ANTSTORE World of Ants

[adam james]

Hey Guys , well the termite colony is doing ok, not as well as i would like but still going. The King and Queen are now tended by roughly 25 workers. There are 4 Nymphs and a pile of about 22 eggs. Two nymphs recently reached adulthood, one of which was a second generation worker the other a nantic. So i have two second generation workers now which should live a good year

There was a accident with the fungus garden aswell, I added to much water to the plaster nest and caused it to get really saturated in the nest chamber. As a result the tiny fungus garden sort of callapsed into a small pile . Thankfully the workers have rescued it and now a small ball of fungus garden remains which they tend to daily. Heres a few pics and anouther one of my videos. It is rather a long one though lol

New nest, Queen chamber with first fungus chamber ready for colony growth.

Hope you liked

Regards

Adam

[graham77]

Detailing in photography really inspired me. You are a good photographer. Your research about termites is valid, they work in the same way. I can say this because I work in Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar company and we value researches like these, you did.

[adam james]

Hello Graham thankyou very much, mate

Regards

Adam

[adam james]

The colony seems to have reached a turning point in its development. Finally there has been some serious egg hatching's and for at least a week now nymphs have hatched within a day apart. The population is now hovering around twenty workers but now with nine nymphs the colony looks set to survive.

The termites have been moved into a new setup, the nests are still plaster of Paris based but with dome acrylic tops on them for viewing. This stops the termites covering over the acrylic with soil which they were doing with the flat glass panels. They have settled in well and have begun traveling through the new tubing which connects them together.

The queen is also laying eggs again, I came home to find a nice small cluster of four eggs on her abdomen which was great to see, she isn't pumping the eggs out as yet , more keeping up with the depletion from hatching nymphs.

Here's a few pictures and a video. I will have a problem in the future taking macro pics due to the domes not allowing my camera to get up close so will have to figure out something . The one good thing about these new chambers is the dome allows that all important expansion in height for the fungus garden. The domes are about half the size of a ping pong ball and the chambers are also scooped out so add to the space.

Painting the new nest chambers with a layer of ground up soil after grinding it up in a pestle and mortar with some water. This allows the termites a natural foot hold and helps with holding onto the excess moisture in the nest.

New nest design, probes for monitoring temperature and humidity, current temp 28.9c and 88% humidity

Settling in well to new queen chamber.





Regards

Adam

[Andie]

Facinating

[adam james]

Hello Andie , cheers mate they certainly are

[adam james]

Hey guys id just like to apologies for not updating sooner , had flu and work so been kinda pre occupied but I'm afraid its bad news, for some reason the nymphs started getting eaten and I'm not sure why, the fungus garden was the first to disappear and then the nymphs started to vanishes finally the workers started dieing off and its not clear why, the king has now died and all that is left is the queen. I'm not sure whats caused this but is very sad to see. I shall hope to get another colony soon , hopefully larger this time but for now my diary is paused as i shall not give up.

Regards

Adam

[AntsNational]

I think I read somewhere that if a male or queen dies, workers may morph into new reproductives. Perhaps luck will reach you Adam. So sorry to hear about your colony.

[adam james]

Hello Vasile yeah with my termites should the male die a few nymphs will grow up to be a reproductive, but unfortianatly the queen and now died so i will have to wait untill i get some more termites

Regards

Adam

[AntsNational]

Have you any clue why?

[adam james]

I have a feeling the temperture may have been a cause , they started to decline as i incresed the temperture from 26c to 30c it would make sense in a way that this is too high a temp as the closest thing to them i know off which i have kept is leaf cutting ants with there fungus, there ideal temp is 26-27 c and bad if it reaches 30c

Other then that nothing really changed so will have to see how things go with the next ones i get


Adam

[AntsNational]

Do keep in mind that underground temperatures are a lot cooler than most people believe... I'm keep a successful growing Atta cephalotes colony at slightly-warmer than room temperature. The ants are doing quite well at a balmy 18-20C. Perhaps humidity was also a factor, I don't see any condensation in your photos.. I wish u the best of luck next time brother, this journal was exciting!!

Cheers,
Vas

[adam james]

Hello Vasile , cheers mate , humidity was fine it was monitered at 80 -90% which is good enough for termites, ideal humidity really. The reson I had no condesation is that my nest sit inside a perspex box that is warmed to the aquired temperture i set. this way the air around is allways the same as the temperture within the nests and they get there heat from this warm air, as a result condensation is very uncommon.

Regards

Adam

[AntsNational]

Hmm, perhaps a pesticide in the food? Termites are hardy creatures, I can't see why they just died like that! lol

[adam james]

Could be , problem is being as the colony was so small it didnt give me enought time to track the cause down, just have to hope when i get anouther colony i keep a closer eye on them


regards

adam