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TennesseeAnt's Ant Journals


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#201 Offline FeedTheAnts - Posted August 23 2018 - 4:16 PM

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Is that cricket in with the ants?

Yep. I used to have a male with it as well, but it chirped all night long. The ants don't seem interested at all in living crickets, they'll usually leave it alone.


I accidentally froze all my ants 


#202 Offline FeedTheAnts - Posted August 25 2018 - 2:13 PM

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About a week ago I put a little caterpillar in the terrarium. It has grown a huge amount in such a short time, mainly because I supply it with all the lentil plants it needs. I guess I'll be seeing what it turns into soon.

Hungry Caterpillar Devours Leaf In One Minute!


Edited by TennesseeAnts, August 25 2018 - 2:14 PM.

I accidentally froze all my ants 


#203 Offline FeedTheAnts - Posted August 26 2018 - 12:09 PM

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I've collected a bunch of red aphids off of some wild flowers. They of course went to my terrarium to live with the two ant colonies. I'll keep you guys updated on how the ants interact with the aphids, so far only a couple of ants have shown much interest. Maybe the caterpillar will leave a few greens to the aphids(actually, I think it is a pupae now anyways).

Community Tank Update - Ants Tending to Aphids - Cute Baby Crickets!


I accidentally froze all my ants 


#204 Offline FeedTheAnts - Posted August 26 2018 - 3:46 PM

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Just got some pics of the aphids, I love their pretty red color. There are actually quite a bit of them, but they scattered around a lot. Maybe some of them decided to move into some of the clover that I put in the tank. Any ideas or tips on what they like to eat and how to care for them would be appreciated.

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Edited by TennesseeAnts, August 26 2018 - 3:46 PM.

I accidentally froze all my ants 


#205 Offline FeedTheAnts - Posted September 5 2018 - 1:22 PM

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The valentines are still growing like crazy. Even thought the brood in my other colonies have stopped developing(I guess due to hibernation), the brood in this colony is still developing fast and the queen is still laying a ton of eggs. I've removed their old outworld and given them a fresh one, but something about the tubing system is allowing for random, small escapes. 

 

I'm thinking about putting my two Carpenter Ant colonies in hibernation. They are still foraging a little, but their brood hasn't developed at all for about a month. The queens also have not been laying eggs for about a month and a half.

 

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brood
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brood
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brood
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more brood
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(not brood)(tiny bits of chicken)
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The whole colony, minus the huge amount of workers in the outworld.
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I accidentally froze all my ants 


#206 Offline FeedTheAnts - Posted September 27 2018 - 1:22 PM

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Wow, been a while. So what I've been working on now for the past two days is getting the Valentines hibernation ready, which is a huge job. I was under the impression at first that there was no way the Hybrid Nest was going to be put in my fridge(idk about the rest of you guys, but I actually use the thing for food), so my idea originally was to put them in a container with multiple test tubes. Long story short, it didn't happen, and so I had to prepare to put their setup(which was not at the time, but is now, a little terrarium) straight in my fridge. Either that, or just leave it in my garage until it got cold. I still had to of course disconnect the outworld from the whole setup, but I couldn't do that without somehow reuniting the gazillion ants that would be foraging at the time with the rest of the colony. 

 

I was going to do all of this(or go with some other not yet thought of option), when nearly 400 ants escaped. Once again, it was the product of hundreds of ants eating away at the barrier and completely wearing it away in a matter of 24 hours. So, after collecting almost all the ants, I decided to get the colony in hibernation asap. I need a break from the colony, and I plan to design and build a moated setup for them over the winter. That's right, moated. 

 

I'm not really sure why, but for some reason I thought the best way to get them into hibernation asap was to get the colony in a small dirt setup. My idea was that perhaps the colony would evacuate all the other parts of their setup completely. Then I could easily disconnect the old outworld and Hybrid Nest, and stick the dirt nest, with the entire colony in it, in my fridge. So I built a dirt setup for them, using my old 2.5 gallon tank. With the use of a heating mat the ants started moving in in no time. The only problem arose right before I went to bed. The ants(who were still hanging around in their old outworld) decided to start climbing through the barrier in their old outworld. I attached duct tape to the edges(hoping it would stop them), but accidentily made a bridge for the ants because the duct tape was touching something in their outworld. :facepalm:  :facepalm:  :facepalm:

 

Literally right before I went to bed I checked on them one last time, and I found a disaster. With no other quick way to solve the problem of ants all over the exterior walls of their outworld, I decided to just put the thing in a tray of water. Fast forward to the next morning. The ants had completely moved their nest into the dirt setup, but were still hanging around(in large numbers) all the other parts of their former setup. Everything looked pretty good, and the moat had worked.... too well. The colony lost about 150 workers to the moat. :*(

 

This is where I currently am, with the ants in their little terrarium, but still roaming the Hybrid Nest and old outworld. So ya, they aren't in hibernation yet.

Some time later today I'm going to disconnect everything else from the little terrarium, and reunite the ants that are still roaming with the rest of the colony(with the use of an aspirator I'm currently making). After all is said and done, I'm actually going to give the ants a little more time out of hibernation, just so they can recuperate and make up for all the lost workers.

 

 

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I accidentally froze all my ants 


#207 Offline FeedTheAnts - Posted November 5 2018 - 1:35 PM

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Okay, status update.

This will be the last update of the year for this journal, and I'll probably be starting a new journal for 2019 once the new year rolls around.

 

My current ant colonies have not changed, but here is a list of my current ants/other insect pets:

 

Two Carpenter Ant Colonies-Camponotus chromaiodes and Camponotus castaneus-Both going into third year

Both of these colonies were put in hibernation in September and are set to be taken back out in January

 

One Crematogaster Colony(The Valentines)-Will be going into their third year at about 1200 workers

This colony is currently in a small dirt setup and was just put into hibernation

 

Ten Gallon Community Terrarium-The pride and joy of my insect/ant collection    

This tank is the home of a lot of different insects, including:       Edit: About to put this in my garage for hibernation

  1. A ridiculous amount of springtails.
  2. An almost mature Formica pallidefulva colony(The Abdo-Lemons)
  3. A pretty good sized Aphaenogaster fulva colony.
  4. Two young spirobolid millipedes.
  5. Two large earwigs.
  6. And last but not least(actually my favorite inhabitants of the tank), about forty to fifty young crickets that are all the result a single female cricket that used to live in the tank :)​ 

Other miscellaneous insects include some large centipedes, another spirobolid millepede that is full grown(5 inches!), and hopefully soon some other kind of creepy crawly(I'm thinking about getting a scorpion).

 

 

Thank you to anyone who enjoyed reading this journal, and stay tuned for my new journal in 2019

 

Anyways, see you all in January :D


Edited by TennesseeAnts, November 5 2018 - 1:37 PM.

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I accidentally froze all my ants 


#208 Offline ANTdrew - Posted November 5 2018 - 6:04 PM

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This is one of the best journals on here! Looking forward to more updates after hibernation.
"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#209 Offline DaveJay - Posted November 5 2018 - 7:05 PM

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Catch you later!
And definitely get scorpions! 30 to 50 is a good amount I find! To be serious though when I have about 50 it's a bit too much at feeding time but I would go with 5 to 10, they don't do much so having just one can be boring.

#210 Offline neoponera - Posted November 6 2018 - 7:08 PM

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please KEEP THIS JOURNAL GOING






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