221 replies to this topic

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

looking gorgeous! 

[ForestDragon]

I have an idea why you were not successful Drew. In the early stages, they need tons of food. Only later on, when they get repletes, can they go a while without food.

Very fitting Ant Drew. I do Kenpo Karate, so....

Also, I dumped the larger tube. They are in the process of moving in. The ones that were dumped yesterday all moved in, so this time it should go quicker, that is, if the queen cooperates.

you do karate? i am a ninja as well, 2nd dan in taekwondo

[NickAnter]

Oh.  I am only a green belt.  Soon to be green belt with a brown stripe. Over a year to go to get  black belt.   Usually takes more than five years in my system. But, I have gotten to green belt in under two years, which is pretty good, so, who knows?

[ForestDragon]

Oh.  I am only a green belt.  Soon to be green belt with a brown stripe. Over a year to go to get  black belt.   Usually takes more than five years in my system. But, I have gotten to green belt in under two years, which is pretty good, so, who knows?

my school doesnt use stripes (unless your >7) we just go solid, yellow, orange, blue, green, purple, brown, red, navy, stripe black(only stripe in normal system) and then black belt, then 10 degrees of black belt I'm 2nd we are a traditional school, our gm is one of the highest in the world according to world taekwondo foundation, only 5 and he has a 10th dan in like 5 disciplines or smth, taekwondo, karate, gumdo(korean version of kendo) and kimodo, he's also my neighbor, 

[NickAnter]

Our's is: White, Yellow, Orange, Purple, Blue, Blue with a Green Stripe(I skipped that, I had enough material according to Grandmaster Taylor) Green, Green with a Brown Stripe, Brown, First Decree Brown Second Decree Brown, Third Decree brown, Black, Fist Decree Black, and all they way up to tenth decree.

[NickAnter]

   Had about 10 worker deaths, but I am not too worried. If I see serious die offs I will move them out. If they keep dying at this rate they will still keep exploding in numbers. They devour massive mealworms every few days now, and I just provide a THA liquid feeder with sugar water in it. Unless I find a cricket outside, or a termite, that is mostly all they get, and they are still thriving. It is great that they are so simple, and don't need lots of variety. I would say that they are at at least 850 workers. What I plan to do when they outgrow this formicarium(probably next year) is to put them in a paludarium setup, on an Island, so I would not have to worry about escapees, and, in the setup, there would be other Islands, on one I would like to put a Hypoponera species, and on the other maybe Pheidole navigans. The islands would all border up to the glass at the bottom, but leaving water around the edges so that I could still view their tunnels without having to worry about escapees.

[AntsDakota]

What I plan to do when they outgrow this formicarium(probably next year) is to put them in a paludarium setup, on an Island, so I would not have to worry about escapees, and, in the setup, there would be other Islands, on one I would like to put a Hypoponera species, and on the other maybe Pheidole navigans. The islands would all border up to the glass at the bottom, but leaving water around the edges so that I could still view their tunnels without having to worry about escapees.

And of course these are on YouTube, lol.

[NickAnter]

I admit, that is where I got the paludarium idea, but connecting the edge to the glass and having multiple islands is my own.

[AntsDakota]

Yes, of course. Can’t wait to see them.

[NickAnter]

Hopefully they have some more growth explosions, and it will only be in a couple months. I even have some water plants already....

[NickAnter]

I fed them a live random subterranean termite alate today. Within 30 seconds they had it immobilized. They already had a lot of experience on the larger Incisitermes minor, so I guess this was no trouble at all for them. If there are more termites I find, I'll freeze them, and keep them frozen so that I have a nice supply. Sadly, despite the fact that my dad knows they can't destroy the house, I still can't keep them. Their strategy is to grab the wings first so that it can't keep them flapping and send ants flying, as happened with the Incisitermes, then spread eagle them, and get a worker or two to spray it in the head. I am feeding them something every other day now, to hopefully encourage more egg laying.

[NickAnter]

Near disaster. 2 workers escaped from the nest. I saw the problem, and added two more clips to the side of the nest. One of the workers that was about to get out, got smushed. Then, the real test begun. They release some pheromone when they get injured, so a bunch of worker ran toward the area, and began trying to get under the acrylic. Thankfully they failed. 

[NickAnter]

Doing great. They have plateued in worker count, with older ones dying, and new ones being born. But, the queen laid over 100 eggs, and they have 50 pupae, so I think they will be okay. And I have over 20 water plants now! They just need to quadruple in size.

[NickAnter]

  Queen has laid hundred upon hundreds of eggs, and about 60 large larvae and pupae. They do have quite the graveyard, so I think all older workers are dead now, but, it's not getting much bigger now though. I think part of it may have been lack of humidity, as they seem to need very high humidity, something that the nest they are in is not great at, unless I water it every 2 days, which I will do from now on. I feed them protein every day now, and they seem to like that. recently, it has mostly been Reticulitermes hesperus alates.

 

I will start black-lighting in my front and back yard again today, and until Thursday, hoping for some of the Camponotus that I now know are in my neighborhood. I have also seen Nylanderia queens in my pool, so I know they are flying, so I will hopefully get some of those. When/if I do, i will introduce one to this colony to see if it will be accepted. I don't expect it to, but hopefully it will. If so, they will be ready for a multi-native species(S. molesta, Hypoponera, maybe C. clarithorax if I find some) paludarium in no time.

Edited by NickAnter, April 13 2020 - 9:51 AM.

[NickAnter]

I found no queens on my blacklight the last two days, and nothing besides tons of termites in my pool. On Tuesday I did see what I am pretty sure was a large sphinx moth.

 

They do however, have up to 400 eggs, and about 100 pupae/large larvae.   

 

And I forgot to say, but this colony lost a few younger generations of workers, about 200 in fact, so they are only at about 600 workers, but will hopefully be at 1000 soon. Half of the eggs have already hatched.

 

I am still sticking to the daily protein regimen, hoping for even more eggs. I will post some pictures of the egg pile soon, as in sometime in the near future. And sometime in the near future is either never, or later this evening.

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

I found no queens on my blacklight the last two days, and nothing besides tons of termites in my pool. On Tuesday I did see what I am pretty sure was a large sphinx moth.

 

They do however, have up to 400 eggs, and about 100 pupae/large larvae. 

 

And I forgot to say, but this colony lost a few younger generations of workers, about 200 in fact, so they are only at about 600 workers, but will hopefully be at 1000 soon. Half of the eggs have already hatched.

 

I am still sticking to the daily protein regimen, hoping for even more eggs. I will post some pictures of the egg pile soon, as in sometime in the near future. And sometime in the near future is either never, or later this evening.

Nice, everyone love to see pics!

[NickAnter]

Pictures!

[VoidElecent]

One of the coolest colonies I have ever seen. I've never gotten a Nylanderia colony to live past hibernation.

[ADHTCIAD]

Amazing colony. Very nicely done!

[NickAnter]

Thank you!