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Post by kalistes on May 13, 2011 17:54:01 GMT
These arrived yesterday! a lovely colony of around 250, including a nice healthy looking queen and several soldiers. I had a container all prepared for them, using my "cavern" system surrounded by soil, with some nice flat pieces of bark on the surface. The little ants needed no persuading whatsoever! ;D a few workers had a look around, and suddenly there was a mass exodus into the new nest! So far I've seen 3 soldiers, several pale callows, lots of brood and of course hundreds of workers move into the new set-up. Just waiting for her majesty to make an appearance  One little problem. It seems that this species has absolutley no awareness of cooking oil! This is what I've always used with my other ants as an escape-proofing measure. I've already rescued half a dozen little explorers from the top of the tank before they could drown in the oil (which is only a thin layer). I do have a lid for the tank, which I will use for now when I'm not around to save little ant-lives, but will have to rethink my escape proofing... |
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Post by kalistes on May 14, 2011 4:44:16 GMT
The girls were busy this morning, excavating tunnels and rearranging chambers in their new home. They have shown only marginal interest in half a grape that I put in for them last night, but went crazy when I put in a cricket this morning ;D. Quickly finishing off the wounded insect, they dragged it into the nest, surprisingly quickly for such small ants! One of them started to drag it all by herself when she first found it  these girls are so strong for their size. No appearence from the majors  I guess they are deep inside the nest. I managed to get a short video of them moving the cricket, which I will add to the video chamber later today  |
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Post by kalistes on May 15, 2011 4:09:19 GMT
I'm starting to see the results of some of their building work now. They've been steadily sealing off any gaps around the flat peices of bark, leaving two or three main entrances to the nest. A couple of soldiers were visible yesterday helping out with the disposal of some crickets (they took 8 crickets into the nest!), but otherwise they remain hidden and are not seen wandering on the surface. I'm not sure what the worker/soldier ratio is for this species, but I've only seen 3 soldiers (v's 250 or so workers). There may be more hidden away of course. Still no interest in the grapes that I put in, but with so much meat on offer I can understand why. A lot of workers are wandering around with little cricket legs in their mandibles this morning, looking for a place to drop them. Also, now that the colony has settled, I've noticed they are not climbing the sides of the enclosure any more  . This is good news, since I lost a few workers to the cooking oil  |
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Post by kalistes on May 15, 2011 21:10:59 GMT
I just noticed that the ants are using one of the flat pieces of bark away from the main nest to store some of their brood. I just saw several workers with brood in their jaws scuttling across to it . The heat lamp is focused in this area (ie its the warmest spot in the enclosure) so I guess they are speeding up their development ;D |
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Post by kalistes on May 17, 2011 4:28:38 GMT
I'm still seeing workers carrying other dead workers around in their jaws there were 5 dead workers stuck to the sides of the tank today, and yet the sides are dry (no condensation). There is a very small trace of the cooking oil left around the sides (I wiped most of it away to stop them drowning in it), but I'm not sure why ants are still dying. They did not seem to have drowned in oil, in fact I've observed workers walking on the oil-layer with no problems. The colony probably numbers 250-300 ants, with at least 50 on the surface at all times. I'm not sure what the general mortality rate is with this species? I've removed all the dead individuals anyway, so I can keep track of any new fatalities (maybe I've been re-counting the same ants  ) On the plus side, they are active and take pretty much whatever insect prey I put in there for their growing brood. I keep a small container of honeywater present (with cotton wool), but they show little to no interest in it. Like Wood said, they seem pretty much carnivorous. |
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Post by kalistes on May 18, 2011 3:50:43 GMT
Another 3 dead workers this morning . still not worked out what I'm doing wrong. The enclosure is pretty dry (and rather than spray it, I'm going to use a pipette to focus small amounts of water in specific areas in future). There is no condensation. The temperature is currently at around 20 degrees on the surface. I reduced this from 25 yesterday since I was worried I might be overheating them? (this can be altered easily enough by adjusting the heat lamp). They are readily taking crickets, and have been taking 2-3 each day (8 on their first day!) There is no sign of parasites such as mites. I've added a couple of pictures showing the surface of the enclosure. The substrate is catus compost which has a high proportion of sand. There are also several slate "caverns" below, all with support stones around the edges to minimise cave-ins (although the ants are just digging wherever suits them anyway ;D) All bark and other wood was soaked in boiling water before use, to eliminate any parasites. Admittedly, the number of dead ants has gone down today, but I still want to cut it out altogether  Any help (not already covered by other members) would be appreciated (please click on my signature link to comment)   |
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Post by kalistes on May 19, 2011 4:01:46 GMT
Good news! there are no more dead workers this morning! ;D, It seems that I either overdid it with the oil when I originally set up the enclosuer, or I had the temperature too high (or both).
The nest is nice and dry, and at a temperature of around 20 degrees. I may use a pipette to add a few drops of water here and there to avoid tunnel collapses, but other than that I will keep it dry from now on.
They ate a locust last night, and are still busy with it this morning, Two soldiers also joined in with disposing of the insect, and I could see how swollen their gastors were. Looks like they are being used for food storage ;D. The ratio of soldiers to workers seems to be extremely low in this colony, since I've only seen two soldiers (and there are hundreds of workers!). I'm wondering if this will increase now that they are settled and eating well.
I added lots of small building materials yesterday, in the form of some coconut fibres and tiny peices of bark, and the ants are busy shifting these around the nest today.
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Post by kalistes on May 25, 2011 4:35:24 GMT
Well, the problem I had with workers dying seems to have been sorted. I dried the tank out to remove condensaton in the tunnels, which I think was the cause. These ants have huge appetites, and can't seem to get enough of their insect prey. I'm gonna have a trip into the woods later (If the weather hold out) with my trusty fly-swatter, to see if I can find them a bit of variety (there's never a bluebottle around when you actually NEED one!  ) |
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Post by kalistes on Jun 3, 2011 4:42:35 GMT
After the initial problems with condensation, this colony is doing really well now. They will eat whatever I put in there (although waxworms are way too thick-skinned for them!), and are generally always active.
To my delight, when I fed them yesterday no fewer than 6 soldiers appeared to help with one of the crickets! (there were only two or three soldiers originally). A good sign that the colony is growing ;D
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Post by kalistes on Jun 14, 2011 9:42:20 GMT
This colony is growing nicely now. Counted 11 soldiers the other day, swarming over a cricket. I think maybe the presence a few "not quite dead" crickets might have sparked off an increase in soldier production?
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Post by kalistes on Jul 3, 2011 15:35:46 GMT
My little pallidula workers do like to remind me when the layer of cooking oil has run dry... by basically wandering all over my desktop ;D. I use a soft artist paintbrush to "scoop" them up with and return them to the safety of the nest. They are doing really well now with a significant growth in workers and soldiers. There is always something interesting to watch with these girls.
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Post by kalistes on Jul 4, 2011 17:39:30 GMT
I noticed today while giving each of my colonys some processed turkey (which they all seem to love!), that the little pallidulas have two very distinct soldier sizes. One is almost a "media", still significantly bigger than a worker with an enlarged head. The other though is much larger, with a head bigger than the gastor. Have other keepers noticed this?
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Post by kalistes on Jul 25, 2011 4:32:11 GMT
during feeding today I noticed that the number of soldiers was at least 20! (from an original 3). A good sign of colony growth.
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I guess they are deep inside the nest.
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