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Day 1.
My ants arrived along with some meal worms, a bag of dried crickets, a bag of small stones and 2.5kg of sand.
I carefully opened the box worried of course that the package had been poorly handled by the courier, I was quite happy to see everyone safe and sound..
Using some black paper I cut out a square and taped it around the bottom half of the test tube, not great for viewing but good for growth I'm sure.
The three largest workers were chewing at the bung trying to get out so I couldn't wait to get them in to the new formicaruim.
I set up my Veho discovery microscope and placed the test tube in the farm (easier than typing formicaruim every time).
Carfeully cutting the tape around the bung the ants all retreated to the queen, I wasn't suprised as I was rotating the test tube so I expect it was a bit of a rollercoaster ride for the ants.
After a few seconds the largest worker came bolting out and charged around checking out the new surroundings, I was supprised that he didn't check out the hole leading to the Y-Tong.
I had two feeding dishes already so I put a drop of honeydew stuff in one and placed a dried cricket in the other, the mealworms looked interesting so I figured that I should put one of those in too..
It was the first time I had opened a can of worms before so I had a little chuckle to myself when I contemplated spilling them all over the floor, I'm sure the analogy refers to live worms although it still seemed quite amusing.
By this time one of the workers was binging on the honeywater, I say binging because he was totally fixated on doing that and nothing else. He even let me touch his antennae lots before realising there was a giant finger prodding him..
After seeing the ants I realised that the little cork nest was totally unusable as it was too small for these ants so it got packed away, I stripped a peice of bark of an old log from my garden which I microwaved for 20 seconds.. It popped a few times which I think were little creatures dying, I wasn't taking any chances after the mite infestation of my Formica Fusca.
They really love the bark, although it is too small to make a nest in they could munch bits off for the test tube and hide under it. I was suprised to see three workers under there after about 10 minutes from putting it in there.
I wanted to give them something to do as they seemed to be quite inactive now, I washed some of the sand and dried it out in kitched towel. I was amazed at how dusty it was, it took several rinses to get it clean.
I have put a clump of it near the entrance to thier test tube and a tiny bit in the tube entrance to see if they move it out right away, if they do then I know they don't want to use it and I can clear it out.
If they don't like it then I can make a load of wood shavings by drilling out a bit of wood, I'll give them another hour and see what happens.
They really didn't seem to like the sand at all, if fact they didn't come near the entrance while it was there. I removed it and now they are coming back out, I expect they would like something to barracade thier test tube with and wood seems like the obvious choice.
I just made some sawdust, they have two small piles. One of balsa and the other pine, hopefully they will like that. It includes some saw dust, shavings and tiny solid bits just big enough for them to carry.
Day 2.
0100hrs
After watching a bit of TV I went in to the office to see how the ants were getting on, instantly I noticed a problem.
One of the ants had made it out on to the moat, over the edge painted with Vasaline... I realised that this was not enough and carefully scooped up the ant with a piece of paper and popped him back in the farm, I then proceeded to get very liberal with the parafin oil around the top edge and on all four walls of the inside of the arena. I was very sure that there was no way they could escape. He was partly covered in yellow sand, this was quite good as it meant that I would have spotted him on somehting dark as well as something light.
0800hrs
After a good nights sleep I checked on the ants, right away I noticed a large worker hangin around outside on the wooden cabinet. This now gave me something to think about, did the ant manage to get out after I used the parafin oil or did he get out initially over the Vasaline and was hanging around all night trying to get back in?
I had done a quick count but I suppose it could have been 9 and not 10, I still need to give them a good count but the lights haven't been on for long and they seem to run around like crazy if I slide back the black paper.
post from 09.22
I have just managed to give them a proper count and there are 10, it's a relief as I have been looking everywhere very carefully before moving anything or sitting down. I am hoping that it was a case of bad counting last night, it was 0100 after all. I can't imaging that one managed to get out over an entire wall of parafin oil.
Three workers are hanging about in the connecting tube between the arena and the Y-Tong, they have also dragged in a small piece of wood from the pine pile.
I also noticed last night that one worker was exploring the Y-Tong.
Edit Uta - please use the edit function. Thank you :)
1030hrs
Well, what I thought was a piece of pine that they had taken in to the connecting hose has turned out to actually be all the eggs.
This worried me a little until someone in another post suggested that they may be moving house, this would be great as it is east to knock the test tube so they would be less disturbed in the Y-Tong.
I have noticed that they have been in there since first thing so I hope that the connecting tube isn't where they are setting up camp!
Day 3.
They have moved the eggs back in to the tube and haven't really done anything all day so nothing to report, now and then a worker comes out and wanders around. I wonder if they are looking for something?
Day 4.
I was hoping to have something a little more interesting to report but there hasn't been any activity that I can see, they still have a large worker guarding the entrance to the black papered part of the test tube.
More waiting I guess.
Day 5.
I found a beetle in the house this morning, after a little head crushing with the tweezers I popped it in to the arena for the ants.
I was quite suprised to see almost all the ants come out and attack it, I guess the twitching it was doing was vibrating thier nest and they thought they were under attack.
It was a very exciting few minutes with what looked like formic acid spraying and biting going on, the only issue is that after 10 minutes of this when the beetle had stopped moving they moveed the eggs and queen out of the test tube and in to the connecting tube where she is currently (see photos).
One of the workers refused to leave the test tube and was dragged out by another larger worker, in the end the smaller worker curled up in to a little ball (I thought it was dead) as it was then easily carried by the larger worker over to the beetle. I guess sometimes we all need a little motivation to get to work!
I have made a black paper cover for the connecting tube to try and keep the queen nice and calm.
Day 7.
For those of you paying attention, yes I missed out Sunday! That makes today day 7.
All the ants are still in the darkened connecting tube between the arena and the Y-Tong, they seem pretty happy enough in there.
They haven't touched the beetle so I have pulled it out for now, there are plenty of mealworms and dried crickets which won't go off anytime soon.
2052hrs.
I found a fly buzzing around in the living room which let me catch it, I'm not sure how good at catching flies my ants are but if it's still alive in a few days I'll have to sentence the fly to ant food!
Here is a nice close up of the fly, it seems to have made itself quite at home.