48 replies to this topic

[Anhzor]

 

 

 

 

 

pogonomyrmex subnitidus, the set up has been running for 3 weeks... no mold so far!  the green specks is the food i gave them.

 

What do you guys think?

 

NOTE: i didn't use sugar to make this gel, the ingredient is a tablespoon +teaspoon of agar to a cup of water.  You have to play around with the ratio until you get a right mixture. 

Edited by Anhzor, August 29 2014 - 11:19 PM.

[Alza]

gel farms kill off ants. i suspect yours won't do good in there .-. i would move them

[Anhzor]

gel farms kill off ants. i suspect yours won't do good in there .-. i would move them

there's no sugar in them.

[dspdrew]

gel farms kill off ants. i suspect yours wont do good in there .-. i would move them

I don't think the gel is used for food; it's just for hydration. This looks like a pretty good idea.

[Alza]

so its safe ?

[Anhzor]

so its safe ?

yup, agar is use in alot of food product. Its basically a chain of carbohydrates like cellulose or gelatin.  You can also use it to make your own ant food, by simply adding whatever you want into the gel mixture.

[Alza]

i honestly don't know what half of that meant but aight.

[Anhzor]

 

P. rugosus digging through the gel.

[Alza]

what are the benefits of this kind of soil ? or whatever it is 

[Anhzor]

It stimulate their natural environment more, but i think the best benefit is that you get to watch them dig.

Edited by Anhzor, August 30 2014 - 12:37 AM.

[Alza]

do you sell these ones online ? my present subnitidus queen i have should be put in one of these 

[dspdrew]

I think this is actually a pretty good idea. This would eliminate a lot of the problems people claim test tubes have.

[Alza]

bruh! you could make some mad money off this

[Alza]

also does fogging only happen in the cheap plastic ones ? and i have one glass tube that doesent fog, but they are in different locations 

[Anhzor]

Fogging happens when there is a change in temperature or pressure that causes water vapors to condense.  You can make this set up at home, just go find some agar at the supermarket.

Edited by Anhzor, August 30 2014 - 1:16 AM.

[Alza]

it looks powdery, and after you get it what do you do ???

[Anhzor]

if this thread get popular enough ill make a video on how to do it. 

[Alza]

k

[Crystals]

I never thought of agar for a test tube.  But the species I keep usually do well in test tubes, but I can see how this can help the species that don't do well in test tubes.  This would definitely be handy for some species like Pogonomyrmex, Solenopsis molesta, Myrmica, etc.

[dspdrew]

One problem I have with Acromyrmex, is they get their fungus pellets stuck in the cotton and end up destroying them. I'm not positive that that is the reason they end up destroyed, but I am positive they get them stuck in the cotton as well as their mandibles (all ants seem to have this happen sometimes), and it sure looks like this contributes to the destruction of their pellets. I think this idea might work really good for this species.

 

I think all together this is a great idea, and would even eliminate the need for an actual test tube with a sealed end (for vacuum/air pressure purposes), however, the one problem I do see, is moving the colony to a new setup would probably require waiting for them to move themselves, which I rarely do. If they've dug into the agar, you're probably not going to be shaking them out. Again, for Acromyrmex this is still the perfect solution, since due to the fungus garden, I would never be shaking them out of their test tube anyways. Since I don't have any new Acromyrmex queens with their fungus pellets at this point, I probably won't be trying this for them until next year if I end up catching some more.