ANTSTORE World of Ants

[sithmaster676]

nice pictures Azzer and when you get your new camera make sure you give us lots of pictures to look at
Sithmaster676

[Sam]

And maybe some video?

[Azzer]

Just a couple of test pics with the new camera so far, really just me practising, I still have a lot to learn on how to use it!

The first pic is just them feasting on a fresh wax-worm, again decapitated as before, and sliced down through the middle to let them get to the insides immediately. As last time, they carried the decapitated head in to their nest almost immediately.

The second pic is my first try at taking one in the YTong (damn flash was going off, I'll learn how to sort it all out soon... so I cropped most of the pic out that was ruined by the flash reflecting on the YTong glass). In this pic you can clearly identify a couple of larvae near hatching stage - see their legs/eyes... and on the right you can see an ant carrying a cluster of tiny "fresh" eggs in her mouth.

Remember to click these thumbnails to see them full-size, and your browser may shrink the images to fit after loading them full size too (so click the images when they are loaded by themselves to "zoom in" to real size!).

[Sam]

Good work. Looks like your going to be able to get some good close ups with your new gadget.

I must try some wax worm for my LN, your MR seem to love it. Does it spoil quickly (1 - 2 days)?

[Azzer]

I must try some wax worm for my LN, your MR seem to love it. Does it spoil quickly (1 - 2 days)?

Yes they are the favourite insect so far. I have even tried them with the white larvae of a mealworm (stage between worm & beetle... looks very alien like!), but they had very little interest in this at all. I have yet to try any crickets/cockroaches, so I haven't experimented with everything available from the pet shop yet by any means, but it does look like wax worms are the winner for my colony!

And yes it spoils fairly quickly, but I'd say the same about any insect to be honest - take out after 1 day, absolute maximum 2 days, and replace with a piece of fruit or dry food (fish food flakes!) and other random little bits from the kitchen for a couple of days, before giving them another insect. I sort of "rotate" what I feed them (rather than always have an insect in there 24/7).

[JimmyVe]

Nice pictures Azzer. keep them coming.

[Sam]

I tend to leave insects & water for 2 days, I guess the fresher the better. I might start rotating the food.

More pics please.

[Azzer]

Just a few more pics from putting in two freshly sliced waxworms. One was just a plain waxworm (ie still in maggot/caterpillar form), the other was in a chrysalis, and I basically sliced it in three so the ants could get to the juicy insides. They seem to love them both. As usual, the head of the waxworm has already been dragged in to the nest. Earlier today, before I gave them the fresh waxworm, I watched them take about 6 fairly large pieces of the fish food flakes into their nest as before. Wax worms, fish food flakes, and a honey&sugar water mix are what my colony seem to mostly be living off, with the ocassional interest in fruit (mostly apple) I try them with.

On the subject of photography though, I have found that I need to get a remote/seperate flash or something. When I am zooming in to something literally 1cm from the lens, the lens sticks out in such a way that it blocks out about half the flash - ie the bottom half of any picture is "shadowed" by the lens itself from the flash. What I need is like a "hand-held" flash that can somehow be plugged in to the camera to flash at the right time, that won't shadow the lens. Anyone got any ideas about this?? I'll do some research on Google later if nobody already knows of such things!

Anyway, these three pics were taken without the flash, so not as clear as they could have been, but otherwise I kept getting a shadow across half the image which was annoying

[Kiam]

Very nice keep them coming

[Sam]

Good pics even without flash, they love those wax worms.

Regarding the flash issue, can you somehow reflect the flash light backdown into the shot or light the shot sufficently not to need it?

[sithmaster676]

hi all
nice pictures Azzer
but as myrmica rubra are quite an aggressive ant i recommend giving them a small live prey to deal with, just so that its more natural for them.
Sithmaster676

[nepenthes_ak]

If its a DSLR type camera I really suggest getting a ring flash, that way you dont have those over casting shadows. Nice shots. http://www.kjsl.com/~dave/mt-24ex.html

[JimmyVe]

That is a really nice camera, do you have one of these yourself ?

[nepenthes_ak]

No, I have a Cannon EOS Digital Rebel XTi, the lens i bought that was a "macro" lens was a fals macro, its like a telephoto lens, it just has the ability to focus on small things Far away, making them look really bad.

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I was like 5 feet way using "macro" mode, thats cropped even.

The lens I want is a MP-E 65, but thats an 800 dollar lens, and I will still need another 600 dollars for a freaking Ring flash! And it will take me ALLOT of practice to get used to it cause it has no motor for auto focus, and well its a true macro so every thing can be completely blurry!

But I didnt mean to steal your topic!

[JimmyVe]

in deed this maybe a bit off topic. Better start up a new topic.

(just won a say, i like macro pictures very much but the material you need to take nice pictures is so expensive.)