5 replies to this topic

[voyager156]

So does red foil calms the ants and prevents them from seeing light? Or does it do nothing?

 

I had read contradictory opinions and I'm confused about this...

[futurebird]

A red filter will filter some light. I don't think the color matters much, any color of shade will do to give your ants a more dim space. 

 

There is a theory that just leaving most sp. of ants in the light all the time is better since what scares ants the most are sudden changes in light level (and vibrations)

 

I don't use red filters anymore. Instead I bought some "lens cleaning" cloths which are very soft and flexible I cover the windows with the soft cloth since I can remove it slowly without causing vibrations. This works even with my formica sp. ants. 

 

I have tried the "leave them in the light all the time" thing and while most workers don't seem to mind I do find that the queen will hide. I like to see her so I cover my colonies with the soft cloths. That way she's out in the open when I check. I suspect in most sp. queens are more sensitive to light since they have those 3 eyes on their foreheads. 

 

I do think the red glass can look nice. If you like the look great. It makes it dim enough that the queen won't hide. But, most of the time if you remove it, it will cause vibrations ... so that's why I don't like that method anymore. 

[futurebird]

I will also add that I did a test using colored lights, one red one blue of the same brightness and the blue light did seem to startle ants a little more. I also tried "warm white" vs. "warm cool" light ... when I want to film ants I need very bright light, but using a warm white bright light seems to cause less panic... but IDK if my "study" was careful enough to prove much. 

[futurebird]

I decided to do some "research" (googling lol)

 

 

Australian bull ants (like humans) have three types of photoreceptors that are sensitive to different colours (UV, Blue and Green) and therefore the potential for trichromatic colour vision.

https://phys.org/new...technology.html

https://www.asiansci...e-color-vision/

 

 

Bull ants have some of the best vision of all ants. IDK if generalizing from them is a good idea. Some ants are almost eyeless. They seem to have "human like" color vision with sensitivity to UV that goes beyond human vision. 

 

This paper shows similar results with Polyrhachis dives and Diacamma rugosum ants. These are also sp. with fairly large eyes, but more in line with common hobby sp. like formica.

 

https://www.skss.edu...NGLISH_ONLY.pdf

 

This next paper is a gold mine since it's a review of lit. and summarizes a bunch of papers. It has a really great table that breaks it down by species and nm of light wave. 

 

https://www.research...ants_-_a_review

 

It does show that many ants don't have much sensitivity in the 650+ nm range of red light. Moreover human vision is better in red light, but ants are better than us in UV. So, the red film thing isn't crazy. But a really pure red is hard to achieve and there is variation by species.  Some formica can see red light just as well as we can! So this may be why people argue about it. 

 

Formica ants generally are just gonna notice things. They are just very... aware. 

 

Meanwhile my lasius ants aren't even covered and I watch the queen lay eggs all day. They don't even mind the vibrations from being on my desk, or picked up to put them under my desk camera... every ant sp. is different and every colony has a personality. 

Edited by futurebird, August 8 2021 - 2:49 PM.

[voyager156]

So my main colony is Messor barbarus. Sometimes (not always) when I turn their lights on I noticed that they get agitated (like some workers sprint out of their nest).

I'm using a red filter as You probably could guess. I was wondering if I just should use something to completely darken their nest - like a piece of cardboard, cloth, etc.?

[GreekAnts]

So my main colony is Messor barbarus. Sometimes (not always) when I turn their lights on I noticed that they get agitated (like some workers sprint out of their nest).

I'm using a red filter as You probably could guess. I was wondering if I just should use something to completely darken their nest - like a piece of cardboard, cloth, etc.?

Messor barbarus can see red light (according to some sorces I have read)