got very panic and start moving the eggs to the new chamber. None dare to attack the intruder, including the soldier.