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DigiSERBIA, I usually do that by unpeeling a banana and leaving it near a window. In less than 8 hours there will be some fruit flies, then I get a big plastic bag and put it around the banana. It is a bit messy, but really easy to do 8)
So you end up with dead fruit flyes because they dont have oxygen? and then u put them dead in?
No, I usually feed them right away. But even if I left them in the bag, they would first die of natural causes before they consumed all the oxygen there :lol:
Well firstly i wish you all a happy new year , i do hope 2012 is going to be a great year to grow my colony.
Right well there isnt much in growth of the colony at the moment im afraid , I had had a few issues with my setup , i woke up one morning to find the colony had moved out of the nest i had built them and into the foraging tank , i did not want this as it can get cold in my bungalow and there was no way to heat the foraging tank without further expense , i was still recovering from xmass expensis you see lol :D .
Well i had alot of plaster of paris left and thought why not change my desighn again , it caused a argument with my partner lol who says i have antifacation, ( His word for my obsessive compulsion disorder toward my ants lol lol :lol:)
Anyway i convinced him to help and after a few modifactions and new nest the ants moved in and settled in well. Now with my ants i have noticed a slow decline in numbers , the brood is now gone and only one larvae remains , but i have some great news , i knew they had some eggsbut i can confirm the queen is laying more , there is now a big bunch off eggs in the new nest and i have witnessed the workers collecting them from her and adding them to the pile. :P :grin:
Here are a few pictures ive managed to get , just to say sorry if the ant pictures arnt that good but its extremly hard to take pictures of these ants , macro needs alot of light to work great and evertime i put a light onto the nest they quickly move eggs and queen moves away from it :) .
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New nest desighn moulded and ready to add ants :D
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Converting my shelving unit to take new nests :grin:
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Second nest moulded , i have made three to start with and will be moulding more once colony expands , Shelving Unit can take six nest moulds.
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Setup finished , those red lights are not heaters , just strip lights with red plastic covers over them to light the inside of the nests but it doesent disturb the ants :P
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Three nests but six will be there in total as the colony grows :mrgreen:
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One of the few Major Soldiers
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Eggs , tending by workers :P :mrgreen:
Well thats my updates so far , cannot wait for the colony to grow :D
Regards
Adam :flower02:
I think they will chew through that. If your keeping them in that type of nest I would want them in a basin.
Just re-read, sorry if that message was to the point ha ha. I have had previous experience with Pheidole chewing threw y-tong in a relatively short period of time. But they were contained within a basin so an out break wasn't possible. I am pretty sure P.D. are also capable of chewing through it. I could be wrong as I've never kept them. Just a heads up mate as you may find them swarming around your bedroom. My mrs would go mental. ha ha.
Hello Bugsy , yeah this is somthing i have really looked in to , the guy i bought my colony off keeps his Ph diversus colonys in gypsum nests too and as off yet he hasnt had them chew throu. It is a possibility thou so i will be sure to keep my eyes open for any sighns of escape. They have chewed some of the gypsum in the chambers but they have just used this to seal around each chamber against the perspex front.
Well guys im pleased to say that the queen is laying really good and the egg pile is growing :P , i have watched her lay several eggs today and im very pleased. The worker population is declining alot more now , i just have to keep an eye on them , the next 3 - 4 weeks are criticle to the colonys survival [-o<
Im just asking thou , in case things do deteriate rapidly is there anyone here who has a large ph colony and could spare several hundred workers ?
I of course will pay for them and shipping , :D , i just want to make sure i have a optian of adding more workers in case things do not improve in time.
Regards
Adam
Hey guys well a quick update , its a mixture of sad news and good news :?
Since my last update the workers were slowly dieing off but the queen had finally started egg production but only two days after my last post , the workers rate of deaths increased alot. I have noticed it is the darker , i assume older workers that were mainly dying so im sure it was natural. I have had no gaster less workers so its not too dry and there is 70% humidity actually in the cabinat due to the gypsum nests being humid. :) The queen took along time to settle down which wasnt helped by the colony rejecting the nests i had constructed for them and they kept moving out off. I had green food dye added to the gypsum on previous nests so that the eggs and larva would stand out but i am sure somthing in this dye repelled the ants ,also they did not like the wide open spaces of my nests and even when i gave them a natural sand /soil mix nest they moved away from it and still moved into tubing conecting nests together , i think for the security of the smaller space. After making more plaster nests without the dye and moulding many small chambers with narrow passages the queen and rest of colony very quickly moved in and modafied the chambers to there liking :D , they are able to cut pieces out the chambers which they did and the bits of gypsum were used to put all around the chambers and perpex viewing panel to seal the chambers. Then the queen started laying after a few days and things were looking up. But this has come a little too late the workers are dying now throu being over or approching 4 weeks old :(
I am now down too about 30 workers , 3 Major soldiers and a few minor ones. The queen is still laying but this tiny colony now stay in the queen chamber and only occasionally does one worker or soldier venture out to explore the other chambers. The major and smaller soldiers all have greatly extended gastors so i do not fear starvation yet.
Now the queen has been laying for over a week now so i am looking out for the first sighns of larva soon. :D There has been some exceptionally good news thou , i have managed to aquire ( Many thanks to the ant supplier) a massive population of workers plus loads of brood that is being posted to me and hopfully should arrive withen the next 3- 4 days. It is about 5000 - 10,000 workers plus lots of brood :P .
I know Ph diversus accept new queens and workers so all i have to do is keep my fingers crossed my queen survives the stress of being in a small colony untill the end of the week and that the merging of colonys goes well. [-o<
Will keep you updated
Adam :flower02:
Hello Guys , well great news , the workers have arrived which is very much great news , i have placed the tubes they came in into a foraging container to settle and i shall give them a feed. I have collected about 60 -100 workers from the tube and alot of brood and added them to my queen , and she has been accepted by the workers =D> , there are a few major soldiers in there too and they are also ok around the queen , no sighns of agression at all. Over the weekend i shall add the rest of the tubes which is about 5000 - 10,000 workers :P and more brood.
Will take pictures and add them then too
Rgeards
Adam :flower02: