ANTSTORE World of Ants

[amrik singh]

It's the first time I upload pictures . How can I do to upload more than 1 picture per post ?

[amrik singh]

This colony had 27 workers two months ago , now about 200.

[amrik singh]

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[amrik singh]

The ants in the "reconstitute stone" nest with the tank under were not doing well , there were few larvae and very few nymphs.
I could not regulate the humidity level so the nest became damp and took very long to dry .
Two days ago I connected the arena bassin to the tank with vertical plaster nest (occupied before by the Pheidole colony that escaped) after thorough cleaning and using the excellent repulsive anti escape . The ants moved so yesterday I removed the old nest from the arena. Immediately the ants became more active again and more interested in preys.
Last Thursday I started to give the Tetramoriums wax worms : It is the caterpillar of the moth that is the scourge of beehives and is sold in the reptile shop, the ants of the bigger colony like it so much that they recruit in mass, attack and pursue there prey like small scale army ants.
I will soon post pictures of the new accommodation .
Yesterday I also added a small acrylics tank arena to the largest colony.

[amrik singh]

The ants in the "reconstitute stone" nest with the tank under were not doing well , there were few larvae and very few nymphs.
I could not regulate the humidity level so the nest became damp and took very long to dry .
Two days ago I connected the arena bassin to the tank with vertical plaster nest (occupied before by the Pheidole colony that escaped) after thorough cleaning and using the excellent repulsive anti escape . The ants moved so yesterday I removed the old nest from the arena. Immediately the ants became more active again and more interested in preys.
Last Thursday I started to give the Tetramoriums wax worms : It is the caterpillar of the moth that is the scourge of beehives and is sold in the reptile shop, the ants of the bigger colony like it so much that they recruit in mass, attack and pursue there prey like small scale army ants.
I will soon post pictures of the new accommodation .
Yesterday I also added a small acrylics tank arena to the largest colony.

[amrik singh]

The small colony had a high larvae and pupae dead rate .I think the to high humidity was cause of pathogenes proliferation
that killed most of the brood to a much lesser extend I had the same problem with the Myrmica colony that occupied the nest
previously . Now that they are in the other nest the dead of LARGE larvae continue (I think they were already infected )but the new brood seems to do better .

[amrik singh]

The larger colony is growing fast and the nest is becoming a bit to small . The 4 to5 mm thick dry sand-loam in the main arena is pierced by 3 axes of galleries , 1 attain the entrance of the tube going to the arena box . The roof crumble at many places but the ants used these galleries to move to and from different places of these arenas ,these galleries contain no brood but apparently only foragers . When I give a wax worm they recruit directly from the openings of these galleries .

[amrik singh]

Following what I did read and observed it seems that the system of foraging tunnels is an adaptation to limit to a minimum exposure to predators like birds or lizards wile foraging to the surface and having at the same time many workers ready to be recruited near the food sources .

[amrik singh]

As I observed in India with an other specie of Tetramorium , Tetramorium caespitum don't even try to capture any fast moving prey (at least above ground) , if they attack spiders or other predators it is as enemy not preys . There favorite preys are eggs, larvae like beetle grubs or caterpilars that they attack in group and pupae that they detect better than will other ants .
They are first of all scavengers of small dead animals and seeds collectors and to a much lesser degree attend root plant bugs. Tetramorium caespitum forage on the ground and climb rarely on the vegetation (or on the windows of their tank).
they move to foraging areas in foraging tunnels or at least in cra

[amrik singh]

Sorry I just touch the key board by accident .
Tetramorium caespitum move to foraging area in foraging tunnels or at least in cracks or spaces in pavements so this add to slow movement and dull color make them inconspicuous despite there number and activity.
A few days ago I connected a tank with a large plaster nest to the fast expending T.c. colony so the T.c. colony occupy now both nests (photo or film will follow soon )

[amrik singh]

I can now compare hunting behavior of Myrmica rubra , Tetramorium caespitum and Pheidole pallidula .
-Myrmica rubra hunt mostly by inspecting rapidly possible prey's hide out and resting places, they catch small preys by reacting fast and kill preys like a mosquito or a small caterpillar by biting and if the prey struggle strongly or fight back by stinging. They attack also bigger,fast moving preys but usually without success and sometime ,doing so are drag to far away from their nest. They attack large preys in group only very near a forager alert room. They transport large preys collectively back to the nest but are not very good doing so .
-Tetramorium caespitum do not try to catch fast moving preys like adult insects , they are hunting mostly insect larvae of every sizes using group and mass recruitment and feed much on insect pupae. They move slowly employing to the maximum their sense of smell and maybe also their sight .They kill preys by strong biting and stinging . Tetramorium caespitum usually butcher their preys on the spot , empty the carcass and make very little effort to drag preys to cover.
-Pheydole palidula hunt in group very efficiently using fast group or mass recruitment but once the prey is immobilized they are limited by the capacity of the soldiers to kill it . They are very efficient and fast retrieving large preys collectively back to their nest.

[amrik singh]

I did give a 5 cm earthworm to the T.c. this morning and I was surprised of how fast they killed and cut it to pieces.
The brood of the smaller colony is growing again now . They seems to have recovered well from the previous problems .

[amrik singh]

You can see that the small colony (rear-left)have transfered in a bassin with the vertical plaster nest connected to the arena ,the old nest have been removed.
The large colony have been connected to a " ant apartement " that I use as a simple bassin with a big plaster nest . Other nests contain Solenopsis fugax covered with a cardboard .

[amrik singh]

The grow of the large colony's continue at the same pace , it occupied now the two nests ;the Tetramorium make so many gallery's in the wet part of the first plaster nest that I can't see all the colony but I think it reach now 2000 or 3000 workers . They eat now each and every day 4 large Tenebrion pupae or wax worms or small earthworms and 8 decorticate sun flower seeds . Since yesterday I give them also dandelion seeds, they like it and to my surprise not only they harvest the seeds quickly but they also seems to eat the small parachutes .
The small colony have now not only recovered from the serious problems in the first nest ,now abandoned, but now the brood
is plentiful and the colony grow fast again eating one large Tenebrion or two small wax-worms per day and the equivalent of one sun fl. seed.
It seems funny but Myrmicas rubra who live in wet ground were there are plenty of earthworms never like to eat them except when they are very small or when these ants are starving . But Tetramorium who live in drier ground poorer in earthworms like much to eat them.

[amrik singh]

I now give dandelion seeds without their "parachutes " because they seems not to eat them eventually and it is messy , especially if it stick to the oily anti-escape . They are very quick to collect any dandelion seeds I give.
I think the small colony is now more than three or four hundred workers strong . It is now very active with much brood .
If ,in volume, the seeds are less than animal food ,in dry weight it represent probably about 60percent of the food intake of the big colony ( the small colony less ). This correspond with what have been observed in the wild : Some sorts of SMALL seeds represent a major part of Tetramorium caespitum food intake (they can eat sun flower seeds well because I removed the husk).