157 replies to this topic

[nurbs]

Keep you foods varied but consistent. Like don't one day out of the blue throw in a boiled egg. Maybe avoid random human foods. I usually rotate between mealworms -> crickets -> crushed sunflower seeds -> fruit flies.

 

And of course always have water and nectar available.

[BeginnerAntKeeper]

Maybe the colony scent of the attacked workers was washed off or replaced by another scent(maybe from the formicarium?) and thus the colony thinks they are outside ants and enemies and thus Attack them.

[anttics]

Well the fight stoped. I counted only 4 dead ants. Many more are missing limbs. I will try not to feed them human food. There was an explosion in eggs. they have tons of eggs. Like thousands. I'm sure most are for feeding brood and queen. If half are fertilized eggs. 500 worker are coming soon. I think they are killing the old ants. If it was due to food or other factors. Then I should see light color workers being killed as well. Not a single young worker is ever attacked.

[BeginnerAntKeeper]

Maybe the colony scent of the attacked workers was washed off or replaced by another scent(maybe from the formicarium?) and thus the colony thinks they are outside ants and enemies and thus Attack them.

Adding to this, perhaps the reason why only the older workers are attacked is because the scent is stable in the nest but outside it is washed off. As younger workers tend to stay in the nest while older workers forage, only the older workers would have their scent wiped/replaced and thus believed to be enemies and attacked.

[anttics]

Update on the Novos. They are doing great. Eating too much. Here are some.pics of the brood. Also 1 floor i broke by mistake. I Might leave it like that.











The nest looks very nice. i have figure out all the bugs. Unfortunately I would have to take out the whole colony. I plan to connect the nest to a container with humidity and heat. Once the queen moves. And the brood. Ill take it apart and fix the small issues. If anyone has an idea to get then out plase let me know.

I estimate 3000 workers. The out world is ussually empty. When I give them food. In 5 to 10 minutes from 30 ants outside. 1000s come out. Making a columm. This are my favorite colony by far.

Edited by anttics, May 30 2019 - 7:21 PM.

[anttics]

Colony still alive. Maybe 1000 workers left. Since last summer 5000 workers. I have not seen the queen for more than a year. But I saw today new batch of eggs, and a few workers pups. Meaning she still alive and kicking. They have started eating 1 dunbia roach every 3 days

[FSTP]

how did it break ?

[anttics]

While putting dirt on top. It broke. I'm doing a new design should be ready in a few days. Hopefully the novomessor will want to move. I'm afraid to open their nest and dump them. This species queen will run to her dead. looking for a new nest, if she feels unsafe.

[anttics]

Never moved a large colony like this. So I will connect both tank with a vinyl tube.

[anttics]

The colony moved in 1 night. I finally saw the queen after 1 year. Here are some pics.

This is where the queen stays. You can see her behind the egg ball she is much lighter red than her workers.

[FSTP]

Looks great! do you have a wider shot? so we can see the whole thing better? 

[anttics]

I'll post more pics and explain the terrarium. Layout. It's a 2 feet by 2 feet. Wide. And a bit more than 1 feet tall. Here is a bird eye view pic.


The center has a bonsai tree. I also put a container in the middle in which the tree stands on. It limits the space to dig, and compacts the coconut fiber for better stability. Anyways I have seen these ants come out from 1 inch of coconut fiber. So I'm not to worry about collapsing tunels. They will be alright. They are strong.


This is the foundation of the terrarium. It has 2 large nest you can seen it on the side. Those white triangles. I also used a k23 fire brink on the middle, and bury it. They already discover it and moved into.


This is the right side nest. I have both entrances plugged for now. Colony is not large enough. I expect there are around 2000 workers. 1000s died during the winter.


This is their main nest. As you can see the whole bottom of the terrarium. Has broken red fire brick. Which absorbs water. Also I have placed around 4 tubes which reach the fire brick ground. Which I use to drop water.

I Hope they do not make a mess. But looks like they will. They are bringing tons of dirt from under ground. They must have lots of caves by now. Due to amount they moved out. So far I see no collapse. As clean up crew I have 100000s of spring tales. They live inside the nest, and among the fire bricks. They come out to eat all the time to the top. Not worried at all by mold. My only worry is they might store all their dead workers in underground chambers. So far I have seen them bring up 2 dead workers. I wish I could introduce larger creatures to eat their waste. Problem is this species are aggressive.

[anttics]

I Just noticed 2 ants under the sealed up nest. Which mean they already tunel all the way there. These guys are fast.

[Canadant]

Awesome outworld/formicarium. Love the size. Great journal too. Thanks

[anttics]

Update. Ok the colony has found a trash site. They started putting it under the tree, but I placed a hollow plastic tree. They prefer to put their trash under shade. Weird. This is their new trash site.



They keep digging. Here is s pic of secondary entrance. There are 3 extra holes. Which point to all 3 corners.


The main entrance is less excavated. There is only one extra hole pointing towards secondary entrance.


Bird view pic. You can see all that dark dirt covering most of the terrarium. It's all excavated dirt.

[B_rad0806]

Update?

[anttics]

I’m back to California. I left my colonies in my moms lolol. Sadly the Camponotus fragilis died out. But these novos are fine and growing, The advantages of them eating seeds. Instead of waiting for sugar water or honey. I’ll post picture later

[ANTdrew]

Awesome! Welcome back!