23 replies to this topic

[drtrmiller]

Those feeders are amazing. The only one of my colonies they're not working for are the Solenopsis fugax because they have a habit of throwing so much debris onto them that they leak within a few days and are almost completely buried within a week.

Also I really need the bigger ones, my C. barbaricus now empty TWO of the 4ml feeders in about 2 days (and even the third one in the far-away outworld #3 outpost doesn't hold for more than week).

The upcoming "Tall" feeders may work well for your S. fungax, as the liquid is further from the ground, making ants less likely to place dirt on them.  Look for them later in the year.

The new Mega feeders, available now, are greatly improved from last year's model in that they are heavier, more durable, and the drinking ports are taller and wider to accommodate larger ants.  They will also be available locally in Europe very soon.

The Mega feeders are available with three different sizes of reservoirs: 16 ml, 30 ml, and 45 ml, all of which screw onto the same Mega-style base.  With your large colony, I would recommend a 30 or 45 ml Mega feeder for water, and a 16 ml Mega feeder for sugary liquids.

[Enderz]

Good Journal! Thing is, I noticed that you didn't have full sized images and people had to click on them and go to a 3rd party site. Instead of this, why not add your images to Formiculture's 'Gallery' so that you can add full sized images on to your post. A good guide can be found here:

 

Good Luck!

Edited by EnderzATwar411, June 12 2018 - 4:05 PM.

[Dreamer]

Good Journal! Thing is, I noticed that you didn't have full sized images and people had to click on them and go to a 3rd party site. Instead of this, why not add your images to Formiculture's 'Gallery' so that you can add full sized images on to your post. A good guide can be found here:

 

Good Luck!

 

Thanks, I'll have a look at that for next time.

June 12th

 

Survivor

This colony has had it's first dead worker I think it was just exhaustion or age as the worker was one of the older (smaller) ones and was just in the corner of the outworld. The other remaining older worker spends most of it's time in the water test tube and the rest of the colony stay in the bone dry old test tube. One or two workers explore the outworld at night, but rarely in the day. Here is 5 of the remaining workers with the queen:

 

Courageous

I decided to remove all the water from the bottom of the bead containers and wiped out as much condensation as I could without them escaping. I then removed all the upper layers of the bead stack and just put one layer on top of where they are. That layer is the one with the exit, which I have connected by a longer tube to a small white sand outworld with a feeder and some food. Finally the outworld is connected to a test tube with water that is covered. I have removed the cover from the bead stack nest so they are exposed to light from all sides, which should encourage them to move.

My hope is two fold:
1. That the humidity will drop and condensation decrease.
2. That they will move up to the next level of the stack and go alone the tube to the new outworld and test tube nest.

A day or so after doing this I saw they have moved upstairs to the level of the stack with the airhole and the tube to the outworld. Sadly they have abandoned allof their pupae that are now turning black. I think if the humidity is too high the pupae cannot fully develop. The large lavae has also been left Strangely they have taken a pile of large eggs and very small lavae up to the next floor, so there is still hope for the colony. I just hope they develop without problems now and that the last worker survives until the lavae pupae and eclose. It's been a slow journey for this colony mainly due to my inexperience and mistakes. I've tried various set ups, but without knowing the issues around heat and humidity or having a plan to deal with them I've made several mistakes.

 

I think I may create a really simple beginners set up to sell with a small outworld and two test tubes to help new ant keepers. It sounds overly simple, but just having a small outworld for feeding a new colony and a second test tube only a few centimeters away allows the colony to explore and then move on their own when they run out of water. That would last most colonies the first 18 months as they grow and give them a small, flexible and safe environment.

[Dreamer]

July 1st

Survivor

They have taken the 2 fruit flies I gave them recently, but have ignored a mini-marshmellow. The colony is now at 6 workers after the death of one of the first nanitics a few weeks back. As the ants are so big, the colony is actually looking a bit cramped in their test tube, so I'm thinking of moving them back into their much larger sand nest and outworld that they were in before hibernation. I'll see how they grow over the next couple of months, it maybe there is something in between that I can put them in.

 

 

Courageous

Finally some positive news. The queen and the remaining worker moved overnight down the long tube and through the outworld into a new test tube with water. I'm so happy about that. Despite having cleared out all the water in the bead stack, I just didn't like that set up. Now things are much safer and easier for me to control. I can add another test tube in if I need to for hydration or expansion and they are much closer to the outworld, rather than having to climb several stacks of acrylic.

 

The other good news is that the small pile of eggs have started to grow:

 

Hope for the future. The remaining worker has taken a fruit fly from the outworld, so that should keep them going for a little while. I'm leaving them as much as I can now to minimise disturbance and only checking on them once a week.