49 replies to this topic

[OwlThatLikesAnts]

What nest are they in? Could I see a picture of the whole setup?

A 3d printed setup using a Pringles lid, they used to nest all over the place but then they decided the main area was the bottom chamber, the reason there is tooth picks is because I used to put honey on the toothpicks and they decided they will drag the whole thing into the nest and eat like mad. The substrate pile on the top chamber is the pupating area and the middle chamber is where they would occasionally place the pupa because it is dry.

 

The nest:

 

[OwlThatLikesAnts]

The colony is looking really good! Keep power feeding them and you will have a large colony in no time.

They eat literally everything that I put in the outworld so far, so that is not a problem. They are literally eating a 2 week old egg yolk chunk right now, before the egg yolk was just an appetizer now it is their main course.

 

(OH! And just as I am writing this a worker is sipping honey)

[OwlThatLikesAnts]

For those who are waiting for this journal to update after a month of waiting.

Look out for a three part update coming soon!

[OwlThatLikesAnts]

​BIG UPDATE!!! (PART 1)

 

A lot of stuff has been happening with my colonies involving nest upgrades and an addition of a new colony. I am going to go around my updating my journals on what has happened in the past month. Most of the stuff that happened was related to my Formica colony so I am going to update you guys on what happened to my colony before the nest upgrade.

 

​First weeks of April:

 

So the colony’s nest was getting pretty dirty and they have moved a lot of substrate that they made wet around using the water feeder causing stains on the nest walls. I also didn’t like the look of the bare 3D printed nest being completely filled with substrate. I also happened to bring this colony to school two times for testing my science fair project  related to what ants would eat when given a variety of foods to eat from. They behaved good, and by that I mean they did not eat their brood. After that, I decided that I would buy Por Amor Art formicariums. The ones I bought were (Wait a minute, that’s for part two of the update!) because the first one was the best looking (in my opinion ) and it had to be visible for people in visiting the oncoming science fair (somewhere in May). The second formicarium was for after the science fair (HINT: the ants can dig and make tunnels) the third nest was for other colonies. Just saying, at this time a lot of the pupa were staring to darken

 

​Mid April:

 

This is when I ordered from Por Amor Art and my really expensive order was confirmed (yes yes really expensive 100+ dollars    ). It’s also when a massive amount of pupa were starting to enclose. Half of the pile disappeared and there were pupa casings everywhere in the garage pile. A majority of the nest population was grey workers with soft exoskeletons. What was really surprising was that some of the new workers were already caring for brood while some others were just hanging out doing nothing, DO SOMETHING YOU LAZY ANTS… Anyway, since most of the pupa has enclosed, the queen ramped up her egg laying rate and that is when the power feeding was picked back up. The upside of having more workers was that food was processed faster.

 

That’s it for part one update, part two coming soon!

Edited by OwlThatLikesAnts, April 30 2025 - 1:37 PM.

[OwlThatLikesAnts]

Just saying the part 2 update is coming sooner or later, but I am quite busy with school

 

I also wanted to mention something. Remember around the start of Full_Frontal_Yeti’s Pogonomyrmex journal? Well there was this ant that he referred to as “Meg the MutAnt” well I recently discovered that I have my very own “MutAnt” If you’re curious you can check his journal. I wanted to point out unlike Meg, this worker does have antenna, I guess… It’s just that they are so small, they’re almost nonexistent, she’s not large like Meg but instead she’s small, almost nanitic size. Another this that is different than Meg is that this worker’s exoskeleton is still greyish and she is very lethargic. I’ve also seen that this worker will never move on her own and requires other workers for movement.

Edited by OwlThatLikesAnts, May 7 2025 - 12:25 PM.

[OwlThatLikesAnts]

Photos of her:

 

I kind of feel like there is something up with her abdomen

 

​

 

I can easily locate her because she rests in this position

Edited by OwlThatLikesAnts, May 7 2025 - 12:33 PM.

[ColAnt735]

I'd just like to say that your nest is ingenious! Did you print the nest yourself? Also great journal so far, keep it up.

[OwlThatLikesAnts]

I'd just like to say that your nest is ingenious! Did you print the nest yourself? Also great journal so far, keep it up.

The Pringles lid formicarium is not my design, but I am trying to make a few adjustments and I basically ended up making my own model inspired by this formicarium. The one you see in the photo is just the first print, to see what I need to improve. The reason why it’s being used is because it was all I had at that time.

[OwlThatLikesAnts]

Big Update! (Part 2)

 

So here’s the second part of my part one update, following the events that happened after the part one update starting out from late April all the way to late May. Here’s your update!

 

​Late April:

So this is when there was big changes for the colony and when I mean big changes, I mean complete nest and outworld change. I ended up changing the 3d printed nest and outworld to a recently received Por Amor jumbo ant nest and a medium outworld. At first, the ants wouldn’t move, so then I just ended up saying “whatever, just cope with the change” to my ants and dumped the whole colony into the outworld. Surprisingly, the whole colony moved into the new nest in just a couple minutes with no problems. After all the moving, the colony then focused on raising the 3rd generation of this year.

 

​Early may:

Not much was happening during this timeframe except the fact that I was feeding them some more sugars than I did meats because there wasn’t a lot of larva at that time and the second generation of this year was currently enclosing at this time of the year.

 

Mid May:

Not a lot has happened this month either but there were more events that took place that were kind of related to this colony. At this point there was a lot more larva than before and the protein intake increased significantly. The thing I was talking about that’s relevant to this colony was my science fair project. With my oncoming science fair project. It became hard to document my colony and what they were doing, the science fair also almost caused me to neglect them and this forum, but luckily I didn’t leave the colony for too long and I ended up going back to my constantly visiting formiculture habits  .

 

​Late May:

​This is when lots of things started happening. Starting off with my science fair project. That day, I brought my ants to school for the project. Surprisingly, they tolerated the 17 minute commute to my school and back. When the science fair was happening, my colony was on display and me and my group ended up having one of the most popular science projects. (I mean, who doesn’t love ants   ) When I arrived home, the 3rd generation of larva just started spinning their cocoons in mass and the first worker from the 3rd generation just enclosed a day later. The fourth generation of brood this year is finally hatching for their eggs and in general the colony is doing really well.

 

Before I end this journal entry, I want to ask if I should transfer this colony to a digging style formicarium or I should wait till they build numbers. What do you guys think about this?

 

Here’s a photo of them in their new nest:

[ANTdrew]

I’m pretty much against digging style formicaria for most ants. You lose almost all visibility, which defeats the purpose of even keeping ants. Then you also lose the ability to monitor the queen and general health of the colony. Hydration is also more complicated, as is mold and pathogen prevention.

Edited by ANTdrew, May 27 2025 - 11:03 AM.