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Hello,
I'm new to the forum but not new to ants. I've loved and raised ant colonies since I was a teenager, and it's so great to see that there is an online community that shares the passion. So wonderful! Ant keeping isn't a serious hobby here in Canada, but it surely pleases me to see how it is a serious activity and market in other countries.
Here is a wild caught Myrmica rubra colony and nest I recently began working on. I've been raising colonies of this species for over ten years now and I still love them so much! I have had this particular colony for over a week now and am adding more to further fill up the large nest I have made for them.
My latest nest... Here in Canada it's hard to get a hold of many of the products available in Europe. Instead of Ytong, I've used grout to fashion the nest, fully installed with an air pump for circulation and "wells" for trapping small amounts of water for humidity and drink. It attaches to a feeding arena, which I plan on changing to a bigger one when I complete the installation of ants (I'm going back to the wild colony this week to collect more to fill up the large nest I made: approximately 3 feet X 2 feet).
My guess is that I have close to 500 ants and believe it or not at least 10 queens, and lots of brood! The nest is about 30-40% full. I would like to fill it up a little bit more so there is no room unused to ensure a clean nest, while still allowing for the colony to grow into the living space. Anyway, thought I'd post more photos for everyone to enjoy in the next few days but here are some photos now...
Mikey :sign_welcome:
http://www.mikeybustos.ca
Really big colony you have here. You writted that whey eat fish, so whey eat only raw fish?
Thanks. I fed them cooked tilapia. It was soft enough for them to break it apart into pieces and carry back to the nest where it was distributed around and eaten quickly. The cooked fish is currently their favourite food.
Mikey :sign_welcome:
http://www.mikeybustos.ca
What else food you give for whem?
So far this colony likes blueberries, grapes, pineapple, SPAM meat, dry dog food that has been soaked in water, pieces of cooked egg, and dead spiders. I found they will not eat bread, strawberries, dead green-bottle flies, craneflies, cooked beef, or goat meat. The cooked fish however is their favourite, even over insects! I like to give them variety, but only tiny amounts so they don't fill up the nest with food that can mold.
Mikey :sign_welcome:
http://www.mikeybustos.ca
Mine myrmica rubra eats craneflies, but no fruits. Thanks for this food list I'll give to them and hope whey will like it.
Hello Mikey and welcome.
Very nice nest you have there, made it yourself ? Nice colony to. Good luck with them.
Thank you! Yes, I made it myself. Unfortunately here in Canada we do not have Ytong so creating a nest of water absorbant material is a challenge, and I don't trust the plaster products they sell here (so many toxins in the products, eg crystalline silica). So, the best thing I could think of was the grout (it's a material that sticks tiles together that hardens into a brick-like material). I simply made holes in the plexiglass for me to eject water in some of the unused chambers and the ants seem to really love that. Of course I also have an air pump pushing fresh air into the nest to reduce the mold growth. I also made some modifactions to the design (e.g. changed the feeding area to a large tank, and others). The ants have been flourishing and loving the living space. I also now have alletes (mostly males and a few females for now). They also have a new large tank for their hunting ground, which they truly care for and enjoy. More photos to come!
More photos...
I now have alletes! The young queens are begining to emerge now, as well.
However, upon examining these close up photographs I'm begining to question whether or not this species is truly Mymica rubra, as it seems they are lacking the two spines on the propodeum! Any ideas as to what species this may be?
Whatever species they are, these ants indeed are a polygenous species, and I took the time to count that I had ten queens. It's interesting that they have even setup a small satellite nest in the feeding arena, where they drag insects to and break them up into body parts before bringing them back to the nest. I can see the satellite nest underneath the glass feeding arena tank. They even have a queen who is laying eggs there! I'll include the photo of the satellite nest soon, but hope you guys enjoy these!
Also in addition I posted a video of my colony and how it came to be (found in this section of the forum):
http://www.antstore.net/viewtopic.php?f=133&t=12100&p=106197#p106197