69 replies to this topic

[Lillyrose]

Yup. The heart-butt waggle has to be the most endearing thing about these ants. You’re going to have a blast with these, I guarantee.

I saw this with a wild colony, it was pretty amazing! This thread is awesome, I hope they fly here. Glad to see your colonies are doing so well!

I always see your posts and you are always amazing and positive! Thank you .. your replies always bring a smile

[TacticalHandleGaming]

Any updates on these gals?

[ANTS_KL]

Yes updates pls

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[Lillyrose]

Sure!

These girls are wonderful. They're doing really well. I had a scare the other day where I gave them some frozen fruit flies and one wasn't actually frozen. It started running around and managed to get into their eggs which had them all running at it. I was scared they would spray in the tube or on the eggs but the fly ran away and they let him.

They REALLY like the termite... they'll leave fruit flies behind sometimes but they never leave a termite behind.

One thing I like about them is how they keep things all sorted in their tube.


I feed them daily ... 3 to 5 fruit flies or termites... or a couple of mealworms .. or half a cricket.

They don't seem to like strawberry much but they did enjoy the watermelon.

They love chicken.


They keep such neat little piles. I thought the one pile was larvae but now realize it's little exoskeleton from things like termites.


I cannot really tell how many workers they have right now but it's fun to see their behavior changing. They're becoming more bold and exploring a bit more.

They always have patrols going inside the tube and outside on the tube ... but they're not fully exploring their box yet. Once they do I'll be in trouble lol... it's just a matter of time.

They grow fast, not as fast as the Tetramorium but fast.

Edited by Lillyrose, May 30 2021 - 6:19 PM.

[TacticalHandleGaming]

Thank you for the update, I love to see how this colony is progressing!

[ANTdrew]

Excellent work!

[ANTS_KL]

Sure!

These girls are wonderful. They're doing really well. I had a scare the other day where I gave them some frozen fruit flies and one wasn't actually frozen. It started running around and managed to get into their eggs which had them all running at it. I was scared they would spray in the tube or on the eggs but the fly ran away and they let him.

They REALLY like the termite... they'll leave fruit flies behind sometimes but they never leave a termite behind.

One thing I like about them is how they keep things all sorted in their tube.

20210529_214333.jpg
I feed them daily ... 3 to 5 fruit flies or termites... or a couple of mealworms .. or half a cricket.

They don't seem to like strawberry much but they did enjoy the watermelon.

They love chicken.
20210528_234515.jpg

They keep such neat little piles. I thought the one pile was larvae but now realize it's little exoskeleton from things like termites.
20210524_225431.jpg

I cannot really tell how many workers they have right now but it's fun to see their behavior changing. They're becoming more bold and exploring a bit more.

They always have patrols going inside the tube and outside on the tube ... but they're not fully exploring their box yet. Once they do I'll be in trouble lol... it's just a matter of time.

They grow fast, not as fast as the Tetramorium but fast.

Great! Sounds to me like they are slowly becoming like my Oecophylla smaragdina. But it's weird that they leave termite shells tho, my ants leave nothing behind when eating termites. Hope they don't escape in the future

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[Lillyrose]

The other night I checked on my ants and realized the sun dew drink stuff is running very very low and needs to be replaced in almost all my ants. I only have the very small ones so they need to be refilled fairly often. I was tired though and I know they all have regular water so I put it off till morning.

Turns out that wasn't the smartest.

I woke up and went to check on my ants. I noticed an ant sitting on top of the Tetramorium outworld. Assuming it's a Tapinoma Sessile or other invader I was going to squish it. Then I noticed the little heart shaped butt.

Oh.

I turned my attention to their outworld and sure enough, two or three sitting on top. I take the lid off and knock them back in and take a look. They've found a safe path through the Fluon and are moving butt. They are walking up a specific path up the wall and to the ventilation holes on top.



I think I got them at the start though because I was only able to find maybe 3 workers on the shelves and the numbers seem stable.

I cleaned out their trash, gave them some new meat (eco dried silk worm) and some fresh sun dew.





I did eventually replace the Fluon as well, but first I watched. Once they had the resources they needed they stopped probing for weaknesses to exploit.

None the less I needed something better.

I put a regular lid with no holes on it, but heat made condensation .. it needed to have air flow. I eventually kept the closed lid but took them off heat for now.

Since I had them all annoyed and stressed out anyway I decided to take a peek at the brood. I know I could leave then uncovered but I feel bad. They don't like it lol. I have a post it note wrapped around so when I slid it back I was happy to see.





The lid.

I took a chisel and kinda carefully cracked the center out of it. At dollar tree they have these mesh things to block the oil when you're cooking, so I took two of those and sewed them together and then trimmed it to meet the lid.

I used an industrial glue.. (not sure how it works yet, was planning to use hot glue but couldn't find it) I lined the inside and outside and it's drying well. In a couple days I'll be able to put it on.

The center mesh won't hold up to concentrated attacks so ill have to watch and ensure I act rather than react.

[Lillyrose]

The new lid works very well.

Changing their tube, giving them a new rock to explore, and changing the orientation of their tube entrance seems to have made a huge difference.

The colony is no longer climbing the walls regularly, though I worry the stress may have taken a few girl out.

They have a good amount of brood and just to make me feel guilty there is a worker crushed in the cotton I cannot retrieve. She glares at me, flat and angry. I am sorry.

I think if I had the Crematogaster before the Tetramorium I'd be amazed at their growth. Of course they aren't invasive like the tetra.


I am debating trying to build them a kinda playground. I have this small cheap aquarium, round. It's meant for like a beta. I like the round cause less corners means less grips.

It's also a bit taller than my outworld boxes and I'm thinking I can put rings of plaster to give them places to explore. I can even tie strings across to give them things to climb.

This of course would reduce how much I can see, but frankly these girls are so defensive I rarely see much anyway.

[ANTdrew]

Your playground sounds like a great idea. Fluon works best in tall containers.