81 replies to this topic

[Ants4fun]

Nice. How many do you think can fit in that formicariums?

[drtrmiller]

If there's 70 of these big ants now, what do you think? 100-120 can cram in there (or up to 2,000 smaller ants).  Then you can do what I have suggested elsewhere and pick off the foragers, feed them to spiders, burn them with a magnifying glass, whatever, so that you never need another formicarium.

 

Unless your goal is to have a high-maintenance colony of hundreds or thousands, it is best to keep the colony small-ish through whatever means possible.  There is no detriment to this, as the ants will continue to get all the food they need and make new ants.

 

The problem with every big formicarium out there, is that the foraging area is the size of a shoebox, and the nest is the size of a castle.  No balance.  Bad for ants, bad for antkeepers.

Edited by drtrmiller, March 3 2016 - 1:40 PM.

[Ants4fun]

Orrrrrr one can get a different formicariums with a large separate outworld. I could never imagine myself prohibiting the growth of a colony. I imagine we all want to achieve the maximum potential possible?

[Mdrogun]

Orrrrrr one can get a different formicariums with a large separate outworld. I could never imagine myself prohibiting the growth of a colony. I imagine we all want to achieve the maximum potential possible?

I want my Camponotus colony to get as big as they can. If I absolutely couldn't house the colony getting larger I would limit their population. Even then, I would probably just release them.

[drtrmiller]

You could do that, but it would look really ugly unless you spent a great deal of time and effort building it and DO NOT USE TUBING.  Tubing is the bane of my existence.  It should be banned from antkeeping entirely.  So fugly.  A few people make their own nest from a 10+ gallon aquarium, and that usually has sufficient foraging space compared to most commercial stuff you can buy.

 

But ultimately, worker ants are like expendable cells of the whole organism.  Just like you inadvertently remove skin cells when you pick your nose or wipe your butt, if you just remove workers from a colony strategically, no harm will come to it.  It's really the brood that provides the engine for growth—they are the primary social stomach and produce hormones that are fed to the queen to trigger more egg laying.

 

An excess of workers is not needed in a captive environment, where the greatest threat the ants will ever face is the antkeeper not providing enough water or other resource.  Very different circumstances from nature.

[Mdrogun]

The live stream is back temporarily. Not much to see, but I do have a new lid for the GroTube which allows me to keep the nest in direct sunlight without frying or otherwise disturbing the ants.  I can even peek inside without removing it.  More details on the lid in another post very soon.

 

How did you setup this live cam?

[drtrmiller]

 

The setup: A DSLR on horizontal mount tripod, ceramic heat lamp (for condensation removal), and lamp.

[Barristan]

You could do that, but it would look really ugly unless you spent a great deal of time and effort building it and DO NOT USE TUBING.  Tubing is the bane of my existence.  It should be banned from antkeeping entirely.  So fugly.  A few people make their own nest from a 10+ gallon aquarium, and that usually has sufficient foraging space compared to most commercial stuff you can buy.

 

I don't keep ants to have the most aesthetic formicarium in my living room but to observe the ants. I don't care much how my setup looks like. It has to work for the ants. There are also tube setup which look really awesome. Tubes can also help to create long distances. Some ants for example carry their dead until they reach a specific distance from their nest. In the end it is personal preference. If some personal likes tubes, why should it be a bad thing? If someone likes dirt farms, why is that a bad thing? They keep their ants the way they want and enjoy most. As long as the ants are kept appropriate to the species it doesn't really matter.

[drtrmiller]

You're right—it is preference. One goal of my work has been to change the default preferences of the commercial market, shifting away from the homemade look to something more polished that can be put on display in a common area of one's home—all while maintaining excellent living conditions for the ants.

 

Given that the majority of antkeepers are still content with tupperware containers, soda straws for tubes, and holes melted with a soldering iron, I do concede that the road ahead is going to be very difficult for me and my little business.

Edited by drtrmiller, March 3 2016 - 2:55 PM.

