31 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

Update 10-9-2015

This colony's growing fast; they now have over 300 workers. They're still free to forage where they want, and they're starting to get into more and more stuff as they get larger. They're always cleaning up the left-overs after I finish feeding the ants, and I'm always finding them all over the spare liquid feeders too. The Grotube seems to be working well for them. Looking at their larvae, you can see how much hummingbird nectar they've been getting.
 

 
 
There's about another 100 workers that just hang out outside the nest, underneath the out world.

[dspdrew]

Update 2-2-2016

When I moved, I had to put this colony in something and could no longer allow it to roam free. The container I put them in got very moldy during the few weeks I was moving, and most of the colony ended up dying. I finally cleaned it out, and they are doing much better now. They only have about 150 workers now, but they have a LOT of new brood, so they should be bouncing back pretty quick.

[dspdrew]

Update 4-6-2016

Well the colony sure did bounce back. They are up to around 500 workers now, and still producing tons of brood. I haven't gotten enough mesh lids made yet, so their container doesn't have much ventilation. That's the reason why they're nesting all over the place.
 

 

 

 

 

[dspdrew]

Update 6-6-2016

This colony is doing great. I estimate over 1000 workers now. They probably have about 1000 brood as well. I just moved them into this new formicarium I made for them yesterday. I'm a little confused because these workers clearly have a red thorax. It's dark, but not almost black like I initially thought.
 

 

 

 

 

[dspdrew]

Update 7-9-2016

This colony is still growing like crazy. I estimate their size to be around 2500 workers now.

 

I noticed when removing their formicarium from the water source, almost the entire colony piled into the nest. They clearly like it much drier.

 

[dspdrew]

Update 9-24-2016

Queen is nowhere to be found. It obviously died a while back. This was a pretty cool colony. I did find a couple more of these queens a week ago, so maybe one of those will be as successful as this one was.

[dspdrew]

Update 10-22-2016

I decided to sell all of these colonies and discontinue this journal.

[antgenius123]

Update 10-9-2015

This colony's growing fast; they now have over 300 workers. They're still free to forage where they want, and they're starting to get into more and more stuff as they get larger. They're always cleaning up the left-overs after I finish feeding the ants, and I'm always finding them all over the spare liquid feeders too. The Grotube seems to be working well for them. Looking at their larvae, you can see how much hummingbird nectar they've been getting.
 

 
 
There's about another 100 workers that just hang out outside the nest, underneath the out world.

Did you make this formicarium yourself or someone else did it from the printed version?

Update 10-9-2015

This colony's growing fast; they now have over 300 workers. They're still free to forage where they want, and they're starting to get into more and more stuff as they get larger. They're always cleaning up the left-overs after I finish feeding the ants, and I'm always finding them all over the spare liquid feeders too. The Grotube seems to be working well for them. Looking at their larvae, you can see how much hummingbird nectar they've been getting.
 

 
 
There's about another 100 workers that just hang out outside the nest, underneath the out world.

Did you make this formicarium yourself or someone else did it from the printed version?

Nice ants by the way

[Mdrogun]

Update 10-9-2015

This colony's growing fast; they now have over 300 workers. They're still free to forage where they want, and they're starting to get into more and more stuff as they get larger. They're always cleaning up the left-overs after I finish feeding the ants, and I'm always finding them all over the spare liquid feeders too. The Grotube seems to be working well for them. Looking at their larvae, you can see how much hummingbird nectar they've been getting.
 

 
 
There's about another 100 workers that just hang out outside the nest, underneath the out world.

Did you make this formicarium yourself or someone else did it from the printed version?

Byformica used to make these nests but he stopped making them. While they have been hinting at new products coming out, as far as I'm aware no new formicaria have been released.

[antgenius123]

Update 10-9-2015

This colony's growing fast; they now have over 300 workers. They're still free to forage where they want, and they're starting to get into more and more stuff as they get larger. They're always cleaning up the left-overs after I finish feeding the ants, and I'm always finding them all over the spare liquid feeders too. The Grotube seems to be working well for them. Looking at their larvae, you can see how much hummingbird nectar they've been getting.
 

 
 
There's about another 100 workers that just hang out outside the nest, underneath the out world.

Did you make this formicarium yourself or someone else did it from the printed version?

Byformica used to make these nests but he stopped making them. While they have been hinting at new products coming out, as far as I'm aware no new formicaria have been released.

Oh ok

[Mdrogun]

Update 10-9-2015

This colony's growing fast; they now have over 300 workers. They're still free to forage where they want, and they're starting to get into more and more stuff as they get larger. They're always cleaning up the left-overs after I finish feeding the ants, and I'm always finding them all over the spare liquid feeders too. The Grotube seems to be working well for them. Looking at their larvae, you can see how much hummingbird nectar they've been getting.
 

 
 
There's about another 100 workers that just hang out outside the nest, underneath the out world.

Did you make this formicarium yourself or someone else did it from the printed version?

Byformica used to make these nests but he stopped making them. While they have been hinting at new products coming out, as far as I'm aware no new formicaria have been released.

Oh ok

If you have a 3D printer you could make one yourself. The 3D model for this formicarium is here: http://www.thingiver...om/thing:409298
 
you still would need to cut out the middle, get acrylic or glass, cut holes in said acrylic and put some (what I'm assuming is grout) inside the nest but it's completely possible to do on your own. I'm not sure what you'd do for the outworld though. You could probably use some vinyl tubing and connect the formicarium to a plastic container.
 
To be honest though, I've been printing off a lot of different formicaria and of the many I printed out, I did not like this one very much. You waste a lot of filament because of the small amount of spaced used and it requires a lot more work than some other ones. My favorite one so far was this Antscanada replica one that you only need a small piece of acrylic or glass for and some metal mesh. I can't find where I got it from but I could send the file to you if you wanted.

Edited by dspdrew, June 20 2020 - 4:01 PM.

[Leo]

send me one pls