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Post by Grojs on May 2, 2007 20:21:00 GMT
Colony size: 1 queen, 10-15 workers, Unknown amount of Brood.
The reason we decided to make an ant farm was because we had a couple of ant nests that were too close to the house so our dad were about to poison them all, so we made an aspirator and digged up a small new nest and put it in 50 liters aquarium(about 13 gallons) that's about half full with soil(the same as the one they were in).
The Queen: Pretty much dug her self down in to the soil about 2 seconds after we put her in there, haven't seen her since.
Workers: Started slowly moving after the queen, in to the hole, one got lost on the other side of the aquarium.
Brood: Still on the surface.
Other animals: Worms have digged themselfs down in to the soil and are probably doing some digging now too.
Aquarium: We watered and put some chocolate in the aquarium then covered it with black fabric to make it dark enough for them to get established.
Hypothesis: Brood will be carried down in to the hole until tomorrow. Don't think the food is going to be touched.
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Post by Formicalondon on May 2, 2007 22:27:38 GMT
I wouldn’t feed them chocolate, your ants would prefer honey water solution and dead insects and other small creatures (flies, wasps and spiders etc)
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Post by Grojs on May 3, 2007 12:02:22 GMT
Colony size: 1 queen, 10-15 workers, Unknown amount of Brood.
Workers: Most workers are gone, saw 2 on the surface(probably looking for a way out but we hope that they were foraging).
Brood: Has been carried down in to the hole over the night.
Other animals: No sign of activity.
Aquarium: We removed the chocolate and put some honey and some cotton with water on a piece of lego in the middle. Thanks to Formicalondon!
Hypothesis: They will find the honey but won't bring down too much of it to the others. They should not be visible over the surface more than 2 at a time.
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Post by Grojs on May 3, 2007 21:46:18 GMT
Colony size: 1 queen, 10-15 workers.
Workers: Found the honey and they started eating it, saw 5 workers eating from it(maximum 2 at the same time). They have been building a nest at the side of the aquarium and been bringing some insects in for food(We are quite surprised they started hunting so soon).
Other animals: Have been hunted by the ants all day, saw some kind of bug that was fast enough to escape the ants every time they got near it.
Aquarium: Removed the chocolate and put some "cheez doodles" on the feeding pad(they don't really seem to need it right now though).
Hypothesis: They will pretty much ignore the "cheez doodles" until the other insects are gone. And the expansion of the nest will continue.
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Post by Grojs on May 4, 2007 21:48:08 GMT
Colony size: 1 queen, 10-15 workers.
Workers: Ate some cottage cheese
Other animals: A spider climbed in and now can't get out, tasty meal for the ant's. ;D
Aquarium: Changed the lamps and made sure that the soil was moist enough.
Hypothesis: They seem to have settled down a bit so we think that they will stop running against the glass as much as they have before.
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Post by Grojs on May 10, 2007 15:06:01 GMT
Colony size: 1 queen, 10-15 workers, 40-60 brood.
Workers: Ate a snail and some honey, have moved to the other side of the aquatium and seem to be getting established(got a chance to try to count the brood).
Other animals: "The Hunt" has slowed down and the other animals seems to be kinda left alone as long as they keep away from the nest.
Aquarium: Somekind of plants has started to grow here and there, watered the soil since it was getting quite dry.
Hypothesis: Now that the ants have settled down, hope that the ants will increase their numbers quite soon(they have larvae about as big as the workers).
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