73 replies to this topic

[EmberMyAnts]

So, I bought some ants from someone (thanks so much kounolous!) and, they are awesome! First thing I just watched in awe. Then I put them away and later fed them turkey (they didn’t eat much of it). The next day I took it out and replaced it with a drop of sugar water (either hasn’t seen it or doesn’t care for it). I’m trying to figure out when to feed these little guys, when to move them into another test tube, and when to move them into a formicarium. So far, I have the queen, ten ants, three larvae, and a few TINY eggs that I can just barely see. I don’t know how to put up a picture of them, so, can you help me with that? Also, the tube they’re in is bigger than all the rest, so, I can’t figure out how I’m going to connect the tubes and/or just put them into the formicarium. For ants of this size, do you think I should connect the tube to formicarium at 12, 15, or 20 ants? Thanks!
Edit: It’s the first of May, Wednesday.

Edited by EmberMyAnts, June 11 2019 - 6:30 AM.

[TennesseeAnts]

They will be good for a formicarium at about 100 workers.

[ANTdrew]

Congrats on your first colony. Tetramorium are really easy to care for, so don't stress. Just keep them around 80 degrees or so and feed them lots of feeder insects. Your ten ants will be a thousand before you know it! It's actually scary how fast these grow considering there's only one queen. They will eat some meats, but they really need and prefer insect feeders, so I would invest in some mealworms, crickets, or dubia roaches. Young colonies don't drink much sugars - they're much more focused on proteins for mass growth. I highly recommend getting some byFormica liquid feeders too.

Unless you already have a formicarium, I wouldn't bother with one yet. These ants do great just in multiple test tubes in an escape proof container. They are really good about keeping their nest area clean, so mold isn't that much of an issue.

[EmberMyAnts]

100?! I also have a killing phobia (I don’t know what to call it, but, even killing a simple mosquito makes me feel sick), so, feeding insects is a problem for me. I’m thinking of eggs and bread, Turkey, ham, cooked chicken etc.. Is that good enough, or, feeder insects only?

[rbarreto]

Honestly it might work for T. immigrans (very hardy species) but it won't be as good as using feeder insects. It probably wouldn't work for any other species though.

[EmberMyAnts]

Okay. I honestly find crickets to cute (they can also carry mites), so, I will get some roaches from our nearby Petco. They also have feeder mealworms, so, I'll get those. If I wanted to breed some roaches and/or crickets and/or mealworms, what would their habitats have to be?

EDIT: (Crickets have a chance of carrying mites more than other insects I mean to say)

Edited by EmberMyAnts, May 1 2019 - 12:50 PM.

[ANTdrew]

I understand if you don’t like killing things, but not feeding them insect protein will really hamper their growth. You can just pop the roaches in the freezer and it will be a quick and relatively painless death. All this being said, maybe hampering Tetramoriums’ growth may be a good thing because of their crazy fecundity.

[EmberMyAnts]

Haha. I have a worm farm, so I cut off the end of one's tail and tried to give it to them, but, either they didn't want it, or they are still full from yesterday's turkey. I am seriously considering they want me to worry until I feed them skittles or something.

EDIT: If they don't eat the tail, i'll go to Petco and buy some feeder insects (why do you have to make me spend, Cavewings? [That's what I'm naming my colony])

Edited by EmberMyAnts, May 1 2019 - 1:16 PM.

[rbarreto]

Try wingless fruit flies. Ants love them and there's no possible way to feel bad about killing them.

[ANTdrew]

Try wingless fruit flies. Ants love them and there's no possible way to feel bad about killing them.

Good call, plus the ants can do the killing for you with these.
A colony as small as yours will eat very little, so don’t stress about that.

Edited by ANTdrew, May 1 2019 - 1:27 PM.

[EmberMyAnts]

The person who sold the ants to me just told me I should also crush up almonds and feed them to them too.

[kounelus]

Only every once in awhile. They'll eat some of it every once in awhile, and more as the colony grows larger. For now you could maybe give them a tiny sliver, but keep an eye on it in case it begins to mold. Same goes for any food you give to them while they are still in the tube. Also, like the others said they may not demand a whole lot of food since they are still a young colony. You can try offering the food and if they don't take it (after trying a couple different insects), just assume they are full and will eat another time.

 

For feeder's, I kept meal worms and fruit flies. There are a several online ways to raise feeder insects, but for a quick crash course you can check out http://www.formicult...ts-and-feeders/. After that you can research more online for whatever culture you want to raise.

 

While the colony is so young, I wouldn't risk feeding them live insects just in case they injure the workers. With fruit flies it may not be a big risk, but I usually would just freeze them until they get more numerous.

