62 replies to this topic

[MrLunk]

I had a quick 1st look at the Lasius Niger starter colony today.

They were exposed to light for only 20 seconds and did not get very aroused.
Perhaps because they've filled up on sugars overnight.

So here is the first picture of my Lasius Niger starter colony.
 

 

This is the Gyne (Queen) with about 12 nanites (1st brood worker ants).
As far as I could see there are 2 dead nanites in there and I do not see any 2nd brood.
Perhaps my untrained 50 year old eyes are missing something so let me know if you see any brood or eggs.

As you can see the cotton-wool in the test tube they arrived in has become a bit funky.
They will need to be moved to the small nest or another basic setup test-tube soon.

Before I do that I have fed them a juicy freshly swatted fly which I cut in half with a razor-blade for easy access to the juicy parts.

I'll let them gorge on that for a few hours before using the light/dark method to enthuse them to move.

Greetz,
PL.

Edited by MrLunk, June 23 2023 - 1:24 AM.

[MrLunk]

And here is a short video of some nanitics gathering protein and overview of the Nest.

 

VIEW on Youtube.

Edited by MrLunk, June 23 2023 - 3:31 AM.

[Serafine]

They were exposed to light for only 20 seconds and did not get very aroused.
Perhaps because they've filled up on sugars overnight.

 

 

As you can see the cotton-wool in the test tube they arrived in has become a bit funky.
They will need to be moved to the small nest or another basic setup test-tube soon.

Don't worry, this is what the Lasius niger tube here looks like and it's fine. They do have a farm but they're still happily living in this really dirty tube.

Your ants won't care about a bit of mold.

[MrLunk]

 

They were exposed to light for only 20 seconds and did not get very aroused.
Perhaps because they've filled up on sugars overnight.

 

 

As you can see the cotton-wool in the test tube they arrived in has become a bit funky.
They will need to be moved to the small nest or another basic setup test-tube soon.

Don't worry, this is what the Lasius niger tube here looks like and it's fine. They do have a farm but they're still happily living in this really dirty tube.

Your ants won't care about a bit of mold.

 

Good to know, I won't be forcing them then, the new nest is attached to the setup but I won't use light to force them then and let them decide...
But I do hope they decide to move over the coming weeks before it gets that dirty

PL.

Edited by MrLunk, June 23 2023 - 7:55 AM.

[MrLunk]

This is what my full starting setup look like now...
I use external tubes connected thru splitters to feed sugars and protein separately.
I find it easier to feed this way without disturbing the nest and the feeder tubes are easy to clean and refill.

I would like to know what you all think of this start setup, since I don't see many people do something like this....

PL.

Edited by MrLunk, June 24 2023 - 3:37 AM.

[MrLunk]

 Lasius Niger setup changed, outworld added.

 

So, when I am doing hobby things I often forget 2 things..

1. Time...
2. Taking photos...

What happened...

Queen moved from the funky tube-setup she came in to a fresh test-tube setup.
I left the dark cover off the old tube and put it on the new one overnight, so slowly increasing light intensity from the rising sun would be the 1st (indirect) light they saw. When I woke up they had moved to the clean new tube.

I created a smaller out-world for this tiny 10 worker Lasius Niger colony then posted in a previous post.
Hooked it all up and here it is...

Yes, the test-tube is under the dark cover (microfiber black sun-glasses cover sack thingy.)
 

 

The tube setup contains only clean water (sterilised by cooking),

the tube bottom left in the image contains the 'Honeydew surrogate',

the one on the lower right contains some protein jelly.

Question:
Since I moved them to this new setup and the tube has been dark for about a day,
I see the nanitics carrying some of the bigger sand grains into the nest.
What would they do that for ?

Greeting,
Peter Lunk

Edited by MrLunk, June 26 2023 - 8:50 AM.

[antsriondel]

 

 Lasius Niger setup changed, outworld added.

 

So, when I am doing hobby things I often forget 2 things..

1. Time...
2. Taking photos...

What happened...

Queen moved from the funky tube-setup she came in to a fresh test-tube setup.
I left the dark cover off the old tube and put it on the new one overnight, so slowly increasing light intensity from the rising sun would be the 1st (indirect) light they saw. When I woke up they had moved to the clean new tube.

I created a smaller out-world for this tiny 10 worker Lasius Niger colony then posted in a previous post.
Hooked it all up and here it is...

Yes, the test-tube is under the dark cover (microfiber black sun-glasses cover sack thingy.)
 