[drtrmiller]

They are now eating a cricket.

 

[Ants4fun]

Do they use the small entrance?

[drtrmiller]

Larger species do not.

[klawfran3]

You're right—it is preference. One goal of my work has been to change the default preferences of the commercial market, shifting away from the homemade look to something more polished that can be put on display in a common area of one's home—all while maintaining excellent living conditions for the ants.

 

Given that the majority of antkeepers are still content with tupperware containers, soda straws for tubes, and holes melted with a soldering iron, I do concede that the road ahead is going to be very difficult for me and my little business.

 

 

It's like that in a lot of hobbies. I keep my spiders for the joy of having spiders, and I couldn't possibly afford to buy a fancy new home for every single one when they get too big. Tupperware and soldering irons work wonders for making homes for them. It looks ugly, but it works.

 

But I also like having nice looking cages too, to show people them, so I also keep a couple "exhibit" cages where I buy expensive hand made enclosures to show off to people. Expensive and beautiful habitats (like yours Terry) are absolutely stunning for conversation pieces but are not economically feasible for housing large numbers of colonies. I use them to show off one or two "flagship" animals so that I can better introduce people into the hobby, and then I proceed to show them how easily and cheaply you can keep them and that they can do it too.

Edited by klawfran3, March 4 2016 - 6:04 AM.

[drtrmiller]

I intend to introduce a new Eco line of products soon that will be just as beautiful but more affordable.

[Colophonius]

The only real reason behind killing workers to keep the colony small that I can see is to be able to pay for the super expensive pre-built formicaria. 

 

Keeping a colony that will have several thousands of workers in nature at a constant 100-120 worker maximum will surely have a huge impact on the colony growth and behaviour. Especially for colonies with specialized workers such as Messor or Pogonomyrmex. 

 

In my opinion, lack of space for a decent colony is a serious flaw in the design. 

 

There are possibilites to built decent looking formicaria for bigger colonies. 

One of my favorite examples is this outworld, which contains my old C. substitutus colony (I couldn't keep it anymore because they grew too quickly)

 

[drtrmiller]

In my opinion, lack of space for a decent colony is a serious flaw in the design.

There are possibilites to built decent looking formicaria for bigger colonies.
One of my favorite examples is this outworld, which contains my old C. substitutus colony (I couldn't keep it anymore because they grew too quickly)

Your last comment contradicts the points you were trying to make before it. Even the more seasoned hobbyists have difficulty managing extremely large colonies, a fact which you have conceded. That is why you often see people (mostly newbies) pay hundreds of dollars for the largest formicariums, and they, more often than not, sit empty and unused forever, a testament to the unrealistic aspirations of a great number of people who enter this hobby.

The sad fact, however, is that the vast majority of antkeepers are unable to attain a colony of any meaningful size, due to lack of skill or waning interest and neglect. A small formicarium like the GroTube is suitable for 80% or more of the colonies kept by amateur and seasoned hobbyists alike.

I'm not arguing that everyone should buy a small formicarium like mine and murder their ants should they outgrow it. But for most, I do present a more realistic alternative to antkeeping that few or none have offered before.

If I find that the method does not work, I will reevaluate my opinion. So far, I'm simply saying that it's something I find to work particularly well as a compromise in lieu of purchasing some grand formicarium which has a very limited use case.

Edited by drtrmiller, March 4 2016 - 7:15 AM.

[drtrmiller]

I wanted to point out that I'm now using a single program for encoding and screen capture:

 

https://obsproject.com/

[drtrmiller]

They are now drinking Sunburst Ant Nectar.  Will pivot to Solenopsis colony very soon.

 

Buy SUNBURST in USA

 

Buy SUNBURST in EU

Edited by drtrmiller, March 28 2016 - 2:40 PM.

[drtrmiller]

I just caught some Pheidole today, and they are moving into a GroTube on the Ant Cam!

[Barristan]

I think you should rethink the ratio between content and commercial

Edited by Barristan, March 29 2016 - 11:10 AM.