625 replies to this topic

[AntsDakota]

(CatsnAnts) PM me when you’re ready to....... discuss.

[CatsnAnts]

Make a poll.

How do I make a poll (or where, rather)? I’m dumb. - Also, I’m still getting some things setup with PayPal and other designs for the formicarium (LOTS has changed with the initial design). I’ll PM you soon, don’t worry

Also, here’s a third design that’s kind of a mixture of the other two:

[AntsDakota]

You would have to post a new topic, in which you click ‘more reply options’ and select ‘poll’. You then fill out your questions, and post.

[ANTdrew]

Make a poll.

How do I make a poll (or where, rather)? I’m dumb. - Also, I’m still getting some things setup with PayPal and other designs for the formicarium (LOTS has changed with the initial design). I’ll PM you soon, don’t worry

Also, here’s a third design that’s kind of a mixture of the other two:

Another easy way to do electronic payment is for people to buy you an electronic Amazon gift card at the amount you set. You can use an email or phone number to send the card to.

[CatsnAnts]

Another easy way to do electronic payment is for people to buy you an electronic Amazon gift card at the amount you set. You can use an email or phone number to send the card to.

That would be a possibility. My only concern is that people would begin to pay ONLY with Amazon gift cards. And while that’s pretty great, I can only use what I earn on Amazon. I’m planning on using some of the profits for other means such as my car insurance and local stores where I get a lot of my supplies as well. Maybe I’ll have certain times where you can pay with Amazon gift cards, such as during the last week of the month every month. I’m still looking into more options for making transactions. Thanks for the suggestion!

Edited by CatsnAnts, June 26 2020 - 4:34 AM.

[ANTdrew]

I know there are limitations. Just putting it out there.

[ANTdrew]

How many Pheidole did you find last year, and what do you think went wrong with them?

[CatsnAnts]

How many Pheidole did you find last year, and what do you think went wrong with them?

I found around 7-8 last year (P. bicarinata and P. cf morisii), and I even left them alone for extended periods of time. I got them all to lay eggs (in a neat pile, too), but not a single queen ever had any of her eggs hatch into larvae - they literally just stayed as eggs. I hope mine do better this year, good luck on yours!

Edited by CatsnAnts, June 26 2020 - 8:45 AM.

[Antkid12]

I wish I had Pheidole morrisi in my backyard. 

[CatsnAnts]

I wish I had Pheidole morrisi in my backyard. 

To be honest, I really have no idea what species they are since there aren’t really many photos of them online. I just assume that the tiny yellow Pheidole in my yard is P. morrisii, although Aaron’s queens were bright red while mine were pitch black. Are P. morrisii even yellow (the workers)?

[Antkid12]

Yeah, kind of yellow-orange. also they have long legs and a black spot on their abdomen.

[ANTdrew]

How many Pheidole did you find last year, and what do you think went wrong with them?

I found around 7-8 last year (P. bicarinata and P. cf morisii), and I even left them alone for extended periods of time. I got them all to lay eggs (in a neat pile, too), but not a single queen ever had any of her eggs hatch into larvae - they literally just stayed as eggs. I hope mine do better this year, good luck on yours!

Ugh. Reading this makes shark music play in my mind. I can only hope mine do better. They are in my hot kitchen 80-86 degrees constant heat.

[CatsnAnts]

Yeah, kind of yellow-orange. also they have long legs and a black spot on their abdomen.

Okay! Then they are P. morrisii! But now I just need to know if the pitch black queens I found last year are P. morrisii?

[Antkid12]

I dunno if  the queens should be black, all the alates I have seen are orange.

Edited by Antkid12, June 26 2020 - 10:51 AM.

[TennesseeAnts]

 

Yeah, kind of yellow-orange. also they have long legs and a black spot on their abdomen.

Okay! Then they are P. morrisii! But now I just need to know if the pitch black queens I found last year are P. morrisii?

 

Pitch black sound like Ph. navigans; an invasive tramp species.

[CatsnAnts]

Yeah, kind of yellow-orange. also they have long legs and a black spot on their abdomen.

Okay! Then they are P. morrisii! But now I just need to know if the pitch black queens I found last year are P. morrisii?

Pitch black sound like Ph. navigans; an invasive tramp species.

Well that sucks. Hopefully I’ll find some P. morrisii queens this year because I have tons of colony’s in my yard!

[CatsnAnts]

Here’s a link to the identification thread from last year for these darker queens:
https://www.formicul...jasper-indiana/

[CatsnAnts]

Alright! Time for attempt number #1 at making a complete formicarium after lots of small “tests” and planning. I have decided to change the size of each formicarium slightly - previously, there were going to be two sizes, 3”x4” and 4”x5”, but I decided to add a small “lip” of 3/8” around the entire formicarium so that the tunnels can actually reach the size 3”x4” and 4”x5”. If anyone wants to try this, here’s my process:

First, the materials (I’ll explain more as I go):


I started off by assembling the water towers. To do so, I ordered some tall bead containers off of Amazon and had someone help me use a bandsaw to cut them to a proper length. Afterwords, I drilled a small, angled hole into them that I would later put a stirring straw into (that could be used with a syringe). Then, I used some 2 part epoxy resin, which took some time to get the application right, to attach some fine metal mesh (which I cut with proper tools into circles) to the plastic containers. Here’s what they looked like when they were done:


