109 replies to this topic

[AntsDakota]

Not the cocoons but the open air fetus ones.
I'm excited cause I've never seen those develop and it looks cool.

 

This tends to be a trait of Myrmicinae. (Yet I like the cocoons better myself.  )

Edited by AntsDakota, September 7 2019 - 3:22 PM.

[AntaholicAnonymous]

Queens doing good I've been feeding her crickets and sugar water continuously and we are up to 3 pupae 2 larvae and 10 eggs.

I gotta figure out how to post pics yall have to see her future home it turned out not too bad lol.

I'm working on a floating island above the tank and when that's done I'll post some pics in here

[AntaholicAnonymous]

That's a lil preview of the tank.

Now that's not it it's just the cave on one side of the tank the terrarium itself is way bigger but more pictures soon.
This is an enclosed cave within the tank

[AntaholicAnonymous]

Nevermind it doesn't let me for some reason it says I'm not permitted to post pics:(

[Kaelwizard]

Upload them to the gallery first

[AntaholicAnonymous]

It's in the gallery and I got a link I don't know a better way to post yet

[AntaholicAnonymous]

Oh it worked so anyways this is a cave inside the terrarium at the right side of the pic are entrance holes.

there's real moss and fake colored plants growing in there.

Edited by AntaholicAnonymous, September 18 2019 - 12:10 AM.

[AntaholicAnonymous]

[AntaholicAnonymous]

That's the queen I named Bloody Mary on top of her brood.

I'm starting to see eyes on the popae I hope they don't take too much longer

[AntaholicAnonymous]

[AntaholicAnonymous]

[AntaholicAnonymous]

That's what I'm working with right now.

It was and still is way more work then it looks lol there's a lot of details.

You can see a stick on the top right of this picture that's holding a floating avatar island that I'm working on.

Oh and by the way it doesn't look that big but I'm 6,1 feet and I could take a bath in this thing lol it's massive and heavy

[Kaelwizard]

But you don’t even know if they will survive

[AntaholicAnonymous]

But you don’t even know if they will survive

What my queen?
I'm taking good care and if she dies ill get another eventually.

And what you don't see in the Pic is that I have about 40 wild workers from a colony in here for 3 weeks now to test conditions and they are doing great so yes I actually do know they will survive.
I made all this specifically for their needs I did my research

[Kaelwizard]

But you don’t even know if they will survive

What my queen?
I'm taking good care and if she dies ill get another eventually.

And what you don't see in the Pic is that I have about 40 wild workers from a colony in here for 3 weeks now to test conditions and they are doing great so yes I actually do know they will survive.
I made all this specifically for their needs I did my research

I meant the queen. And also when the workers die how will you clean them up.

[AntaholicAnonymous]

I'm not too worried about the queen dying when the colony has a certain size I can even introduce new queens to ensure they keep growing.

And I got many other creatures living in there that'll take care of the bodies like small centipedes, spiders and all that. Not enough to kill ants but they'll eat the dead ones. If not I just gonna pick em out. By the time the queen is ready to go in all of them are long dead.

I also got isopods springtails beneficial mites and so on to help break down any plant and insect waste its a full functioning eco system

[Kaelwizard]

How big will the colony be when you put them in?

[AntaholicAnonymous]

I just make sure to water and feed them I made lighting and heating fully automatic with day and night cycles and due to the cave there's any type of humidity the micro fauna and the ants could need.

I also got active carbon to neutralize any toxicity in the soil plus a drainage layer so I can't water too much. I have different types of temperature, soil, sand, humidity, plants and creatures in there and they are building all over the tank and they are very active

There's always a chance of things going wrong but I made it unlikely in this setup
Idk how long I'll wait yet probably 30 to 50

[Kaelwizard]

You might never see them then.

[AntaholicAnonymous]

You might never see them then.

Why so negative. lol

Of course I'll see them.
I have heating towards the glass so they build up against the Glas.
That's one reason I got these test workers in and it works perfectly.
I mixed the substrate without any clay like stuff in it so it'll go clean off when they make their tunnels and I have crystal clear vision and they do exactly that.

I rather watch them bahave naturally in a setup they are familiar with then see everything they do. I know what's going on I don't need to see all eggs and all workers at all times I rather see them construct their nest and hunt down live prey in this setup I made for them.

In nature you'll never see everything that's happening either and I'm OK with that being the case in this setup as well.

I don't like the laboratory style setup myself but to each their own