383 replies to this topic

[ANTdrew]

Woah! You’re back!

[Serafine]

Tried something new - hedgehog food (it includes silkworms and some other stuff). They sort of liked it but it wasn't a huge burner.

 

 

 

Waxworms! They absolutely LOVE those. Same for the moths they develop into.

 

 

 

 

 

Crickets! Still a favorite.

 

 

 

 

Their (secondary) garbage pile. A wasp fell into the setup one night and it was beyond saving before i realized what was going on.

 

 

 

More waxmoths, this time with some cocoons.

 

 

 

Edited by Serafine, August 23 2022 - 5:44 PM.

[Serafine]

Nest overview.

 

 

 

 

 

Nests pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Close-ups.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Serafine, August 23 2022 - 5:45 PM.

[Serafine]

Nest tubes.

 

 

 

 

 

Outworld tubes.

 

 

 

 

For some reason the far-off workers really like this outworld.

 

 

 

Lots of dead ants needed to be cleaned out.

 

 

 

Eggs!

 

Edited by Serafine, August 23 2022 - 5:45 PM.

[Serafine]

Just realized i never posted these.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Serafine, August 23 2022 - 4:34 PM.

[Serafine]

So... I had to re-do the entire lower section of my ant setup (the part with the nests and the big glass tub next to the nests), that was fun.

The nest got disconnected according to their heating cable mounting (a batch of 4 nests and a batch of 2 nests), and due to the nests and the glass tub not being at the same height level anymore the entrance tubing had to be replaced as well.

 

The ants didn't like it and began to work on the outworld cotton plugs after a while (thankfully I had enough spare nest port plugs left so at least this wasn't an issue) which kind of set the entire operation on a timer.

There were not that many ants in the outworld as I had removed the covering blanket a few days ago so it wasn't that bad after all.

 

This is the finished product. It actually looks better than it did before.

 

 

 

 

 

The water feeder leaked and they immediately took the opportunity to dig a cavern underneath. No they have a hinding spot close to their water source.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ants eating stuff...

 

 

Waxmoths. They do like those a lot but the initial reaction isn't as strong as you'd expect.

 

 

Decided to throw in the occasional mealworm. Usually they don't like these much but this time they got carved out to the last bit.

 

 

Reaction to waxmoths.

 

 

Reaction ot roaches. Those are a hit.

 

 

Lately they got 2 packs of locusts and ate them within 3 days.

 

 

 

All you can eat buffet - locusts, roaches and crickets.

 

 

 

They really really like those crickets.

 

[Serafine]

Nest pictures, overview.

 

 

 

 

 

Nest pcitures, single nests.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Serafine]

Nest pictures, central chambers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nest pictures, water tubes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outworld tubes.

 

 

 

[Serafine]

October 2022

 

 

Got a nice new addition from a pet store sale.

 

 

 

First I had to make space for it though.

 

 

 

 

It's in and they're already exploring it.

 

 

 

 

 

Yep, that was definitely too much water.

 

 

 

 

 

Some pupation going on but not much.

 

 

 

Tasty crickets.

 

[Serafine]

November 2022

 

 

Cat food with jelly. They mostly go for the jelly, as usual.

 

 

 

 

Still condensation in the nest.

 

 

 

The aftermath of another fishing expedition.

 

 

 

 

The clay log definitely got accepted. I'm even sure the queen is in there.

 

 

 

 

[Serafine]

December 2022

 

 

There's STILL condensation in some of the nests.

 

 

 

This one was hit the worst by the overwatering and well... it didn't take it too well.

 

 

 

The backside of the nest looks pretty rough, apparently heating and excessive watering don't go well together.

 

 

 

Time to get the ants out, fortunately they really don't like light, so daylight and a lamp was enough to encourage most of them to leave within a few hours.

 

 

 

This is what two months of way too much water did to the nest's heating cable mount and backside. Fortunately it's the only one that got damage badly, so they'll have to do with five nests for now.

 

 

 

 

I also chose this would be a good time to plug out the heating cable
There's less brood anyway and they huddled it together into piles.

 

 

 

Two nice shots of ants in the outworld.

 

 

 

[Serafine]

January 2022

 

 

There was a small misshap...

