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Post by Joona on Sept 14, 2014 19:36:43 GMT
Finally as promised the video
The new set up
The queen after drowning and waking up.
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Post by Joona on Sept 12, 2014 12:28:29 GMT
Yes, they do move fast! The little garden isnt so little any more lol. I have halfed the ammount of leaves I give them to try to keep it small-ish. The only other problem I have is they need to go back on artficial heat so I need to think of a way to add a small water heater to it that dosent let them escape. The joys of owning atta
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Post by Joona on Sept 11, 2014 11:46:38 GMT
Dunno if I can comment here but that looks great matey!
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Post by Joona on Sept 10, 2014 20:44:55 GMT
After the madness of the past few days I'm pleased to say that all is normal. There taking bramble back to the fungus and the humidity level is rising its at a steady 91%rh.
When my battery is charged I will get round to uploading the video of the queen.
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Post by Joona on Sept 10, 2014 11:54:02 GMT
They had turned there leaf feeder in to a garden lol and it was quite large and looked fresh so I assume she had been taken over there. Only thing with the temp housing is its only up to 78%RH, the fungus looks ok though and isn't shrinking so I'm not worried, on a plus I can see her again now, just gutted I lost the main garden as it was huge!
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Post by Joona on Sept 9, 2014 16:28:08 GMT
I think its the tiny hairs on them that hold the air, its a wonderful defence they have! She's doing great I have a little video I took of her last night around 11pm (I have to be up and out for work at 5am thats how hectic it was last night lol) sadly the large garden is gone now none survived, looking through it there were some very large larvae in there!
Live and learn!
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Post by Joona on Sept 9, 2014 15:46:24 GMT
Ok bit of an odd update, after I found the queen I put her in a small tub with a little fungus garden where the ants swarmed her, I left them to mourn there loss and set about my business killing off the big garden and have some fun with the soldiers ( I let one bite be and oh my lord it hurts!)
Any way my wife was watching the ants behaviour towards the queen when I heard a scream from her saying it moved, and true as I'm sitting here the queen was moving a leg, a few mins later she was up and walking around, sadly by that time the ants in the main garden were on ice and not moving so I had no choice but to do some emergency housing. I put her and the smaller garden in a tank and now there taking leaves back to it and the queen is standing on the side like nothing has happened. I have even seen workers taking eggs from her so fingers crossed all is well. I have no idea how long she was in there but smaller ants that fall in sometimes wonder around after a few mins so I'm guessing not long. I'll keep you updated but I'm over the moon even if I have lost well over 5000 ants the main one is still alive.
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Post by Joona on Sept 8, 2014 18:36:30 GMT
No I'm not going to re queen it, as much as I love them I'm not getting attacked by the mass numbers of soldiers, no way! I have put the remaining ants in small tubs, and will feed them to my geko. The fungus is in my chest freezer to just get it over with. Typical I just brought all the perspex for my new set up for them but I'll put that project on hold untill next year and make it look nice and big
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Post by Joona on Sept 8, 2014 17:24:44 GMT
Thought I should inform you that today I discovered the queen floating in my moat set up, I have no idea how long she was there but she is dead, which would explain a few thing with the colony behaviour the last few days. To say I'm gutted is an under statement. I had a good run with them and got a basket ball sized fungus garden but sadly no winged queens. This is my mission so I guess ill try again next spring but thinking about going Acro this time.
Thanks for all the help and support you have all given this past year especially Adam and Deansie who I cannot thank enough. Ill still be active on here and will always help where I can. Mark aka Joona.
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Post by Joona on Aug 13, 2014 15:50:44 GMT
Thanks for the tips I'm going to try again when I can spare some money all my spare cash is going on my new Atta set up at the moment. I will definitely use a dirt set up though and I like making things so I'll have a think on how I can do it myself. Thanks for all the tips guys Mark
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Post by Joona on Aug 11, 2014 15:12:16 GMT
I had put the new test tube in as soon as she got her first worker but she just didn't move. I tried light, then just gave up as I know how stressed these ants get. I just find it ironic that I can keep the Atta no problem but a relatively easy species to keep I just epically fail at time and time again. I am going to try a dirt set up next time and hopefully buy one that at least has her first workers.
Is there any preference on dirt that I should use? Or a certain mixture Wood?
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Post by Joona on Aug 10, 2014 20:31:42 GMT
Yet again, I checked the colony this afternoon to find they had moved test tubes finally but sadly the queen was dead. I do not understand what the hell I'm doing wrong, they have seeds, water, small pieces of chicken and sugar water. They were kept at room temprature in a dark box where no one had acsess to disturb them. Maybe I'm just not meant to keep this species. Really annoyed about this but I will try again but I think I'm going to put them in a dirt set up this time.
Mark
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Post by Joona on Aug 7, 2014 19:41:41 GMT
Nice looking snakes, I toyed with snakes started with a donated corn snake and ended up with around 15 when I brought her a mate. Sadly when we had our eldest child my missus made me get rid of them. I did however purchase a Leopard Gecko a few days ago which I've kept before but not for around 12-15 years. Great pictures though pythons are my favourite though
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Post by Joona on Aug 4, 2014 17:33:58 GMT
Killer ant, like it! Well done matey
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Post by Joona on Aug 4, 2014 16:52:24 GMT
Yeah lol I doubt they will ever get to any where near that size, which is quite sad when you think about it. I have hand reared this colony and it wasn't boosted, everything that has happened has been natural but they will never get to there potential size and for that I sometimes feel guilty. If I could put them back in the wild now I would. Id do anything to let them live a natural life but sadly that will not happen. Mark
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