that's great!!!!!!!!!

The one new worker ant I thought eclosed ended up actually being two! Two fresh golden boys and one amber for three new workers in around a week.

Fungus is still looking pretty good, on the top half at least. The bottom is greyish and doesn't look as healthy. I'm definitely getting antsy waiting to see them add new substrate onto it. It has been at least 4 days or so since they have.

Lots of brood still all hanging out on the top of the fungus.

Overall, I'd say they're doing fine? Question mark emphasized, any feedback would be great.

Changed the time-lapse to be a bit faster for now and will slow it down once they are more active with building. Right now it is at 80 seconds per shot and before it was 60. Will post it once it's finished processing.

omg seeing the pictures of the brood tower is funnier than seeing it in the video! hahaha. Really cute how they did that.

Some people on the anting discord mentioned that my fungus chamber may be too wet on the bottom which is causing the fungus in contact with it to die off, what do y'all think? The bottom does look a bit moist and the fungus in contact with it turns grey. 

Looks fine to me. They usually start hanging it from the lid where they like it.

Looks fine to me. They usually start hanging it from the lid where they like it.

Ya they have started hanging it from the top pretty close to one of the corners. Thanks for the response! 

Days 12 & 13

The brood tower is getting out of hand! Lots of eggs, larve, and a few pupae including one turning orange getting reading to eclose sooooon! 

They seem to still be rearranging the fungus garden more than adding new substrate on to it, but to me it seems they are starting to build their first tower as well. Possibly trying to connect the floor with the fungus growing on the ceiling?

I did notice that there seem to be at least a couple pieces of new substrate added on. Looked like it had a new piece on the ceiling, hard to tell.

Overall, I'd say they are still doing fine and I'm working on leaving them alone more by only checking them through the time-lapse now that I have the temperature more under control.

I'm a bit too hyped about ants and I keep telling random people I run into on the street about my ants and showing them ant time-lapses...I don't think it's a great opener but I've just accepted that I'm a huge nerd at this point and they can deal with it.

Still have the time-lapse on 90 seconds intervals, do you like the shorter videos with faster ants or longer videos with slower ants??

 

Days 12 & 13

 

The brood tower is getting out of hand! Lots of eggs, larve, and a few pupae including one turning orange getting reading to eclose sooooon! 

 

They seem to still be rearranging the fungus garden more than adding new substrate on to it, but to me it seems they are starting to build their first tower as well. Possibly trying to connect the floor with the fungus growing on the ceiling?

 

I did notice that there seem to be at least a couple pieces of new substrate added on. Looked like it had a new piece on the ceiling, hard to tell.

 

Overall, I'd say they are still doing fine and I'm working on leaving them alone more by only checking them through the time-lapse now that I have the temperature more under control.

 

I'm a bit too hyped about ants and I keep telling random people I run into on the street about my ants and showing them ant time-lapses...I don't think it's a great opener but I've just accepted that I'm a huge nerd at this point and they can deal with it.

 

Still have the time-lapse on 90 seconds intervals, do you like the shorter videos with faster ants or longer videos with slower ants??

 

 

 

I like both speeds but the slower one makes it more interesting to watch. Also not sure if I'm right on this but it looks like they are using the brood to stabilise the new fungi growth/tower tip. xD 

Days 14 & 15

Finally added on a new section to the formicarium that I hope will end up being their garbage dump!

Had to customize a new container with the help of Andrew from formiculture.com and all of his amazingly helpful 3d printed parts that he uses for his formicariums.

I was extremely nervous when it came time to actually try to add in the new section because it meant I would have to take the lid off of the fungus garden and interact with the ants directly, something I hadn't done since I was a kid poking fire ant piles with sticks.

At the time I decided that the safest bet was to curl up in my bathtub with these ants while trying to do it to make sure none could easily escape...but in hindsight, there were definitely better options haha

When I took the lid off I expected a mad ant dash and was prepared with not only my foolproof bathtub strategy but was also armed to the teeth with a total of two paintbrushes and 2 q-tips!

Genius, I know. Luckily for me, these versicolor ants were super timid and laid back when I took the lid off.

Not a single one tried to run away or leave their enclosure, instead choosing to huddle up together around their fungus garden defending it together.

One ant was on the lid where a small fungus patch is growing and was taken on a nice ride while I was adding in the new section with plenty of chances to escape but was just hanging out instead.

So with not so proper preparations and a bit of luck, I was able to add in their new section in hopes that it would be a better spot for them to take a crap, basically. #antlife

Everyone knows you aren't supposed to poo where you eat... and since these ants don't eat the yummy looking rose petals or cichlid pellets (only using them to grow their fungus which is their sole food supply) they choose to bring the trash to the outworld in order to keep the fungus garden as clean as possible.

With this new addition hopefully, that problem will be solved and we'll start seeing consistent growth again!

This week was slow for them in terms of building but pretty big in the brood department.

Tons of new brood including 2 or 3 orange pupae getting ready to eclose in addition to the 3 new ants that have joined the crew since I got them from Andrew.

Again he has been super helpful the whole time so if you're ever wanting to get some ants or cool, adaptable formicariums and you live in California, he's the guy to go to.

nice, drew makes good formicaria

Days 16-18.5ish

Two additional workers eclosed since last time, making the grand total 5 new ones I think?

I'll try to get a total count soon but it's around 15.

They've started hanging a lot of fungus from the ceiling now and it's getting to the point where it will be touching the bottom part soon.

They haven't used the new section I added for them at all so today I decided to remove all of the substrate that had been mixed with garbage and then add in completely new rose petals and fish pellets.

I also added a bit of the garbage to the section that I want to be the dump in hopes that it would lead them over there. So, we'll see what happens.

I'm going to use a time-lapse of 57 seconds per shot which gives me almost exactly a minute of footage a day. I'll upload the time-lapse twice a week so that they are around 3 and a half minutes each and then I will also upload another one that shows the whole week but at twice the speed.

So 3 3 and a half minute videos a week for the ant time-lapses is the goal! Plus some pictures on occasion. So I'll also update the journal twice a week.

This makes it easier to be consistent and also shows more growth per update.

Edited by ryanp347, December 23 2021 - 11:24 PM.

This is shaping up to be a superb journal. Keep it up!

I agree

Love the Idea! And I agree, I love the journal your making and sharing with us. Its so cool to see the behaviour and actions of the ants and its also very cute.

God bless and Merry Christmas! 

While the ants clearly like the dirt I added to a lot of the colonies, because they use it to customize their nest, it's messy and scratches the plastic. I have since done some testing and found that the chambers are about 90% humidity or higher with one entrance open. It's more than I thought it would be without the dirt added, so I probably won't be adding dirt anymore.

While the ants clearly like the dirt I added to a lot of the colonies, because they use it to customize their nest, it's messy and scratches the plastic. I have since done some testing and found that the chambers are about 90% humidity or higher with one entrance open. It's more than I thought it would be without the dirt added, so I probably won't be adding dirt anymore.

Haha ya I can tell that they like it but I would still prefer it not being there! Maybe something like starting out with no dirt and then adding some to the outworld after founding to see if they use it to plug some holes still would be useful, but I'd definitely prefer higher visibility. It can also make putting the lid back on after taking it off for any reason more difficult as the dirt tends to interfere with the seal even if you try to clean it.

Just watched the time-lapse from last night and this morning and they've already started using the new substrate to add on to the garden again!

Seems like that might have been what the issue was after all. Their outworld had to be their garbage dump and all the substrate was dirty and unusable. Now that it is clean again and they have a place to put their trash they started building again? A bit too early to tell but I'm hopeful.