 

The tube setup contains only clean water (sterilised by cooking),

the tube bottom left in the image contains the 'Honeydew surrogate',

the one on the lower right contains some protein jelly.

Question:
Since I moved them to this new setup and it's been dark for about a day,
I see the nanitics carrying some of the bigger sand grains into the nest.
What would they do that for ?

Greeting,
Peter Lunk

 

Ants love to build stuff out of sand. They could use it to close off the entrance to trap moisture in the nest, or they could be putting it in there for their pupae to make cocoons. They also could be just putting it in their nest for no reason. 

[Serafine]

They're doing it for the larvae, so those can spin their cocoons.

 

Here's a picture of Lasius niger storing pupae in a piece of tubing, you can actually see the little "pupation station" just before the nest entrance, where they put the larvae to make their cocoon before they get sorted onto the large pile.

[MrLunk]

They're doing it for the larvae, so those can spin their cocoons.

 

Here's a picture of Lasius niger storing pupae in a piece of tubing, you can actually see the little "pupation station" just before the nest entrance, where they put the larvae to make their cocoon before they get sorted onto the large pile.

Cool to see this use, thanks for the explanation (both replies above)  and amazing picture

PL.

Edited by MrLunk, June 26 2023 - 9:08 AM.

[MrLunk]

 Yessss, Messor Barbarus (Harvester Ants) arrived and was immediately coupled to the larger outworld with all kinds of things to eat in it so they can build up energy after the mail trip of about 12 hours.
The Lasius Niger setup is on top.

There are some seeds in the tube and the mini seeds package will arrive tomorrow so they will be fine until then.
 

Edited by MrLunk, June 28 2023 - 11:56 AM.

[MrLunk]

The Lasius Niger starter colony with 10-12 nanitics was 'Brood-boosted' today with 10 cocoons from the Lasius Niger colony living in a olive tree pot in my garden.
I selected 10 undamaged coccoons from this pile I stole from them.

Edited by MrLunk, July 10 2023 - 1:46 AM.

[MrLunk]

And here's a short video of the nanitics caarying all the cocoons into the nest.
(With some short English comment and some chat with my wife in Dutch in the background )

Edited by MrLunk, July 10 2023 - 2:19 AM.

[MrLunk]

Interesting article on Brood-boosting Lasius Niger colonies:

http://www.asian-myr.../am.009003.html

[Serafine]

Make sure you don't give them alate pupae. Right now there's a ton of those in most wild Lasius niger colonies.

 

You're gonna have more ants than you want very soon anyway.

My Lasius niger from last year already have several hundred workers and 200+ pupae on their main pile at all times.

There's at least a hundred workers in the outworld looking for food any time of day.

I'm already worried where they're gonna go next year.

[BleepingBleepers]

Not too familiar with the species yet but dang look at the size of those cocoons though! The heck?

 

My ants' cocoons are like just a tad bit bigger than the worker, these are like a couple of times bigger.

 

But yeah, that's why I try to keep a slow growing species, worried about getting overwhelmed. Not so bad watching them grow slowly.

 

Anyhow, super neat journal! Love the DIY. I plan to DIY my ants' next stage nest. Don't have nearly as much experienced as you guys with DIY but I am creative!

[MrLunk]

Make sure you don't give them alate pupae. Right now there's a ton of those in most wild Lasius niger colonies.

 

You're gonna have more ants than you want very soon anyway.

My Lasius niger from last year already have several hundred workers and 200+ pupae on their main pile at all times.

There's at least a hundred workers in the outworld looking for food any time of day.

I'm already worried where they're gonna go next year.

You are 100% right and exactly what I feared...
I allready removed 2 elates from the outworld.
Probably all are.

No problem the colony in my garden lives in a olive tree pot and after nuptiual times I'll look again

[Serafine]

You really don't need to boost Lasius niger. They are extremely hardy ants and can grow at frightning speed once they get going.

 

This is the pupa pile of a Lasius niger colony that started in June of last year (these will all be workers in about 2 weeks).

 

They could be even more if they were fed a bit more regularly.

Edited by Serafine, July 10 2023 - 9:15 AM.

[MrLunk]

Made an Easy DIY mini terracotta OutWorld Humidifier.
POST Link:: https://www.formicul...er/#entry229194




 

[MrLunk]

posted in wrong place... srry

Edited by MrLunk, July 11 2023 - 11:51 AM.

[MrLunk]

Making a big round Formicarium for the Young Lasius Niger Colony....

 

 

Edited by MrLunk, July 17 2023 - 1:56 AM.