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Post by timl on Jan 11, 2017 18:20:38 GMT
They are probably at about 26C when I'm at home but probably down to 20C during the middle of the day as I don't have my heatmats on while I'm at work since I live in an old house. And I have been putting a mid slice of Super Mealworm in the outworld most of the time. Not sure how much of a good source of protein that is for them.
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Post by timl on Jan 13, 2017 23:48:40 GMT
Current set up, usually with a lid on outworld and covered over and then the lid on for the entire container that has most my ants in.
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Post by timl on Jan 14, 2017 14:55:52 GMT
God giveth and god taketh away! While dropping a couple crickets into my various outworlds and since I've ran out of fruit flies.... and since this lil guy has been sat waiting patiently I thought I'd have a little experiment and see what it thought of a cricket that was a couple times it's size being dropped onto it's web.... seems pretty happy... you are mine now! Now eat all the annoying plant pot flies that keep appearing from my terrarium!
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Post by Wood~Ant on Jan 14, 2017 23:44:14 GMT
I thought it was odd to see a spider pic in an ant journal, as I was looking to see if any worker ants were attacking it.
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Post by timl on Jan 21, 2017 21:52:26 GMT
Well over the past 5 days we went down to 3 workers D: and then straight back up to 8 workers with a load of brood ready to eclose. Been giving them a freshly crushed cricket each day which is hopefully enticing them to lay more eggs. All looking good so far.
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Post by timl on Jan 22, 2017 14:21:29 GMT
Hard to count all their little bodies running around without disturbing them too much but I recon they are at about 12 workers now since I looked last night!
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Post by timl on Jan 25, 2017 16:11:32 GMT
Things seem to be progressing nicely, giving them a cut up cricket every day and a light spray of water in the corner of the outworld/set up now and then since the test tube they are in is actually pretty dried up. There is already a very large test tube about 5 times bigger which is 75% full of water with the entrance semi closed off. With the hopes that they might move in but they seem happiest in this smaller test tube (I think). Since the outworld is kept at anywhere between 26C and 30C depending on if the Heatmat thermostat has one of the two mats turned on or not I have decided to spray a small amount of water in a corner away from them to help counteract the low humidity caused by the heat and dryness of my room, but obviously they won't want it too high and it isn't causing any condensation, the water is just soaking straight into the grout.
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Post by timl on Jan 27, 2017 20:38:10 GMT
Today I saw some Chia seeds in a store and remember reading that they apparently like these..... so I thought why not. I gave them a pinch of them quick rinse with bottled water and dropped them in.... stay tuned
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Post by timl on Feb 9, 2017 22:16:19 GMT
(First time posting from my phone) Tried giving them large flies bought online from the reptile store, think they are called curly flies, and they love them. Drag them straight into their test tube. And they've also dragged a fair amount of the chia seeds into the test tube which you can see in the pic (the black ovals). You can just about make out the queen who is behind a massive pile of brood which is hard to appreciate in a picture. free image files
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Post by timl on Feb 10, 2017 21:58:39 GMT
They finally moved into the nice big clean water filled test tube! And look at all those eggs! and look at that nice big larva!!!!
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Post by Wood~Ant on Feb 11, 2017 0:12:26 GMT
Coming along nicely.
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Post by timl on Feb 14, 2017 18:42:05 GMT
My package arrived today..... ......stay tuned
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Post by timl on Feb 16, 2017 21:15:05 GMT
A solid 35+ now (I think) a good 10+ more after 6 days. Not including the 5+ foraging. Also gave them their first Locust the other day, checked on them later and when I opened the box 3 or 4 came running out of where it was cut open. Just waiting for some more stuff to arrive from amazon + some more brain waves
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Post by timl on Feb 18, 2017 15:33:27 GMT
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Post by timl on Feb 18, 2017 18:53:43 GMT
Its been about 3 hours and the temp has gone from 21C to just over 25C, which I'm impressed by since it's not a very powerful Heat Cable and there is a large volume of air in there. Once I have added everything and the colony is up and running I think the cable should be able to cope with reaching higher temps faster and hold them. I will be adding a further heatmat (or 2) to the set up as well for that extra 2 or 3 degrees *fingers crossed* also just checked the shipping times and the other stuff says it'll get here on the 25th but oh well the colony is fine where it is right now anyway I added a pinch or so of soil substrate to their outworld and they promptly used it to block up most of the entrance to their test tube. So I decided to add a pinch of soil to all my other colonies outworlds to see if they would also appreciate a little digging medium (Camponotus barbaricus, Myrmica rubra, Lasius niger and Erratic Ants) I will be doing an update on my soil aquarium/mega natural nest at some point
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