5 replies to this topic

[AntBooper600]

I have a Brachymyrmex depilis queen I caught last year and put in a small square tub with soil as substrate. I would normally put her in a test tube setup, but I hear that Brachymyrmex depilis don't do well in conventional test tube setups, so I decided not to. I don't have any experience raising Brachymyrmex depilis, and have tried putting them in test tube setups in the past, but they have always died. I did some research, and it turns out that they need soil and to hibernate. The container I put her in is sealed and I periodically mist it to keep it moist, as Brachymyrmex depilis need a lot of moisture. However, one of the disadvantages of a container of soil rather than a test tube setup is that you can't tell what's going on inside, and I have never seen the queen or workers since I put her in there. Due to this, I had no idea whether the queen was alive or dead. I mostly gave up on that queen ant and had never fed her, but yesterday I decided to put a drop of honey in the container on the off-chance that the queen was still alive. The container is mostly filled with soil, with little room on the surface where I put the honey, and Brachymyrmex depilis are cryptic, so I didn't even know if they were even going to get the honey. Anyways, enough with the backstory. Now let's get to the problem.

 

Tomorrow, I will be leaving for 10 days because I am going on vacation. I will be taking a train to another state, so I can't bring the ants. My dad will be taking care of the pets, including other ants, specifically a Tetramorium immigrans colony, a Lasius queen with workers, and a Formica queen. I will write him notes about how to take care of the other pets before I leave. I had originally decided to, because the Brachymyrmex depilis queen was probably dead and Brachymyrmex depilis require different care than other ants, just dump the soil outside. I poured the soil into my hands, thinking I would find either nothing or a dead queen, but to my surprise, that was not what I found. Instead, the queen was alive and well, appeared to be physogastric, and was surrounded by workers! I completely wasn't expecting the queen to be alive, let alone have A COLONY! This is my first time successfully raising Brachymyrmex depilis! I put the ants back in the container, closed the lid, and brought it back inside. I noticed that the soil was kind of dry, so I opened the lid and misted the soil. But, I don't know what to do. I will be gone for 10 days, and I'm not sure if I should ask him to feed them (if so, what should he feed them?) or if they should be left alone to rebuild their nest, since it was destroyed. I'm also not sure whether or not they should be given water. I feel like since they haven't been fed for a long time, they might desparately need food, but also, if they can go months without food, ten more days probably wouldn't hurt. They don't appear to have eaten the droplet of honey, as it appears to still be in the container. Please help, I only have until tomorrow.

 

 

[Artisan_Ants]

I've personally only kept this species till the first workers, but I can still provide tips. I figured that this species does readily accept honey plainly (without being put on something like cotton to make it less of a drowning hazard for the workers) although I wouldn't recommend it unless you dip it in cotton. There are a lot more advanced keepers than me for this species, like rptraut who posted how he cares for his colony this thread:

https://www.formicul...x-depilis-care/

 

He also mentioned that as of proteins, they like to eat "fruit flies, flies, mosquitoes, hover flies, earwigs, cricket pieces, chicken, chicken liver, and egg yolk." (Credit to rptraut). He also mentioned that they like sugar water which should preferably be fed in cotton (I also find it keeps setups cleaner than just feeding it plainly. But obviously you can't feed it plainly anyways for such small species). 

 

Hope this helps!

[AntBooper600]

I've personally only kept this species till the first workers, but I can still provide tips. I figured that this species does readily accept honey plainly (without being put on something like cotton to make it less of a drowning hazard for the workers) although I wouldn't recommend it unless you dip it in cotton. There are a lot more advanced keepers than me for this species, like rptraut who posted how he cares for his colony this thread:

https://www.formicul...x-depilis-care/

 

He also mentioned that as of proteins, they like to eat "fruit flies, flies, mosquitoes, hover flies, earwigs, cricket pieces, chicken, chicken liver, and egg yolk." (Credit to rptraut). He also mentioned that they like sugar water which should preferably be fed in cotton (I also find it keeps setups cleaner than just feeding it plainly. But obviously you can't feed it plainly anyways for such small species). 

 

Hope this helps!

It is a pretty small colony, and I had already given them a drop of honey (hopefully they're OK). For protein, I gave them some compost soil that visibly had dead bugs in it and a toothpick with a tiny bit of egg yolk.

[Artisan_Ants]

 

I've personally only kept this species till the first workers, but I can still provide tips. I figured that this species does readily accept honey plainly (without being put on something like cotton to make it less of a drowning hazard for the workers) although I wouldn't recommend it unless you dip it in cotton. There are a lot more advanced keepers than me for this species, like rptraut who posted how he cares for his colony this thread:

https://www.formicul...x-depilis-care/

 

He also mentioned that as of proteins, they like to eat "fruit flies, flies, mosquitoes, hover flies, earwigs, cricket pieces, chicken, chicken liver, and egg yolk." (Credit to rptraut). He also mentioned that they like sugar water which should preferably be fed in cotton (I also find it keeps setups cleaner than just feeding it plainly. But obviously you can't feed it plainly anyways for such small species). 

 

Hope this helps!

It is a pretty small colony, and I had already given them a drop of honey (hopefully they're OK). For protein, I gave them some compost soil that visibly had dead bugs in it and a toothpick with a tiny bit of egg yolk.

 

This should be fine for them. Ants have excellent sense of smell and they should easily find it. Also make sure the bugs inside aren't possible harmful for the ants (I doubt it if they're found in compost as it's mostly natural but you never know). If you doubt the bugs are clean, either freeze or dip them in boiling water to eliminate possible impurities and then feed.

[ANTdrew]

Compost from outside could be full of undesirable trash mites and nematodes. I do not recommend using it for an ant setup without thoroughly sanitizing it before hand.

[bmb1bee]

Also worth noting that too many dead bugs is more harmful than not. All the uneaten food might mold. For now I'd also make an effort to find springtails to reduce the amount of trash/mold in the setup. Plus, the ants get to eat the springtails if they catch any (which is easier said than done). Either way they'd be beneficial to a colony in a setup like that.