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I did already try but this time I had problem doing so with the size of the picture upload . I 'll try again today or tomorrow.
Formicarium I.JPG Here are the pictures of the formicarium and arena of my Tetramorium colony . It is well breakout proof but it is already to small .
The colony is now about 20 000 workers strong , I think , eat about 5 fat wax worms and 10 sun flower seeds /a day + sometime honey or a piece of apple . I do not warm the nest any more because the colony grow to fast .the room temperature vary now between 21°c and 23°c .
The rooms in the plaster nest are 2 cm to 2.5cm deep and 5 mm to 8mm high and the galleries about 5mm diameter . The smaller itong nest is modify by reducing the diameter of the galleries with plaster and escavating two 1cm deep and 5mm high widening at the rear of each chamber with the effect to multiply the habitable surface by two or three.
Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures: I reduced the size to much.
What size a monogyn ant colony can become ?
We know that a Lasius niger colony attain 6 000 to 8000 workers , a Lasius flavius colony more than 10 000 ,a one queen Myrmica colony between 300 and 600 workers maximum and count of wild Pheydol pallidula colony give around 6000 workers but sometime we hear (right or wrong ) about much bigger colony.
Tetramorium caespitum colony in England average about 14 000 workers . Apparently one queen Tetramorium gr. caespitum colony can attain about 30 000 workers but a Russian site speak of 80 000 maximum.
This year in my area there is an exceptional production of Dandelion flower and seeds so I harvest much dandelion seeds and give at once to my Tetramorium colony. They love it . They like it even more than the wax worms .They recruit massively and collect all the seeds in a record time like true harvester ants.
They seems very particulars in their choice of seeds.They are not interested in any small seeds for birds that I did buy from the shop . The only seeds that I did buy and that they like (after removing the husk ) are sun flower seeds and peanuts.
It is maybe because these are relatively soft and oily.
Seeds of dandelion, heat and clover and maybe some other seeds constitute the biggest part of dry weight ingested by wild colones
Hi,
As the Tetramorium colony need some more space I connected yesterday evening an " acrilic island " with a small plaster nest to the main tank . First one or two scouts advanced slowly 10 or 20 centimetres in the pipe, recruited others , about 100 more advanced in the pipe until they arrived at opening then they stopped . Two or three explorers return to the front of the"troop" now about two hundred strong and increasing in number . The crowd of ants advance slowly , invading the island and the nest until it was full of hundred of ants moving in all directions . Then I gave them a small wax worm and some dandelion seeds .
I regret what I done now , I think it was a mistake because many workers are falling in the water , several times I had to fish them out with a stick but now number of ants have settle in the nest and it does look a bit quieter outside. I will not give food in this island any-more and I am thinking of what to do to solve the problem.
I am biting my fingers : The water dish seems to be not a good system to keep the Tetramorium inside . Many workers are falling in the water , some drown most are floating on the water and many are so crossing to the other side so now I spend
at least 20 minutes a day fishing ants from the water and caching others from the table.This way I found a good system to catch ants with a wet broken stick , because it is wet ants stick on it and have just to be shaken of in the formicarium.
If somebody have a solution to my problem of Tetramorium going /falling in/on the water I will be glad to hear it.
Hi,
In June I removed the island and replaced it with a plastic bucket with a inside curved edge covered with oil . There is also a small plaster nest in it. This time everything is working perfectly, no ant can get out.
The population is now at least 30000 workers strong but there is no winged ants yet .
It is amazing the quantity of food consumed by this colony : 20 dehusked sun flower seeds/day ,4 big wax worms /day ,one big fly (or spider...)or small earthworm/day ,diluted honey every two or three days (as they removed in 30 minutes ) and a piece of fruit , pie-nut or fresh hazelnut in permanence .
I give the food whole or in one large piece so the Tetramorium workers take time to cut it , so it reduce the risk of food rotting or molding in the nest .
Tetramorium really love fresh hazel-nuts and are crazy about water melon.
I compared pictures of different Tetramorium workers and so I am now nearly sure that my colony belong to Tetramorium sp.e considering the size and coloration.
Today and several times before I want to observe the capability of one single worker to kill a small wax worm so to avoid that other workers intervene I placed the caterpillar in a little transparent box pierced with a small hole in a quite place of the "out-world but each time the Tetramorium workers recruit as soon as they detect the box until they form a group of about 10 at the entrance hole with one or two going inside unti one ant attack the prey then several ants attack together immediately maybe stimulate by the struggling of the wax worm.
I realized now that last winter I make a mistake the way I did feed the Teramorium as the temperature was not low enough for hibernation . It was necessary to continue giving enough sugar (honey )and insects: The last stage larvae'( who transform apparently the starch into sugar) been dead or transform into pupae the ant could not assimilate it . The result was high larva mortality and the absence of winged ants who must have been many in a colony this size. So this winter I will continue to give normal food as the colony take it.