|
Post by timl on Apr 23, 2017 11:09:29 GMT
Another video to show their growth (sorry for shaky camera youtube just wouldn't allow me to edit it out :/ )
|
|
|
Post by Wood~Ant on Apr 23, 2017 13:10:51 GMT
Looking at all those workers and tons of brood, this colony is doing really well for you; and correct me if I'm wrong, but all from a single queen.
|
|
|
Post by timl on Apr 23, 2017 13:42:08 GMT
I'd like to think so to think there were so few at christmas I felt I could lose them at any time. To think there were only a couple workers that made it through January and I was counting them every week, I gave up after 40.... no chance of counting them now and yup all from a single queen, still sat in her test tube I believe. Hadn't seen her for weeks but saw her last weekend looking fine and dandy still trying to feed them lots of seeds but I am not 100% sure they are even eating them o.o but the seeds seem to be disappearing somewhere...
|
|
|
Post by timl on Apr 30, 2017 18:59:49 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Jenny on May 1, 2017 5:51:02 GMT
Billiant Tim, I can't get over how they have grown, it must be all that good food
|
|
|
Post by Wood~Ant on May 1, 2017 7:04:11 GMT
I may have asked this before, but how warm do you keep this species at and what provides any additional heat Tim?
|
|
|
Post by timl on May 1, 2017 9:01:25 GMT
I have them in a large container (I think 45L) with a large blanket on top to keep the heat in but I have the lid slightly off to allow air circulation. In there I have two heat mats, I have a 6 watts one which is temp controlled and that sits between the outworld and the nest. The other is a 7 watts and it is on from when I get home to when I leave from work (safety reasons) and it sits at the end of the container to allow a temperature gradient. So for 8 hours of the day the whole thing is at about 23C. The temp in the middle of the nest reads 26C almost 27C without the second mat on, once that drops to below 26 the second mat turns on which then brings the rest of the nest and outworld back up to 27C+. Although this is during cool weather, I expect the temps will need altering during the summer and I have a heat cable waiting for when I add more nest space and for when autumn/winter comes. For the most part both mats are on and keep the whole set up at a desired 28C but when the second temp controlled mat is off it allows the outworld (where the ants mainly live) to drop down to 24C as you can see from the pic (although that is just a cheap thermo thing that is reading the temp of the bottom of the container For whatever reason they do love the outworld but do shift to the nest periodically, my guess is the outworlds natural set up with the substrate I added is a lot more appealing than the heat in the nest. They have never fully moved out of the outworld even if they are supposedly drawn to 28C+. After writing this I'm thinking I should probably do something about the nest since they don't want to commit to it, amusingly except for using the large chamber as their garbage pile (money well spent ). I've tested moisture level preferences by putting a soaked cotton ball on the nest to allow the moisture to soak in, they didn't like it and moved out. Apparently they prefer dry nests, but how dry is dry in an acrylic nest. I believe that the acrylic nest might not be taking in enough of the heat and that even if the top of the nest is reading 27C + the inside and floor of the acrylic might be a lot less and therefore is deterring the ants so I might have to switch it up and have the 6W heat mat on under the nest and the 7W one being temp controlled and sat between nest and outworld. Might do that later and see how the react, although with the rate they are producing right now... if they do prefer it I dread to think what their rate will go up to ( P.S I counted and there were just under 200 ants in one of the pics with the protein jelly, so comparing that to the rest of the nest I would guestimate the current ant count to be around 650+ ants )
|
|
|
Post by timl on May 10, 2017 16:26:04 GMT
Officially can no longer open the outworld ..... the brood in places reaches the rim.... I have had to move to dropping food into the second outworld that is connected to the nest. I dropped a locust (5th cast) in and it was swarmed and reduced to a shredded exoskeleton within 2 hours.
|
|
|
Post by timl on May 10, 2017 18:53:32 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Wood~Ant on May 11, 2017 7:11:57 GMT
I have tried feeding locusts to my ants, but they never seem keen to eat them and prefer crickets. Clearly it takes a mini army ant species to enjoy the taste of a soft bodied insect like a locust.
|
|
|
Post by timl on May 11, 2017 9:59:25 GMT
Each time I look there is less and less left. I fed them 3 more locusts last night and I had a look at the remains of the last ones (to see if I could remove them) and they've eaten even more of what I considered inedible exo-skeleton and I couldn't remove them as ants were still chewing away. I've ordered some different foods to try them on to see how they cope. Might try them on tuna again since the last time I tried they were only about 40 ants and weren't interested.
|
|
|
Post by timl on May 13, 2017 11:24:07 GMT
tried taking the lid of the outworld because a lot of condensation had built up on it and since they prefer a dry environment I bit the bullet and lifted the lid to give it a quick wipe....... INSTANT REGRET... yea, and 40 ants within milliseconds poured over the sides.... I really need them to move out of so I can clean it :/ I've applied a bright light and an ice block on the outside. The nest is at about 29C and is darkened and dry, fingers crossed. Stay tuned
|
|
|
Post by timl on May 13, 2017 15:14:51 GMT
Ayy I done did a video of my ants It's a new channel so this vid is an introduction to the colony growth over the past 6 months the next videos will be of feeding the colony and their growth and probably escape attempts etc and yes most of this video is in this journal :3
|
|
|
Post by timl on May 16, 2017 19:58:35 GMT
|
|
|
Post by timl on May 28, 2017 21:47:34 GMT
|
|