ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Varban]

29.05.06 - A Fresh Start

Her Majesty arrived in a test tube (not very queen like), packed with brown seeds and water to last her journey until the first generation of workers is ready to serve.
Since there was some mold like yellowish formation on the cotton where the water was I've decided to move H.R.M. into a more spacious chamber where she can get busy at her job of queen.
As you can see by the picture bellow she has 3 eggs which she likes to carry around every so often. The ground on the side is a mixture of sand, mould and wood chips which she tried to dig a hole in and I supported the idea. The fat white thing is a cotton soaked with water to help her last during the laborous days ahead. On first impression she is a messy queen, the dirt she digs out is thrown at the water tank, which I already cleaned a few times to make sure water is clean. At the moment her chamber is in a drawer on top of my credit card statements so if she gets bored she has something to read in the dark.

31.05.06 - Let there be darkness!

Today we had a drastic improvement of her majesty's construction skills. At first she dug a big hall and later I found she she has almost sealed it and has a tiny entrance, funny just as was typing this the whole entrance is sealed or collapsed, hope its the first. On the bad side the food is all covered with dirt now and so is the cotton.
The entire thing is pretty wet which is good and I hope she can get water like that since the cotton is literally under a pile of dirt. At that stage trying to fix things will just destroy her little crib. I can't see the eggs, I hope she took them inside. She laid 2 eggs yesterday which were even harder to see and I hope those too are inside now too, otherwise she might have eaten them or covered them with dirt ...

02.06.06 - Eggstravaganza

Her Majesty is still in her chamber and doesnt come out (shamber has not been unseaeld ever since she locked herself). I have left a little fly if she gets hungry but she seems to be managing for now. I sure hope that if she is hungry she will come out.
On other news there are 6 eggs layed since yesterday. They are stuck in a lump which she carries around. I managed to see them from underneath the small container. The worm is digging around her chamber too ... I hope she won't suddenly die of starvation.
The place is still wet, I might add more water in the next days. Her furmicarium won't arrive until wednesday sadly and until then i dont want to break into the chamber to give her food. Will wait for the furmicarium to arrrive and will move her and the eggs there where i will have more control and she will have loads of space and no worm to roam around her!

06.06.06 - Behold! The land of Salma I

All the materials for the new Furmicarium arrived, after spending some time assembling it, I realised I didn't have enough Sand and Loam mix to fill the whole thing. So instead I made the tank half Sand and Loam and half Mould. That way I can see where ants prefer to dig...
Moving her majesty was a bit tricky, having to dig through her little nest and extract her and the eggs and make sure those don't get lost was easier said than done.
Since she cohabitated in that small thing with a worm and didn't mind I decided to let Gunther roam in the new nest with her and provide food when the colony starts to thrive. Gunther quickly decended underground while her majesty went on to explore her new domain.
A construction site was quickly established by yours trully but she didn't aprove and it took me a while to make her get the eggs from it at least, as I was using them to entice her to dig there. After that a series of dicussion and debates took over on where the nest to be build. Her immediate decision was at the corner behind the moss, a place of which I didn't aprove. So a couple of hours later and 3 more wrongly picked places we both aggreed on the new spot for the royal chamber.
To rub more salt on my defeat for a construction site she managed to dig her chamber in such a way as to not touch any glass, preventing me from keepin a watchful eye on what's going on (the space between the glasses is just over 1.5cm). I've lost track of Gunther as well and hope the moss starts growing a bit so I know it won't decay.
Sadly the entire dozen of eggs from her last nest are all over the place now and she hardly pays them any attention. After spending the entire night digging her new residence she is deep inside. At least this time she hasn't sealed the entrance like last time ....

07.06.06 - The Darkest Day

Just like many fantasy books the great king suddenly gets very ill and dies in a matter of hours. The same faith has befalen the queen. From a fervant nest construction only show by the amount of orange sand laom outside it, a few hours later the queen experience a sudden and slow death from uknown reasons. With the royal line broken the land of salma has fallen in chaos awaiting a new ruler to reclaim the lands and finish what the young queen started ...

To be continued...

[Varban]

Small Nest

Ok this is the nest, the reflected surface next to the cotton is a film that I used to separate the cotton from the dirt so that the soaked cotton won't soak the dirt. That tactic failed as due you humidity the dirt is wet now too.
The yellowish thing is chicken soup powder and is covered with dirt now. So is the cotton as you can see.
The distance between the film and the edge of the chamber was where I planned to let her dig in the other half. This morning the whole thing was dug up and this evening is what you see now. She is inside.
There is a worm moving around where she set her chamber up ... That can either solve my food problem or end my colony's existance.

[Varban]

Big Nest

Here are some pictures of Williamvile or the Land of Salma.
It's half Sand+Loam and Half mould with a small layer of mold on top to let the ants roam. The square dish is full with Fructose and the Circular dish was my pond and is full of gel water. I have a little kinder dog in there and the water dish looks more like dog food when you look from the side. The moss in the corner is to provide flavour and I still have to figure out if it will die or grow. I can always get coushion moss from a tree with its roots and try to grow it that way.
As you can see from the picture bellow, there is a lot of orange stuff next to the food container. In the middle of it is the entrance to the castle. I will leave it like that for now but i might try to remove it a later stage because it anoys me but then again when the first ants come out they will at dig out orange dirt.

[Varban]

13.06.06 - Full Circle

Yesterday, 12th, the new queen arrived. Salma II was in her testube with pretty much no food whatsoever but a good number of eggs. This time I am keeping a track of the eggs, well the bigger bean shapped ones. The very small ones are all clumpted together and are hard to se apart to keep count. I have 5 biggers ones and about a dozen small ones.
Instead of freeing the queen into the tank, I opened the test tube and put in the Furmicarium (Land of Varb).
Today I went to buy bird seeds, got a nice bag with various seeds, some big small. I put some of the smallest ones in the test tube, with some cheese, 2 fies and a musquito. The queen hasn't come out of the test tube whatsover. She did venture outside yesterday and brough some dirt into it and she put it on the cotton. Apart from that she doesnt leave the test tube anymore. Hope the bigger eggs will hatch soon. The square dish is full of seeds and the water dish is full of fresh gelwater. I moved the moss a bit.

14.06.06 - Clean Shop
Looks like she was busy all night last night, i noticed she took out all the food sadly and has sealed the test tube. She dragged some dirt from outside and created a seal. I won't disturb, I hope if she gets hungry she will come out and look for food or something ...

24.06.06 - Troubles in Paradise
It seems there be clouds in paradise ... Or in other words there are eggs missing. It seems seeds were a bad idea and I should have used the usual fruits to provide her with food. Oh well, I removed her seal and replaced it with a cotton seal that i can remove whenever I please. I've put a piece of apple inside. Since I can't keep the apple for long and she is one ant, knowing if she is eating will be hard. Guess if more eggs go missing i will know what's going on.
On the bad side all the larvae are gone so that means the colony has been set back weeks...

[Varban]

As per forum rules here is the link to her majesty's discussion thread >>> Here <<<

[Sced]

What is the temperature of your basin? They can live at about 17-30 degrees