Big Myrmica rubra colony.

[Blem12]

Hello,

The colony is doing well. They have built/constructed huge/wide tunnels over night. The substrate I am using is a mix of sharp sand and dirt. The sharp sand is good as when it dries it does not crumble as easily as normal sand.

Today I put in some ant jelly in their foraging tank and withing 20 mins more than 20 ants were swarming it.

It seems that 3 queens are in the same chamber, 2 queens in another and finally 1 queen in another chamber.

I hope I can put some interesting pics up soon.

Thanks,

Blem12.

[Blem12]

Hello,

Here are some pics.

- Worker tunneling:




- 2 workers tunneling:



- Mass of workers in a chamber:



- Worker tending the brood:




- Worker drinking from ant jelly:




- Another worker drinking from the ant jelly:




I hope the pictures were not too bad.

[Zarbi]

I like the last 2, but can you make them bigger blem12 please

[Blem12]

Zarbi, when you click at them, do they not get bigger?

Here are some pictures of their current set up:

- Nesting box (Worm world) connected to their foraging area (Insect box):



- ''Bridge'' in the foraging box which allows them to get to the plastic tubing easily:




- Some of the tunnels they have dug ( Look at the left, top side of the nest ) :



Thanks,

Blem12,

P.S Ignore the date stamp as my camera for some reason says it was took in 2009 when in fact it was taken just today.

[TenebrousNova]

Apr 14, 2011 8:32:52 GMT Zarbi said:

I like the last 2, but can you make them bigger blem12 please

Those are IMG_Thumbs, they redirect you to the full size picture once you click on them.
Looking good, Blem.

[Wood~Ant]

Jenant has often considered using a Worm World instead of an Ant World; and as your set up looks nice and neat, would you recommend others trying keeping ants in the Worm World Blem12

[Blem12]

Apr 14, 2011 14:48:57 GMT Wood~Ant said:

Jenant has often considered using a Worm World instead of an Ant World; and as your set up looks nice and neat, would you recommend others trying keeping ants in the Worm World Blem12

Yes I would ,as the worm world is a bit sturdier than the ant world. The ants have more space and easy to view.

The only down side to it is that the hole in the lid are quite big but what I did was put a piece of tape over it and punch 3 little holes with a needle in each hole.

[Blem12]

I have just fed them a small spider and enthusiastically watched how they carried it through the rope, through the tube and finally got it into the larvae chamber. :-)

[Blem12]

I have decided to buy some PTFE from AntsUK. This will enable me to remove the lid and just apply the PTFE meaning that fresh air can go in + it looks a bit more natural than a lid full of silicone in order to fill in the gaps.

They are settling in well. I have noticed that they are using a small area of their foraging tanks as a rubbish area which is right above the tube entrance.

I placed a bottle cap with a cotton bud soaked in water and today there were around 30 workers drinking from it.

Thanks,

Blem12.

[Blem12]

There is good progress.

I gave them 2 flies today and they happily took them through the plastic tube into the larvae chamber. The 2 flies are covered with small larvae feeding on them.

Another good thing is that my PTFE from AntsUk finally arrived!
I applied it in the basin of this colony and it has worked so far!

Finally the best news is....... one of the queens has laid eggs!
The fresh batch of eggs is in a separate chamber to the larvae.

Thanks for reading.

Blem12.

[Wood~Ant]

I haven't tried the PTFE, but hear it is good for making an escape proof barrier. Good news about the queen laying eggs, I am happy that they've settled down well for you

[Blem12]

Thanks Wood! ;D

Update:

The colony is doing well. The PTFE is working like a charm. It is funny to see when a worker walks on it and then just drops.

I put in 2 flies, one was taken the other not. I also put some banana flavoured ant jelly which they love! The jelly is now no longer yellow but red due to the swarming of the ants!

I can see that the brood are being fed as most of the insects end up in the larvae chamber.

I shall put up more photos of their tunneling soon.

Thanks for reading,

Blem12.

[Blem12]

Good afternoon,

Today I went out and found many aphids on several plants, many L.Niger workers were ''farming'' them. Some took them back to the nest others drank the sweet nectar produced by the aphids.

This gave me an idea. I got several branches with leaves that had aphids on them.
I took this home and put them in a small pot with cotton soaked in water.
I then introduced the aphids into their foraging area.

After 10 mins, 7 workers were already investigating. 20 mins later and they were farming them! Some workers took them back to their chambers and other were drinking the nectar produced by the aphids!

I think others should try this as it is fascinating to watch and the ants get to do something that they would normally do in the wild.

Thanks,

Blem12.

[cheese2008]

I am glad to see your ants have settled in blem12 . I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions if thats OK? If so, do they have one nest site or multiple sites under construction?

Mine had a lot scattered all over, its just I'm trying to get a full idea of these ants and some of the reactions when they are put into a captive set up. I'm trying to get an idea of division of work and who does what and why. Did you find your ants aggressive or shy and ran off at the slightest knock.

Thanks, cheese

[Blem12]

Good morning,

Well, in their nesting box (Worm World) they have now created 3 main chambers.
3 queens are in one, 2 queen in the other and finally 1 queen in the the remaining one.
Each of the chambers is full with workers.

There are 2 smaller chambers which are used for the brood.

This is as of now. When I first introduced them they were all scattered over. 3 queens in the foraging area under the leaves, 2 queens in the nesting box with several workers, 1 queen with nearly all the brood and workers but after a few days of them settling in they all moved into the nesting box.

There is usually about 10 - 15 workers foraging at all times. If they find something they will alert others in the nesting box. After they have found the food source (Insect) they carry it through the plastic tubing and then place it into the brood chambers where larvae lay hungrily.

They are actually quite calm about small knocks but once I mess about a bit more with their set up many ants will come out and sting me in my hand.

I hope this has helped.

Blem12.