86 replies to this topic

[Ants.co]

Them as in Myrmecia 

[Spazmops]

A few of your workers are visibly damaged (missing an antenna, one has a broken mandible, etc.). This could account for some of the die-off. If you’re dead set on keeping this colony I suggest you try to pm other ant keepers who keep myrmecia,

[AntsDakota]

How on Earth did you manage not to get stung when collecting these???

[Antkid12]

Gloves maybe?

[ponerinecat]

I would advise to not use beetle jelly and other substitutes as their main source of protein, Myrmecia love their insects.

[AntsDakota]

Gloves maybe?

But what if they crawled in his shoes and up his legs, or past the gloves.......... when I've broken into Tetramorium colonies, they do this to me, and I spend several minutes afterwards plucking ants off my legs and shoes.  I'm probably not going to do that again any time soon. 

[Ants.co]

How on Earth did you manage not to get stung when collecting these???

I did get stung, once. It took me an hour to catch all of them, one at a time. Thankfully, I had read this article https://www.formicul...g-up-myrmecia/? a few months ago (at the time thinking it was a good read and nothing else), and it taught me one thing: take it slow and one at a time. I tricked each worker into walking into a field vial (only one or two were injured out of the 50) by placing the vial in front of it, and just gently scooped up the brood afterward. I got stung when one of them jumped over the tube and onto my hand. It hurt for days

 

 

I would advise to not use beetle jelly and other substitutes as their main source of protein, Myrmecia love their insects.

Thanks so much for the advice! The ants haven't been eating much of the jelly, though I did see one of the workers lick it. I fed them a half-dead cricket (I cut it's head off but it was still walking around a bit) and the ants seemed to be very interested in it. They took it down in seconds and took it back to the nest to consume.

A few of your workers are visibly damaged (missing an antenna, one has a broken mandible, etc.). This could account for some of the die-off. If you’re dead set on keeping this colony I suggest you try to pm other ant keepers who keep myrmecia,

Thanks, I have noticed that the few injured ones (the ones that were injured when I found them and the two I caused  ) were the ones dying off, thou

 

Gloves maybe?

But what if they crawled in his shoes and up his legs, or past the gloves.......... when I've broken into Tetramorium colonies, they do this to me, and I spend several minutes afterwards plucking ants off my legs and shoes.    I'm probably not going to do that again any time soon. 

 

Ouch. I had that when I was catching Pheidole as well. Their stings didn't hurt (though one major literally cut my skin), but they were climbing all over me. It felt like I was getting electric shocked by the sheer amount of ants running all over my body. Ended up having to take a shower afterwards 

[Ants.co]

Spazmops, on 24 Jul 2020 - 11:51 PM, said:

A few of your workers are visibly damaged (missing an antenna, one has a broken mandible, etc.). This could account for some of the die-off. If you’re dead set on keeping this colony I suggest you try to pm other ant keepers who keep myrmecia,

Oops one of the quotes got cut off. 

Thanks, I have noticed that the few injured ones (the ones that were injured when I found them and the two I caused   ) were the ones dying off, though one of the dead ones was actually perfectly healthy. Probably due to stress... I won't be filming them nor touching their nest area for a few weeks and I'll see how it goes. Their nest is connected to their outworld via a 50cm tube (is that even good? Do the ants like to forage far from their nest? As far as I have read no one has mentioned anything about their foraging distance) so whenever I feed or clean their outworld the nest isn't affected. 

 

By the way, how do you pm? 

 

Gloves maybe?

Nah, I wasn't prepared as I said. First thing I did when I kicked that rock: Panic. Hard. I literally jumped as far as these ants would have jumped if they were me 

If it wasn't for my friend who saw the queen and isolated it from the rest of the colony with a stick I would have given up on this colony. 

[Spazmops]

It’s the ‘messenger’ button under your profile tab. It sounds like you’re trying your best to keep these ants alive, so that’s good. Too many people forget they’re dealing with living creatures when they break into ant colonies.

[Ants.co]

It’s the ‘messenger’ button under your profile tab. It sounds like you’re trying your best to keep these ants alive, so that’s good. Too many people forget they’re dealing with living creatures when they break into ant colonies.

Thanks mate. 

[Spazmops]

Phone glitched and put the same message twice, sorry

Edited by Spazmops, July 24 2020 - 2:36 PM.

[Kaelwizard]

They apparently prefer to forage above ground on trees. Maybe if you add something tall to their outworld and provide food on it they will like that.

Edited by Kaelwizard, July 24 2020 - 2:45 PM.

[Spazmops]

Best of luck on your colony by the way, if you keep these successfully they’ll be awesome. Australia has some incredible ants.

[Ants.co]

Best of luck on your colony by the way, if you keep these successfully they’ll be awesome. Australia has some incredible ants.

Thanks!

 

They apparently prefer to forage above ground on trees. Maybe if you add something tall to their outworld and provide food on it they will like that.

Thanks for the advice, I have found that they like to climb on the sticks and branches I provided so I'll try make this platform for them to forage on. I'll see if it works.

[Ants.co]

Hello everybody, I'm back, and the colony has been going perfectly! No deaths in the past few weeks and they have been drinking tonnes of sugary stuff, plus they have taken a cricket or two.

[Antkid12]

Nice.

[ponerinecat]

More protein. Protein is essential to a mature colony. Try other insects and arthropods as well.

[Ants.co]

Awesome, thanks for the tip! They only have eggs right now though, and haven't been eating the cockroaches or crickets I gave them. But somehow they have been eating ALL the protein jelly and powder I gave them... Strange, as they are supposed to like real insects.

[Ants.co]

Ok, their eggs have hatched, and more have been laid, and they gobble up a whole cricket/roach every single day.

[zantezaint]

Congrats on the magnificent find. It's always nice to do an excursion from your backyard, not having to drive. I wish your colony all the success!