Then, I had my dad help me with building some frames for each size of formicarium (3 3/4” x 4 3/4” and 4 3/4” x 5 3/4” which includes the “lip”). They are made of four parts, each fitting into one another:

Here you can see how the grout will go around the glass to create the “lip” that the glass will fit into:


Then I started testing out some sand textures with epoxy, and I’ve not come up with a suitable method to create a texture that I like yet, but here are some attempts on my older formicaria:




(I just need to find a way to get more sand to stick so it will look more “full”)

Next, I drew out a “template” that I could use for all of my formicaria as a sort of method to keep them all pretty uniform while having unique tunnel designs. I ended up making about 8 copies of this sketch:


Then, I cut them out and attached the glass on top with a single piece of double sided tape. This helped to keep it steady while I molded the tunnels, and you can also see the “lip” around the outside once again, it was inspired by some of the AusAnts ytong nests:

Here I had to take the tape off because I forgot to draw the tunnels first lol:




Then I began to mold the formicarium using Plastalina modeling clay, and it took quite some time to get the clay soft enough to even use:

Then I added the larger sized vinyl tubing and suspended it where I figured would be the “middle” of the nest. The size of tubing I’m actually using is 1/4” inner diameter, so if use epoxy to fit a larger piece of tubing into the entrance, it will act like a secure “plug in” for the actual tubing. If that’s confusing, you’ll see what I mean in my next post when I take the formicarium out of its mold:

Here I added the water tower, I made it hang over the edges slightly so that grout would go underneath and the mesh would kind of “blend in” to the floor:



Then, using tiny pieces of double sided tape, I attached the magnets to the glass that were going to hold the glass in place later on (these ones were going to be part of the mold):




Then I took off the paper from the bottom and found a larger piece of glass to set the whole thing on. Again, I used double sided tape to attach the two piece of glass so they would remain stable while pouring. Next, I used a q-tip to lightly brush the whole thing in olive oil, and I mean LIGHLY, a little goes a long way (sorry, the image is sideways and I’m too lazy to fix it):


Now it was time to make a level surface in our shed. I placed the frame (which I used more putty to hold in place) with the glass piece on bottom on the level surface:



Lastly, I just needed to mix up the grout in a rather “liquidy” manner so that it would spread better and reduce air bubbles. I followed Crystal’s guide on how she mixed her grout, but I didn’t use any additives since I don’t need the grout to absorb water (speaking of which, make sure to have a barrier between the water tower and the entrance/expansion port [yes, I forgot to mention I added an expansion port] to help keep humidity. I used a skewer when pouring in order to spread the grout under some surfaces. That’s it for now until it drys, which might take a few days:


I really hope this turns out haha.

[madbiologist]

Wow! I think it will turn out great!

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[CatsnAnts]

Ant Colonies Update
6/30/2020

First, I’ll go over the existing colonies:

Temnothorax curvispinosus (1 queen)
This is the colony that I found in a hickory nut a while back, and nothing special has really happened. They are, however, beginning to fill the inception chamber.

Temnothorax curvispinosus (no queen)
This colony is doing great! I will update them in my separate journal hat I created specifically for them.

Now for the queens that I have accumulated over the past few days from blacklighting:

2X Pheidole bicarinata (1 queen)
I have two individual queens of this species, and one has a small pile of eggs.

Pheidole bicarinata (3 queen)
This is simply a test tube with three P. bicarinata queens instead of one. I used to have a test tube with four, but they all murdered each other. Luckily, these three queens are getting along just fine!

2X Pheidole cf. morrisii (1 queen)
I am almost positive that these queens are P. morrisii. I found them in the morning, they have a strikingly orange coloration, and they are a little larger than P. bicarinata. If these aren’t P. morrisii than I don’t know what they are. Both are acting infertile currently, so I don’t have a lot of hope. I’ll be heading out every night and morning that has good weather, so hopefully I’ll find some more (I need more test tubes lol).

Solenopsis molesta (3 queen)
All of these queens seem infertile, but oh well, I was hoping for a triple queen colony.

Colobopsis impressa (1 queen)
I created a setup similar to that of BitT’s (using a straw, it’s a great idea!), and the queen loves it so far. I’m hoping she’s fertile, because this species is on my bucket list.

Temnothorax curvispinosus (13 queen)
I was so close to reaching 15 queens, but fell just short at 13 (I was trying to replicate Antdude’s 15 queen Formica colony, but with Temnothorax.). Originally, there were only three queens in the test tube, and they had a small pile of about 8 eggs. I added 10 more queens this morning and there was a little fighting at first, but after some time in the fridge they are now all huddled around the eggs.

Temnothorax ambiguus (7 queen)
I’m really excited for this colony! Some of you may remember my five queen T. ambiguus colony from last year that perished due to my neglect. Well, now that I’m allowed to keep them inside, I’m sure that they’ll do much better (especially with two extra queens!).


I finally figured out how to bold something haha, and the finished prototype of the first formicarium should be posted later today, it turned out really well!

Edited by CatsnAnts, June 30 2020 - 6:21 AM.