ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Skippy]

ufff.... I read it all (my eyes slowly closing down ) ,very interesting Ashon! Later would be fantastic to get here some photos ,sometimes is better to look on photo like reading long texts like this ... it is hard to write also ,but very good work ,nice blog.

Sry have not time to make answers on your questions ,but I´ll looking here on questions of other keepers

Skippy

[miszt]

the little bugs are probably tiny food mites, not to much to worry about

sorry to hear your queen died but yep, you really do need to avoid the temptation of forcing them to move, the stress can cause them to attack one another sumtimes, and its possible they killed the queen

Edit Antstore

posting from 00:28 - @miszt, please use the edit-function!

btw you have no hope of introducing your current workers to a new colony, they will fight to the death

[Ashton McStansfieldio]

Thanks for the reply Skippy, I find it comforting to spread my pain around:)

Im afraid my camera is rubbish and wont pick up the ants at all, I am looking at getting a new one was thinking a canon s3 if anyone can recommend or discorage on the subject.

The remaining ants are doing fine by the way. I have housed them in an antstore, glass farm and arena setup. They have burrowed a small nest hole were the eggs larva and workers can be seen clearly:)

Thanks aswell Miszt, I`ll take your comments on board. At this time it does seem that my interferance could well have drove my pets to cannibalism:(

Are you sure the workers would not be accepted into a new colony? I thought PH. D. were one of the few species that displayed this type of behavior...

[Ashton McStansfieldio]

Hey guys,
I now have a new colony of Ph. D. They seem to be doing pretty well so I thought I`d start posting some pictures and updating my diary again:)

This is a picture of my Setup:
Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar
I`ve kept it simple this time. At the back is the Y-tong nest, covered with glass and with a yellow water reservoir protuding from its`s bottom left hand corner.

This is linked to a small acrylic tank via some antstore clear plastic tubing. Inside the tank is a thermometer, a test tube water reservoir for the ants to drink from and a 1kg weight just to make the tank easier to handle. At the top f the tank you can see my escape security, an ant proof mesh kept in place by the yellow tank lid.

The red heat lamp you can see in the picture is controlled by a thermostat and the black wire you can see on the left hand side of the y-tong is the temp sensor for the thermostat. This sensor goes inside the nest through a bored hole which I have plugged with cotton wool. The hope is that the thermostat will keep the temp. inside the nest at a constant 26 degrees.

This is my colony shortly after they moved into their new nest.
Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar

And this is the colony now 3 weeks later.
Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar
I think the amount of brood looks the have declined in this time, however its not all bad news because in this zoomed shot of the same picture there seems to be new eggs just below the queens gastor:)

Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar

I do seem to be having a high worker mortality rate though. I would estimate as high as 5 a day although I have had no soldier deaths as yet(there are between 6 and 10 in the colony). I would guess the deaths are due to maybe lack of moisture in the nest or possibly i have not fed them often enough. (although there are definatly seeds allways avaliable just not crickets or other insects)

I have added another Y-tong nest to the setup with a bigger damp area and have increased the amount of food i`m offering in an attempt to reduce the deaths. The ants do not seem to have discovered the new nest yet but are accepting the extra insect food greedily.
Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar

Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar

hope you like. any advice, tips or input appreiciated,
thanks,
Ashton

[Ashton McStansfieldio]

Thanks Jimmy, good luck to you too mate:)

[Necturus]

Oh, i like the picture of the eggs! Very nice!
I do have a good feeling, im sure youre both going to be successfull;)
Ashton: Bigger colonies do eat through the Ytong! And you REALY dont want a big colony on the run in your room, believe me!
Just thinking ahead for the next setup for in a year or so, better plan to include the Ytong into the tank.
Greetings,
Necturus

[Ashton McStansfieldio]

Heh heh, I will keep my eyes on the Y-tong (and the coton wool bung!!) in that case. Thanks for the heads up. I will also look to improve the escape proofing asap.

[Ashton McStansfieldio]

Hello guys,
time for a quick update

A recent picture of my colony:
Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar

2weeks before
Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar

I think the brood seems to have more than doubled:)
I guess the worker number to be at least 60 but maybe as many as 100. worker deaths have numbered over 100 since i recieved the colony about a month ago.
The brood increase seems to have been influanced by feeding them more (1 or 2 crickets a day compared to 1 every 2 or 3 days) and resisting the temptation to disturb them by peering into their nest. (now once or twice a week rather than every day)

[JimmyVe]

Nice, lot of brood. Your doing a great job.

I also only disturb them once ore twice a week (i do this with al of my ants).

I need to move mine soon to a y-tong nest but it has been really busy the last days so... If they moved i shall post some pictures to.

[Ashton McStansfieldio]

Thanks Jimmy,
and good luck moving your ants, can`t wait to see your new pics:)

[JimmyVe]

There will be on soon Today i made the my y-tong, tomorrow i'm going to finish it and if everything works out well i'm moving them this weekend.

[Daztroyer25]

Hello Ashton Very nice Pictures btw, I really need to get a better digital cam. Also Just wondering how many ants would you estimate that you have now?

Daz

[Ashton McStansfieldio]

Hey Daz,
i would estimate that i have around 70 ants now, the brood is increasing quite quickly and my worker deaths are also greatly reduced so I am expecting (hoping) the colony numbers to increase rapidly sometime soon:)

I`ll post some new pics when i get a chance some time next week.
thanks,
Ashton

[Ashton McStansfieldio]

Hey guys,

Thought it was about time for an update,

This is my colony now,
Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar
The queen is not in this shot, she was in a nearby tunnel wandering towards a cricket that was being marched in...

I like the formation of the soldiers around the brood. you can see that the number of workers and soldiers has increased sharply and there is also much more brood than there has been before.

This close up also shows a nice cluch of small new eggs.
Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar

I have also decided to start a new colony, here is a picture,
Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar

The queen is just out of shot I would estimate there are maybe 60 workers and you can see a small amount of brood, there is also a single soldier but she is huge, larger than any of the soldiers in my other colony her head is almost as large as the queens!!

Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar

Overall everything sems to be going well at the moment, they are eating regularly and I am happy with the progress:)

[miszt]

great to hear theyr doing well luvly photos too