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Post by UKantz on May 19, 2018 20:37:58 GMT
That really is quite bare bones, for some reason I had in my mind some sort of extravagant vivarium where you could regulate temperature and humidity really accurately. At least thats what came to mind after reading their requirement sheets -,- haha.
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 19, 2018 20:59:30 GMT
That really is quite bare bones, for some reason I had in my mind some sort of extravagant vivarium where you could regulate temperature and humidity really accurately. At least thats what came to mind after reading their requirement sheets -,- haha. Sorry to disappoint you! I don't have that sort of space right now, haha. I've planted a money tree cutting and some moss spores in there so it should start to look prettier eventually. That would be cool if I could one day move them into a vivarium, though.
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 20, 2018 13:15:01 GMT
Under cover of darkness, the colony moved completely out of their test tube last night. I can't see any of their tunnels against the sides yet, but there's plenty of worker activity going on still.
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shane
Ant Photographer
Ant Species Image Gatherer
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Post by shane on May 20, 2018 14:05:45 GMT
Hope they don't escape. Looks pretty fin on the side, I can see the barrier but still
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 21, 2018 11:24:46 GMT
Here's a few of their nest entrances. They initially buried their locust, but I assume they were eating it as well because they've dug up a hollowed out piece and put it on a rubbish pile.
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 21, 2018 15:48:51 GMT
The Carebara have just accepted another locust. A few of the workers stumbled upon it, examined it briefly then ran back to the nest. Seconds later about fifty workers came charging out, forming a trail that followed the path the scouts took before falling upon their prey. A few minutes later another stream of workers started emerging from another entrance. Their hunting behaviour is interesting to watch. I've only spotted a few of the smallest majors on the surface so far. Their larger sisters remain in the nest where they guard the queen, I guess they don't need to come out unless there's more problematic prey to tackle or a direct threat to the colony. One of the super-majors was in the test tube earlier, they buried the opening to it and seem to treat it as an extension of their nest. I'm inclined to leave it there since the workers still go in it sometimes. The PTFE still seems to be working fine. The minors occasionally try to walk up the sides but quickly slip and fall. Even if they did make it past, there's even more on the underside of the lid before they'd reach the mesh. Update: They like homemade cakes. Brought a piece into the nest without hesitation.
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 23, 2018 16:40:22 GMT
Lots of foraging and digging activity going on today. There's at least fifty workers on the surface, expanding their nest entrances and hauling a bluebottle over to them. Individually, the workers are very strong and the minors can be seen carrying clumps of soil much bigger than they are. Here's the biggest nest entrance. I still have no way of viewing what's happening within, but since the colony has a big appetite I'm guessing they're doing well. I've been sprinkling some water over the surface twice a day with a pipette to keep it moist.
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 24, 2018 18:05:12 GMT
Today there's been almost 100 workers I think on the surface and they've impressed me with the amount of food they've taken. The bluebottle I gave them yesterday was hollowed out and removed from the nest maybe three hours after they took it. Just now they've taken a few crumbs of buttered toast, a spider which came in the box of crickets I bought today and a cricket in short order!
A friend who also keeps this species says his colony sometimes brings out their larvae and deposits them onto larger prey on the surface so they can immediately begin feeding, but I haven't observed anything like that so far in the colony's development.
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 25, 2018 10:54:12 GMT
The workers had a bit of trouble with getting this cricket in the nest, because it wasn't quite dead and kicked a little. They eventually gave up trying to cram it through a small entrance and finally three majors came out to help pull it over to the bigger one. A super major even made a brief appearance to see what was going on, but sadly I wasn't fast enough to get a photo of her.
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Post by arnyboy on May 25, 2018 17:27:27 GMT
Do they need a dirt set up?
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 25, 2018 17:39:14 GMT
Do they need a dirt set up? You can keep them in pretty much any set up apparently, so long as you can meet their temperature and humidity requirements. But the colonies grow fast and will reach many thousands so they'll need more space as time goes on. I went with a soil nest because it's easier to keep things humid and also because they'll be able to dig out expansions to their nest as required before it eventually becomes full. Here's a nice video I found:
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 27, 2018 15:45:08 GMT
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Post by Wood~Ant on May 27, 2018 16:31:42 GMT
It must be fascinating to see such caste diversity in the colony, comparing the size of the smaller workers to a large soldier like her?
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 27, 2018 16:55:59 GMT
It must be fascinating to see such caste diversity in the colony, comparing the size of the smaller workers to a large soldier like her? Absolutely! It was one of the main things that attracted me to this species and why I like polymorphic ants like Messors.
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 29, 2018 13:26:26 GMT
At the moment the colony is setting to work on a large locust. Smaller prey is brought straight into the nest but in the case of larger prey, the workers will start covering it with dirt, forming a mound with a few entrance holes. They do this so that they can simply eat it on site and I guess it protects their food from the elements and scavengers? Yesterday they ate seven crickets!
I've noticed that the majors seem to rely on the minors to direct them. When there's a steady trail of minors telling them where to go they'll run along to their destination, but when there aren't any around, the majors tend to hesitate and wait like lost children for more workers to show up. Sometimes they'll just turn around and head back to the nest. Perhaps that's also a reason why the minors often piggyback on them when they go foraging?
It seems that the colony is still digging new entrance holes further away from where they first started their nest.
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