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Post by trikidiki on Aug 14, 2015 17:03:25 GMT
Sorry if you have read most of this post on my 'intro' but thought it need to be repeated as the base-point for a journal.
As a child I was always fascinated by ants and would have loved an ant farm but was never 'supported/allowed' to make one. I have been keeping bees for many years which I find equally fascinating.
A couple of months ago I was emptying a bag of composted conifer clippings at my allotment when I emptied out an ants nest. I grabbed a couple of panes of greenhouse glass and quickly knocked up a frame and put the 'nest inside. The ants tunneled away but after a couple of weeks disappeared from view. I think I left too big a gap between the panes. There is still plenty of activity, the frame isn't ant proof and they are active both inside and outside the nest. I have fed them some sugar but they seem to be foraging outside themselves. I will let it run and see what happens.
Now I've got the bug (sorry).
I bought a Lasius Niger queen with a dozen workers online, when it arrived the test tube was full of workers and brood. I have modified a 8" x 8" 'box picture frame'. I have sealed the front glass and replaced the back board with another sheet of glass. I have made a couple of food and water holes in the top and a 9mm spigot for a tube to the outside world. I filled the frame with a mixture of sieved soil and composted conifer clippings. I have made cover boards to fit the front and back.
I connected the test tube to the spigot with a short tube and the ants immediately entered the frame and started tunneling. Before long they were moving the brood into the frame. When I looked a couple of days later I saw them escorting the queen into the frame along the tube. I guess she was disturbed when exposed to the light and turned to go back to the test tube again. The escorts turned her around and she continued into the frame.
The workers have been moving brood out of the frame into the tube then taking them back in when exposed to light. Over the next few days they have continued to burrow and have now created a brood chamber at the bottom of the frame, I think this area is warm as it is located next to my laptop power supply. The queen appears to have set up residence in another chamber near the centre of the frame, when I remove the front cover she scuttles off to the top of the frame but seems to return to the middle again when it is dark again.
They seem to have run out of space for their tunnel 'spoil' and have started moving some into the test tube which is their current water source. I have now put a longer tube on in readiness for the attachment of their 'out world'. This is now being used as a dump.
The 'outworld' is planned to be in a small terrarium, this weekend's wet weather project.
While on the allotment two weeks ago I just happened to notice an ant removing its wings, I caught it and placed it in a syringe, as I didn't have a test tube. I put some vermiculite in the tube with her. I looked last night and she now has a cluster of eggs attached to the side of the tube.
I have now acquired a few test tubes and managed to capture four more queens last weekend.
Well and truly hooked.
Future plans include a nest in an old double glazing unit, I have some which are about 10" x 5ft just waiting for a project.
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Post by Jenny on Aug 14, 2015 17:17:13 GMT
Are you able to take some pics, so we can see the progress?
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Post by trikidiki on Aug 14, 2015 21:05:03 GMT
Unfortunately, my wife will not approve of this project. So I am keeping it under wraps for a while until I can say that they have been here for x weeks and you haven't had hordes of ants all over the house. However, she is going away for the week from Monday so I will be able to get them out in the light of day to take some pictures. Watch this space.
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Post by trikidiki on Aug 19, 2015 23:31:28 GMT
This is a quick photo record of my formicarum construction for my Lasius Niger colony. The original frame is an 8" x 8" box picture frame.
  I drilled a hole in the top of the left side and glued in a 19mm 'spigot' to take the connecting tube. In the top I drilled two smaller holes to allow me to fill the frame with the substrate, allow me to dampen the substrate and as temporary feeding holes. The holes are plugged with the caps from the blunt end of a couple of ballpoints, the hollows in the cap can be filled with honey.  I 'siliconed' the front glass in place and cut a new piece of glass and 'siliconed' it in the back of the frame in place of the back board. The backboard and a new board cut to fit the front act as removable light excluders on the outside of the glass.   The frame was filled with a mix of sieved sandy soil and compost poured in through a funnel, then dampened using a syringe through the top holes. I then connected the colony's test tube to the spigot with a short tube. The ants promptly moved in. I installed a longer tube between the formicarium and test tube which the ants are now using as a spoil heap for their burrowing debris.  The outworld is made from a small terrarium.  I drilled a 19mm hole to take a spigot on the back for the connecting tube. The land mass is made from filler with chunks of sandstone embedded in it and surfaced with sand. I have also embedded two small cells cut from a tray of plant propogation cells. I am not a fan of artificial plants so was thinking of raising a succession of small plants in the same size cells that can be installed for short periods of time until they are past their best then replaced with new plant material.   Hopefully connecting the ants nest to the outworld tomorrow. Will post more images when I have them and some plant material installed. |
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Post by Jenny on Aug 20, 2015 5:16:53 GMT
Can I just add ? We had the same tank you're using as the outworld. The lid if you haven't got around to it yet (can't tell by the photos), needs very fine mesh underneath those slats. Ants squeezability is 100% out of most situations, but those lids are a walk through  |
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Post by trikidiki on Aug 20, 2015 11:32:53 GMT
Yes, the vents will not be ant proof. My primary line of defence is going to be oil, I was considering an additional screen for a 'belt and braces' approach.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Aug 20, 2015 13:47:14 GMT
Yes, the vents will not be ant proof. My primary line of defence is going to be oil, I was considering an additional screen for a 'belt and braces' approach. If you can get hold of some fine metal mesh, you can either glue it inside the lid to cover the vents, or perhaps place a larger mesh cover to the top of the tank just under the lid so that is is held in place when you push the lid on. Use metal mesh rather than nylon screen for keeping flies out, as ants can chew holes in materials other than metal. |
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