154 replies to this topic

[anttics]

I would keep all the floors. In such a large colony, they will use the top floors for seeds. Even if they have all the extra space, once they grow to fill it, they will clean out all the junk that they may have put in there. You could also possibly injure the queen by moving the layers so best have it set in place.

The way i design it. It will be dificult to crush the queen. If i need to add a floor. Ill doubt the queen will be far away from thw drinking floor. If she is at the top floor. A few minutes after uncovering them.she will run down to lower floors. At which point. I can place a new floor. I really like how many amts i can have in here. How easy it is to take apart. Kind of like a bee hive. I have always dream of a proper terrarium with a colomy inside. I guess ill try that with my camp. Fragilis. They are not as destructive as v. Pergandei would be inside a terrarium

[anttics]

Ok today is the day. I have all parts of the massive formicarium. Here are some pics before I put it toguether.


These are the levels in between the drinking floor which was a massive success, and the top floor out world


This will be the top floor.


This is the drinking floor. I decided to use sponges. It has gravel at the bottom. Vinyl tube on the side. is how I refill the bottom. This is like drews formocarium. But at a massive scale. I made sure to put estra gravel where pilars for the floors above will stand. It could crack the floor. Or not. Not willing to take a chance. Hydro system worked perfectly. It does not lool like, but the whole floor is wet. Ill will leave it drying for one week. Just to make sure all chemicals are gone.

This is day 2. 3 or more to finish, and tranfer the colony to their last formicarium.

Edited by anttics, December 16 2018 - 2:40 PM.

[anttics]

Ok all done. It dried faster than I thought. Here is a pic of the whole nest. The blocks are on top in a bin.

https://imgur.com/gallery/yTGjsDA

I conectes the bin to the aquarium with sticks.I'm hoping the queen moves at night or better yet when i can record her. In the morning

Edited by anttics, December 18 2018 - 8:10 PM.

[Rstheant]

Nice

[anttics]

The whole move is finish. i was even able to find the queen. SHE resides in the second floor above the hydrated floor. I they have been able to filll 2 floors only. I estinate 40000 would fit. The only issue will be the small foraging area. Here are some pics.


First floor the hydrated floor. They make ant bread here, and drink water for the whole colony.


The pilars which they us3 to go on the roof


The queen is somewhere in the middle where more ants are at.


The third floor is their granery. As well as the forth floor. Both are almost empty.


This is how i cover the floors. The white tape. Has a heat cable attached.


When i want to check the colony i just rise it up.

I do not like how the out world looks. Next timw i will use dirt pushed into the hydrostone. The colony has less deads than in previous nest. Which haf not much water available

It was a massive success. I will call these type of formicarium. never done before. metropolis formicarium.

Edited by anttics, December 26 2018 - 11:54 AM.

[Nare]

This is really neat. I'd love to give it a try myself sometime. I wonder how well it'd work with termites...

[anttics]

This is really neat. I'd love to give it a try myself sometime. I wonder how well it'd work with termites...

I'm not sure how to care for termintes. But it should work. You could put wood on every floor. Exempt the hydrated floor for obvious reason of decomposition.

I wanted to add a concern about the design. Its nothing major easy fix. Just unexpected, and funny. The colony seems to rarely use the main two entraces. Which are big. You can see it on the pics. They seem to only enter on small uneven parts of the top floor. In some parts. They can enter 1 ant at the time. I have discover 6 of thwse tiny holes. I have placed food for their large amount of larva. They can not take it inside. Since they only try to use the small cracks to enter. The food i leave outside just dries off.
How funny that is. This colony is not smart enough to understand. There are entraces at the middle of the out world. 50 times bigger.
Ill give them a few weeks to process this predicament. Perhaps they will solve it. In time.
I have also found a tiny crack at the hydration floor next to the glass. This could be a major issue, but got lucky. 1 ant got stuck at the crack it was too small you see. She can not be removed either. She has beem dead at that crack for 3 days now. I doubt it she would mold. So far so good. I might have called success to soon. I did a poor job sealing the hydration floor. 1 crack can ruin it all. I have perfected the process of sealing the water reservoir, but its too late. Ill keep posting how it goes. If they get smart. Or if the ant blocking the crack molds.

[anttics]

Update the idea was good. It will be perfect for novomessor. Unfortunately this ants are too small, and are getting into the water, and decoponsing in it. I have decided to try the hybrid nest with k23 blocks attached to the glass, and covered in dirt. i will also use the floors from their fail formicarium. I will put them next the the back glass. A total.of 2 floors for extra space, and visibility. those will be cover with dirt as well. I already have a larger tank. With gravel bottom drying up right now. I will go to my local ant spots to collect dirt for their medium. Its hard rock when dry. Perfect for tunnels, bad for collecting it. I will use the false bottom. Explained in the bioactive desert terrarium post. I hope to have it ready by sunday. I will connect their fail formicarium, I pray to they move before they die of water poison.

[anttics]

Hello. I have decide to sale this colony. They are doing great. Healthy. I'm gonna get more this year. Larger species.

[anttics]

A little video. Of thier new nest

[sirjordanncurtis]

What material did you make the floors out of?

[anttics]

Its made out of hydrostone. It works fine as long as it has no contact with water. The first floor which touches the water has already started to disintegrate. While the rest of the floors are still in perfect shape. I'm loomimg for a solutiom. Which came in the form of unglazed tiles. Ill have the improved version ready soon.

[anttics]

I'm sad to inform the queen. For this colony died a few days ago. Leaving a colony of 1000s with brood. If you have a veromessor pergandei queen, and want the colony. You can pick it up. These colony should take a new queen. With few workers. It. Most of the ants have are 2 3 months old. They live for a year.

[OhNoNotAgain]

Oh my gosh, any idea what happened to the queen?

Before I got my Veros this was one of the journals I read and was really amazed by the adventures of your colony. (I LOVE LOVE LOVE that they kicked Argentine butt so well.)

I lost track of this journal and forgot whose it was until someone linked to it. Have you considered getting a new Vero queen? Or are they just too crazy for that.

[ANTdrew]

I miss these journals, too.