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Post by Atomfix on Jul 26, 2013 19:55:38 GMT
26/07/2013 Ants have arrived (Ordered on Wednesday) They are settling in well already, they all attacked the spider which was still twitching with 2 legs.     |
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Post by Atomfix on Jul 27, 2013 20:55:31 GMT
27/07/2013
Just a quick update, the workers have made a barrier / wall inside the test tube where the Queen is happily laying her eggs, their are also 9 workers dedicating them selves to building tunnels which I find quite odd ( I didn't expect them to start this until they have strengthened their forces ).
I believe there are around 20 workers in total so far.
I've also noticed that there are small nanitics running around then theirs some larger workers, Still, I find this unusual.
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Post by Atomfix on Jul 29, 2013 10:51:19 GMT
29/07/2013
The ants have been working non-stop for 3 days on digging out this tunnel, I believe they are making a queens chamber because the workers have moved all the eggs, larvae and the pupae down in that tunnel, but the queen is still in the test tube.
I'll keep you updated.
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Post by Atomfix on Jul 29, 2013 12:19:36 GMT
Sorry for the jumpy video, I didn't have time to adjust the video FPS settings. I was rushing to capture the moment the queen moved from the test tube to the new queen chamber.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Jul 29, 2013 12:59:35 GMT
It always gives you a nice feeling when you know the queen is content to move into her nest.  |
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Post by Atomfix on Jul 31, 2013 22:02:40 GMT
It always gives you a nice feeling when you know the queen is content to move into her nest. Of course  I was glad I caught it in time otherwise I'd probably be a little frustrated.... 31/07/2013 Not a lot to report, the ants have been foraging for protein like no tomorrow though! I've been feed them "Pholcidae Spiders" You can find more information about them here Wiki which also contains a picture. I must of put about 5 of them in so far, they take them in without hesitation! I will get new pictures up tomorrow of the tunnels they have been digging up, luckily, they have been digging up against the glass so I can monitor their progress. |
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Post by Atomfix on Aug 3, 2013 15:55:33 GMT
03/08/2013
I fed the ants a "Blue Bottle Fly" yesterday and they are trying ever so hard to get it in the nest, they have dismembered the head from the body and took it straight into one of the chambers, now they are trying to get the whole body down the nest which they are having trouble with.
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Post by Atomfix on Aug 22, 2013 13:25:42 GMT
22/08/2013
Not a lot to report, the ants have cut down on foraging.
But when I peeled back the black bin liner from behind the glass, where the ants are nesting, I've noticed a ton of pupae waiting to be hatched!
The population is an estimated 25 workers right now and a unknown amount of eggs, larvae and pupae, there's too many! ^_^
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Post by Atomfix on Sept 29, 2013 18:24:58 GMT
29/09/2013
There's still not a lot of activity, there's at least 1-2 workers getting their honey water at least 30 times a day, they don't seem fussed on protein at the moment.
What I did do today though is sprinkled some water on top to dampen the "dig mix" doing this caused the loose mix that the ants dumped near the main entrance to run down the hole and block the whole entrance up.
Was very worried at first but after removing the black bin liner to examine the damage, it was very minimal, I could see the workers hard at work trying to unblock the entrance, and I also spotted the queen moving from one chamber to another and she looks huge!
There is also another chamber quite close to the glass and I can report that there's at least 30+ larvae s there, and another chamber with at least 30 more pupae. All seems well at the moment, I just hope they can successfully unblock the entrance.
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Eva
Honey Pot Ant 
Posts: 37 
Pets: 2 dogs & 1 cat
Favourite Ant: none yet
Likes: 3
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Post by Eva on Sept 29, 2013 22:14:04 GMT
wow your ants are so active, I hope mine will be so active as well. these 2 ants digging for 3 days are such a workaholics! hehe so how deep down have they dug over these days? and what's internal thickness of your ant nest? I would love to make my own, sand based, vertical ant nest too but I can't make my mind up of hoe thick it should be just to make sure that they will not hide away from me. video isn't too jumpy or maybe it appears like it because I watch it from my phone. to be honest I was surprised how your queen is going to fit into such tiny hole! I thought she is going to stuck on a way. I can't wait till you will post some pictures of newly made chambers your ant colony seem to grow incredibly fast!  |
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Post by Atomfix on Oct 1, 2013 13:34:20 GMT
wow your ants are so active, I hope mine will be so active as well. these 2 ants digging for 3 days are such a workaholics! hehe so how deep down have they dug over these days? and what's internal thickness of your ant nest? I would love to make my own, sand based, vertical ant nest too but I can't make my mind up of hoe thick it should be just to make sure that they will not hide away from me. video isn't too jumpy or maybe it appears like it because I watch it from my phone. to be honest I was surprised how your queen is going to fit into such tiny hole! I thought she is going to stuck on a way. I can't wait till you will post some pictures of newly made chambers your ant colony seem to grow incredibly fast! Thanks! I'll post a couple of pictures later for you, maybe in the next 3-4 hours. I'm a bit busy right now, but until then, you can see how far they have dug down  |
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Post by Atomfix on Oct 1, 2013 17:24:48 GMT
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Eva
Honey Pot Ant
Posts: 37
Pets: 2 dogs & 1 cat
Favourite Ant: none yet
Likes: 3
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Post by Eva on Oct 1, 2013 17:36:59 GMT
wow thats so brilliant they dig so fast then they must love this tank by the way you have caught there some huge spider! I can't wait till I will be able to feed my ants with spiders, that will be some revenge for scaring me hehe |
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Post by Atomfix on Oct 1, 2013 20:13:53 GMT
wow thats so brilliant they dig so fast then they must love this tank by the way you have caught there some huge spider! I can't wait till I will be able to feed my ants with spiders, that will be some revenge for scaring me hehe They started to dig straight away when I recieved ants through the post and the queen moved down into the tunnels the next day hence the video I posted. And yeah, I caught a house spider which was in my bath, I then put it in my freezer for 2 hours then gave it to my ants, there were 3 ants working at it, it looks like they drained all the juices from it because the spiders body is now flat lol! I'll check tomorrow to see if they moved the larvae back into that chamber so I can get a picture of it. |
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Post by Atomfix on Oct 3, 2013 23:48:04 GMT
4/10/2013
The workers seem to be expanding the chamber on a massive scale! Soo much that I can now see the queen when ever I'd like. I'm not sure where they are keeping the pupae or larvae, but I could see a load of eggs in the chamber in which they are expanding.
They are also building more tunnels,
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