 

 

 

I tried to give them some blue-colored sugar water but didn't properly mount the glass into the foot of the feeder, so it fell off and the blue liquid spilled all over the outworld.

 

 

 

Hilariously it turned green upon contact with the red sand. The ants were slurping it up quickly, so at least i got some nice pictures of ants with green butts out of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The condensation in the nest is FINALLY coming down.

 

 

 

They do have lots of small larvae pretty much but no pupae.

 

 

 

 

 

Nest 4 and 5 are starting to look a bit empty (this is nest 4).

 

 

 

All the larger larvae are now in their hibernation state where they look like little bathtubs.

 

 

 

 

Yep, that is some really dirty glass.

 

 

 

I still give them some occasional sunbaths which they enjoy, but they do this huddling together in small groups which looks kinda funny.

 

 

 

Also replaced their large feeder with the smaller one for a while as their sugar consumption went down a lot.

 

Edited by Serafine, May 26 2023 - 7:26 AM.

[Serafine]

February 2023

 

 

There is not much happening. The heating cable is off and the room hasn't been heated either. Room temperature is around 15°C.

They're still eating but overall activity is low and there's no pupae at all.

 

Glass is still dirty. I'm gonna get an aquarium cleaning sponge soon.

 

 

 

 

And it's clean again!

 

 

Edited by Serafine, May 26 2023 - 3:49 PM.

[Serafine]

(Early) March 2023

 

 

The first nest is looking kinda full, the other ones not so much.

Room is still cold, no pupae anywhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's a surprising amount of small larvae.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The clay log is now full of ants.

 

 

 

So i started a small test.

 

 

 

They get green sugar water, let's see how long it takes to reach the nest and if it's visible on the brood.

 

 

 

They're still eating surprisingly well, despite having zero pupae anywhere and the room being rather cold.

 

 

Edited by Serafine, May 26 2023 - 7:42 AM.

[Serafine]

(Mid-late) March 2023

 

 

It's getting a bit warmer outside, the first bees have appeared.

 

 

 

 

The first green-gastered ant made it into the nest. It took almost two weeks.

 

 

 

Looks like some of the larger larvae (on the left side, around the pile of small ones) have left their bathtub hibernation state.

 

 

 

Green larvae in one of the outworld tubes!

 

 

 

 

More round larvae and a few greenish ones.

 

 

 

Many others are still in hibernation mode though.

 

 

 

Clumps of fresh brood in the nest water tubes.

 

[Serafine]

April 2023

 

 

Tasty roach.

 

 

 

Tasty locusts.

 

 

 

All the larvae fed with the green sugar water are developing yellow butts.

 

 

 

Not sure if this is due to the colored sugar water or just regular discoloring of aging vinyl exposed to ant chemicals.

 

 

 

They just had a feast.

 

 

 

 

More yellow butts.

 

[Serafine]

April 2023

 

 

So it's April 18th now. Yesterday I started heating the nests again, by now the ants have clustered all of the brood near the heated sides of the nests.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Didn't take them long to realize that the tube connecting the first outworld with the second outworld is even warmer than the nests.

 

 

 

 

 

Wet cat food was very popular.

 

 

 

 

 

April 25th, pupation has started in the nest.

 

 

 

April 26th, first male in the tube connecting the two large outworlds.

 

[Serafine]

May 2023

 

 

It's wild fly season again!

 

 

 

 

May 5th, pupation is in full swing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love how the green sugar water almost has a glow effect to it in the images.

 

 

 

 

Cat food and a roach. They have started to process the solid cat food bits.

 

 

 

The log is now full of brood.

 

 

 

May 14th, cocoons doing nicely, lots more ants soon.

 

 

 

[Serafine]

May 2023

 

 

The log a nest now.

 

 

 

 

Cat pastry.

 

 

 

They brought out the brood for a sunbath.

 

 

 

May 18th, this is what the outworld-connecting tube looks now.

 

 

 

Males!

 

 

 

 

They really prefer their roaches freshly molted.

 

Edited by Serafine, May 26 2023 - 8:44 AM.

[Serafine]

May 2023

 

May 25th, males! Lots of males!

And they're crapping all over the glass.