139 replies to this topic

[CrazyLegs]

She looks like a mechanic working under the hood of a fungus mobile.

[AntsBrazil]

Update 02-03-17

 

They keep consuming plant material, a little bit less. I gave them a little bit of corn flocks and they are using it.

 

[AntsBrazil]

Update 02-05-17

 

A lot of brood!

I don't know if all that brood on the top is there because there's no more space inside or they just decided to place it there, but I imagine that there lots of brood inside the fungus.

Their numbers are exploding, I would like to know how many of them there is.

 

[AntsBrazil]

Update 02-11-17

 

A lot of changes. 

Since I haven't updated the journal in almost a week some thinks changed. That brood chamber from the last video is now completely covered and I could spot 2 new small brood chambers on the top of the fungus.

The fungus is getting bigger as always and I'll have to move them soon before it gets too big. I plan taking first the queen and placing her in the new setup and then place a piece of paper under the whole fungus and take it to the new setup. A very risky move but they probably will not move completely by themselves.

They keep placing the corn flocks in the fungus, but they aren't taking some of the plants that I used to give them so I'm trying new ones. 

I'll post after the video some photos of the queen so we can admire her.

 

OBS: I tried to comment over this video, please vote in the poll if I should keep doing it or not. I could upload a separated video(with just music) to the journals if you guys think that it is better. Thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nathant2131]

It seems quite wet at the bottom. Is that much moisture neccesary?

[AntsBrazil]

I watered the plaster just before recording, it absorbs the water slowly. 

[Nathant2131]

I watered the plaster just before recording, it absorbs the water slowly. 

Ah, I see.

[AntsBrazil]

Update 02-14-17

 

This video was recorded day 02-13-17 but I had to edit it and upload so I'm posting it today.

The ants still growing and accepting plants but they are kinda addicted to a certain type, and this specific type I don't have a lot here and I don't want to kill the plant. I'm trying to give them some variety and maybe make them accept the plants that they used to accept(that I have a lot here).

This update don't show much in the video but I think that will be cool to see the "time lapse" video.

 

[AntsBrazil]

Update 02-15-17

 

Ant pillar?

I think that they are building some type of pillar to give more stability to the fungus. As you can see in the video the ants broke the fungus pattern to build something to reach the plastic. I'm not sure why they did it.

It's getting hard to find plants that they like, they seem to be truly addicted to this certain type.

I'm trying to find a better price for the glass that I'll use for their formicarium, but they are already big enough to move out, it's getting harder everyday to place new plants  for them in the small space. 

 

 

[AntsBrazil]

Update 02-19-17

 

A lot of progress since the last update.

The ants have been busy this week, I gave them a lot of plants so they can show me which ones they like and apparently they decided to go crazy and take a huge amount of plants. The fungus is growing into the plastic, it's looking very cool. I ordered the pieces of glass to my formicarium so I hope that it arrives before day 03-10-17. Also we can see a lot of brood in that big brood chamber, so the queen is very active in the egg laying.

I saw a really big pupae that I think could be the smaller major caste or the bigger haverster caste. 

OBS: This video has a lot of talking so if you just want to see the ants feel free to mute. 

 

[Nathant2131]

Nice!!!

[Leo]

nice accent 

 

p.s. I subscribed 

Edited by Leo, February 20 2017 - 5:32 AM.

[Kevin]

Looks like it can be used as stabilization, A couple videos ago I was thinking that mound of fungus they have was about to topple over! Very interesting... Do you have any of the other queens you caught? (too lazy to look through all 6 pages )

[AntsBrazil]

nice accent 

 

p.s. I subscribed 

Thanks for the sub =D

 

 

Looks like it can be used as stabilization, A couple videos ago I was thinking that mound of fungus they have was about to topple over! Very interesting... Do you have any of the other queens you caught? (too lazy to look through all 6 pages )

The other queens died, unknown reasons. 

[AntsBrazil]

Update 02-24-17

 

They accepted the corn flocks.

I don't know how it impacts the fungus but they don't seem to use too much of it. They keep growing and started to consume again a larger quantity. 

I think I managed to record what seems to be a larger harvester or a small major(check 3:05 in the video the worker is trying to hide it), I can be wrong because it's hard to tell just looking at the pupae but it's head looks very big.

 

[AntsBrazil]

Update 02-27-17

 

New caste eclosed!

The new harvesters eclosed in the last days, some of them still have their soft exoskeleton.

I think I could see in the video a really big pupae, probably a major. I hope to see majors in the next week or a little bit later. It takes about 1 week to the pupae turn into worker, but since it's a major I imagine that It takes a little bit longer. They keep consuming a lot and seem to be doing great.

 

 

[Roachant]

Wow, very cool man! Makes me want to move there so I could keep some ;-).

[AntsBrazil]

Update 03-17-17

 

Moving the colony!!

Finally after a quite long time I'm updating the journal again. The ants keep doing great, and all this time I've been preparing their new formicarium, it was hard to place the plaster in the glass box and then level it without making a big mess, but I managed to do a good job(in my opinion).

The glass started making noises and really scared me, the reaction of the plaster expanding and getting hard made it very hot. I was afraid that the glass would crack, or the silicone would not be enough to hold it, so I placed some stuff to help.

 

 

And here is the final result:

 

 

I recorded a cool video of me moving the colony, took me quite some time to prepare it and edit it so I hope you all like the video.

 

OBS: I placed some portuguese subtitles, if they are turned on you can disable them on youtube.

 

[thosaka]

Yeah, I want to move to Brazil now. 

[Nathant2131]

Your video taking skills have improved dramatically. Love this.

Edited by Nathant2131, March 17 2017 - 5:03 PM.