173 replies to this topic

[Foogoo]

Or could the minor outgassing of the plasti-dip in the enclosed formicarium concentrate to levels lethal to the ants? But I'll echo what's been said, that is a neat looking design! And as a side note, I'd hate to have to try locating an escapee on that countertop!

[dspdrew]

Interesting that you seem to be having issues with plasti-dip...I've used it almost a dozen times now to coat the exposed areas of firebrick blocks without consequence. Many instances I forced the ants to move with less than a day of cure time, while a strong odor still lingered, no problem.

Wow that's weird. I did test out that piece of Ytong with some Pogonomyrmex subnitidus, and 24 hours went by and they didn't seem to have any problems. I sprayed some more on that same piece of Ytong, let it dry for a few minutes and put three Veromessor workers on it with a small container covering them. It wasn't more than one minute before they started contorting and curling up. They were dead within about 10 minutes. It looked as though it was attacking their nervous system by the way they were acting. This was exactly how the ones that died the other day were acting too, so I am positive the Plasti Dip is what did it. I'll try this same experiment again, but after letting the Plasti Dip cure for a few days first and see what happens.

[dspdrew]

Update 11-14-2014
 
After the deaths slowed down almost to a stop, and the problem was fixed, I moved them back into the formicarium again. After dumping them back into the out world, they were completely moved into the nest within 20 minutes. I guess it's safe to say they like it considering only about 30 of the 550 remaining workers are in the out world at any given time.
 

 

[drtrmiller]

Are we taking bets for how long it will take for the front to be come nastified and cloudy with poo?  Otherwise great job.  

 

Seems like they may need a tad more room, however.  I'm guessing that's why you made a nest hole at both the top and bottom of the thing?

Edited by drtrmiller, November 14 2014 - 5:31 PM.

[dspdrew]

Seems like they may need a tad more room, however.

I think that's the perfect colony density.

 

I'm guessing that's why you made a nest hole at both the top and bottom of the thing?

Yeah, these will be stackable to expand the nest.

[dspdrew]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by dspdrew, June 19 2020 - 1:01 PM.
Added video

[AntsAreUs]

I can't wait to move! 0_0 So much brood!

[Foogoo]

This is one species I definitely want to catch come mating season. To me, they looked like black Pogonomyrmex, are their feeding and nesting habits also similar?

[Gregory2455]

Extremely similar, but these are also polymorphic and grow very fast.

[dspdrew]

Wait 'till you see Veromessor andrei, they're almost identical to Pogonomyrmex.

[dspdrew]

Update 12-1-2014
 
After discovering a hole the ants have been chewing in the Ytong about a week ago, today they just made it all the way through. Luckily I already had the whole formicarium in a tub with fluon, so no ants got away.

[dspdrew]

Update 12-20-2014
 
The colony and their formicarium have been sitting in a tub now for about two weeks. Quite a few workers have died, and I have no idea why. Two days ago, I removed the out world, and saw how many of them were living all around the wet Ytong inside the base container. They're still primarily inside the Ytong nest with all their brood, and as always, there's one giant mass of freshly laid eggs and small larvae.

[dspdrew]

Update 12-28-2014
 
I moved the colony out of the formicarium and made the needed changes to it. After moving them all out, I realized how many workers there were living inside the base container outside the Ytong nest, and it was way more than I realized. Even though there have been a large amount of deaths, I counted approximately 1200 workers! It doesn't look like the queen has added anymore eggs to the big egg cluster lately; it's the smallest I've ever seen it right now.

 

For now, I have this colony on my webcam. You can see them here (http://antcam.gyg.cc:8081).

[dean_k]

The link says no device selected.

 

Maybe, the ants got out and ate off the cable?

Edited by dean_k, December 29 2014 - 11:00 AM.

[dspdrew]

[ToeNhi]

You are brave leaving the top open like that. It looks like they really want to get out of there. What ratio of Fluon to water are you using?

[drtrmiller]

I can't speak for Drew, but I can tell you that properly applied Fluon is effective on plastics in excess of 1:16 Fluon to water.

[Gregory2455]

How did you get the lid cut open like that?

[dspdrew]

You are brave leaving the top open like that. It looks like they really want to get out of there. What ratio of Fluon to water are you using?

1:5 Fluon to water.

 

How did you get the lid cut open like that?

Micro table saw and a drill press.

[dspdrew]

They decided to turn their food tray into a trash can.