 

If you wanted to (and there are numerous arguments for and against it) you could try to brood boost them to bump their numbers up quicker. Of course that would mean stealing from an older colony you find somewhere and there is always the chance of parasites or diseases getting in like that. You also have to be sure you are grabbing from the same species or else they'll just kill the brood. You have to decide if that's something you want to do or not.

 

EDIT: And all of this is just from my experience, so other's may know better. You could research some of the journals on here for insights as well.

Edited by kounelus, May 1 2019 - 3:44 PM.

[EmberMyAnts]

Thanks! You are all so awesome! ( You especially Kounelus, who sold me the extra ants )!

Edited by EmberMyAnts, May 1 2019 - 4:07 PM.

[Joehostile85]

They also eat seeds. I feed mine sesame seeds, poppy seeds, grass seeds, ansie seeds, tefff seeds, Niger seeds, fennel seeds, ect. Then I also feed them bulk frozen crickets and I breed fruit flies which I also bulk freeze to feed to my colonies.

[EmberMyAnts]

5/2/2018
I gave them the worm tail again, they seemed to eat it. The problem is the tube they are currently in is bigger than the other tubes I own, so I was trying to move them into the test tube. I taped the tubes together and left them in an open drawer. When I came back, I saw one ant with the brood had gotten out, so I took the tape off, put the ant back in, put the cotton ball back in, and then saw my Queen in a half curled position on the cotton ball. She might be dead, I couldn’t tell. If she did die, then I killed my colony in less than three days. Possibly a world record. If she did die, then I shouldn’t get anymore ants. Because I’ll just kill them again. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see. If I did kill her, its probably because I love to check on them often. If she does live though, I’ll only touch her when absolutely necessary, but, I think I killed her, and I’m not joking when I say I’m tearing up right now at my possible failure.
EDIT: I finally checked the drawer, and the queen was alive, but for now on, this will get less updates and I am barely going to ever check the tube. I never, ever, have had such a feeling of grief in my life, so I’m going to be careful to make sure I don’t repeat it.

Edited by EmberMyAnts, May 2 2019 - 1:22 PM.

[BeginnerAntKeeper]

She was likely laying an egg if she is still alive. Queens every now and then curl and bend their head to their gaster, lay an egg and pluck it out. I doubt there is a need to reduce updates on this colony.

Edited by BeginnerAntKeeper, May 2 2019 - 10:40 PM.

[kounelus]

If you want to move the colony into another test tube, you could try to get a tub & tubes set up going. Then you could just set both tubes in the tub/outworld and they'll move eventually. However since it is such a young colony and the current tube is I believe still livable; they may not move for quite some time. You also have to decide how much you want to disturb the colony to try to get them to move.

 

You could make the old tube less appealing as a nest by uncovering it and I've heard (but never had work for me) that blowing/breathing in to the tube can cause some ants to think that the current nest has been compromised and move.

You could also try to make the new tube more appealing by covering it and by making the entrance to the new tube more narrow. Serafine from the discord usually takes some cotton balls & a snipped straw to do this. Seems to work well enough.

 

Just as a warning though, as you continue with ant keeping you will probably lose some colonies/queens for no good reason. Sometimes through no fault of your own. Some queens just draw a bad lottery from the gene pool I believe. The main point is to not let it deter you and to keep trying to improve your skills at ant keeping.

[ANTdrew]

Try not to stress too much. Keep in mind that this is one of the toughest ant species on earth. Perhaps the only reason they aren't taking over the planet like fire ants or Argentines is that they aren't polygynous and don't form super colonies. This species probably arrived here accidentally in some potted plants or tree root balls totally neglected and unattended during the long trans-Atlantic voyage. Your checking them will not kill your queen. I think it is a good idea not to disturb them unless necessary, though. Even if, heaven forbid, you kill this queen, in about five weeks you will probably be able to find as many newly mated ones as you want with a little effort.

I second the idea to put their tube in a small escape-proof container with other tubes they can access. This will make feeding so much easier, and you can then just trust your ants good judgment to move when they need to. Container Store will have great options for this, but even just a plastic Tupperware would work fine.

Edited by ANTdrew, May 3 2019 - 4:25 AM.

[EmberMyAnts]

K. I just don’t want the colony to get hungry and then me not to be able to feed it because they are all at the entrance or something. I have an AC portal, but the current test tube they are in is too big to connect the two. I’ll wait and see. Also, some of them are Carmel and others are dark brown like the queen. Is there and explanation? At first I put it down to them hatching recently, but, it’s been a few days and they are still Carmel colored...

[ANTdrew]

Light colored workers are recently eclosed. It takes a few days for them to darken fully. It's a good sign to see them because it means your colony is growing.