84 replies to this topic

[dean_k]

Well, so much for nest entrance fortification... They want to drag a piece of mealworm inside but the fortification is getting in way...

 

[dean_k]

May 12, 2015

 

OK, I got their new formicarium and moved them. It wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be and I did it in 3 hours. I did end up killing about 4 workers and I believe 3 died during the progress. But the loss is less than 10% of the total pop and I guess it went okay.

 

 

The first step was moving the queen. I moved the queen and few workers into the new nest and they quickly moved down into the nest.

 

 

Seeing picking up ants one by one was near impossible due to their tiny size, I came up with an idea. I basically destroyed their nest by removing the lid and placed a trap where it was far ideal for their new nest. This trap helped me to move about 2/3 of them with ease. I placed the trap for 10 minutes and basically poured ants inside of it onto the new outworld.

Rinse and repeat a few times and 2/3 of them moved along with brood.

 

The last few of them, I had to move one by one. After that, I cleaned the nest for the kick of it.

 

 

Their former formicarium is no longer usable. It has cracks now and too dirty to be reused. I wasn't going to reuse it anyway.

 

 

Above photo was taken immediately after 2/3 were moved.

 

Below is a few hours later all ants were moved.

 

 

 

 

This is their permanent home. They are not moving out of there. The formicarium has a capacity of near a thousand from the look of it. It has 3 sides, so there are plenty of rooms for them to expand if needed. I didn't do a pop count after the move. I will do that a few days later.

Edited by dean_k, May 12 2015 - 12:15 AM.

[dean_k]

May 12, 2015

 

I did a head count but it's no longer accurate. I counted 95 and then realized I couldn't see, therefore didn't count, ants hanging on top.

 

I think the rough number is a hundred.

 

They are adapting to their new home well so far. I see 2 ~ 5 workers always foraging.

 

 

[dean_k]

October 22, 2015

 

I figured I'd update this.

 

At the moment, the colony is at 250ish workers and are maintaining a huge larvae field. The queen laid what seems to be the last batch of eggs for this year. As the colony size has become bigger, the workers are now sometimes feeing pieces of stuff they harvest from insect carcass directly to larvae although most of time, it is direct mouth-to-mouth feeding.

 

Something to note: The workers do not mind light at all no matter how bright. Only the queen seems to react to light. Only the queen panicks. I am inclined to believe that, because the workers were born under light, they are far more accepting to brighter light conditions.

 

 

I am posing three video.

 

 

From September 22.

 

 

 

From October 10

 

 

 

From October 22

 

 

 

Enjoy.

Edited by dean_k, October 22 2015 - 11:17 AM.

[Will230145]

What happened to them?