File :-(, x, )
Anonymous
The ants thread died :(
>> Anonymous
WE thought you were dead!
>> Anonymous
moar
>> Anonymous
OP here
I'm not the original thread starter, tough I think we need another thread.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
Oh, hey. Someone actually restarted it. XD

Don't know what happened to that last thread. Came back and it was suddenly gone. Probably some snerts saged it too many times (how does that work, anyway?)

And now eggs and larvae and pupa, oh my.
>> Anonymous
how does one go about starting/maintaining an ant farm? is it hard to find the queen in order to start things off?
>> Anonymous
>>236100
>XD
>> Anonymous
>>236183
I've heard you can look for newly-flown queens, but I never really tried because I never know when there's going to be a flight.

You can try digging them up. I've tried that. But all I've ever managed is a hole in the ground and a bunch of sad ants. Very rarely I've found ant young by lifting a brick, but never an obvious queen...

I always seem to find queens just walking around lost inside buildings. :P

For starting, a testtube is the simplest way I've found. Water contained behind cotton wool, with more cotton wool blocking the exit. The more space you can give to the water, the longer it'll last before needing to take everything out to change it. I got around this by drilling holes and plugging them after filling the tube...but it's tricky to work with.
>> Anonymous
>>236257

This is awesome, I clicked this board by mistake and found this. I am kinda interested in makeing an ant farm myself actually. Are those store bought conatiners any good?

For example, this: http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/giftsforkids/6fd6/
>> Anonymous
lol ants
>> Anonymous
>>236261
http://www.antfarmcentral.com/index.asp?action=page&name=4

This touches on those points - not enough room, too much light, shet like that. The one they advertise for seems pretty cool, though. That GeoSafari thing. If that whole deal can be burrowed through, that's a lot more room than your typical flat ant farm. I'd like to try one but I hate the thought of a dead-end, queenless colony.
>> Anonymous
>>236337
You can just buy the ant farm by itself and get your own queen from outside.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
moar ants
>> Anonymous
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO how did we let it die?
>> Anonymous
It's just me or the queen abdomen keeps getting bigger and bigger?
>> Anonymous
>>236453
Her abdomen expanded (see smooth shiny parts) after her first honey meal... Then it shrank again.

After that I tried feeding them a dead fly but they were scared of it and wouldn't go near it.

I've fed them honey again and she bloated up again as a result, even bigger than last time. :P
>> Anonymous
bump
>> Anonymous
2 seperate queens each in their own ant village (Ant Farm Village)?

Would it be neat to watch? Or would one kill the other?
>> Anonymous
>>237006
I think it depends on the species, if both the queens are of the same species they'll likely fuse in a mega-colony.
>> Anonymous
>>237115
I think in most cases queens will fight against each other (or will not lay eggs) if another queen is present, even if of the same species.

The exception is this one, because it's an american Argentine Ant. Those are all related and carry the same scent, so unfortunately for the environment they make megacolonies.
>> Anonymous
bump
>> Anonymous
Any update?
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
I got ants, too.
But my queen died so now the colony will die soon too...
I'm waiting for a new queen this summer, to start a new colony.
I also got one of last year, i'm waiting her first workers.

pic related, my ant farm before the ants were in
>> Anonymous
>>237467
Thats a neat set-up. Build it yourself? Is that round thing like a water dish?

In the side compartment, is that somthing like plaster that you etched out yourself? Got anymore pics? I'd love to build somthing like that.
And whats surrounding the edges at the top?
>> Anonymous
Nice setup... Looks homemade to me. I've been trying to either find something nice online or devise something myself... Chances are I'd be better of making something to my liking.

For my turtles I usually end up disappointed in store-bought items and inevitably make something for them myself.

I'm also keeping in mind that I may be moving sometime this year, across the country... so in that event I'd want something that can survive the trip without collapsing tunnels...

There's premade tunnels you can make, but... yeah, I think that takes a lot of the excitement out of it.

I tried something different to mix things up... Not that good of quality with this camera, though.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=32700562

And if anyone didn't go before, the page I set up for them was on:
http://www.myspace.com/sunglade
>> Anonymous
oooh a video. Sweet.
How long till you make a permenant enclosure for them? I want them to start digging and hunting
>> T.T.T.
     File :-(, x)
I'm still not sure when. It's one of several things I have looming over me as "got to do", like updating the setups for five of my turtles (one down, four to go)...

Anyone know if dirt in general is a bad idea to use (I trust dirt to hold together better than sand...)? All the ant farms I look at online seem to promote the sale of sand. :P

Or they use that cruel gel setup, which I refuse to do. Lot of negatives besides that anyway. Shame, would actually be pretty nice for viewing purposes due to the clearness and the general cool factor it has. Also hear that stuff was designed by NASA. Shame, I'd love to have Antronauts. O_O

Maybe I can make an enclosure out of cheese and say they're moon-ants.

And now from the enigmatic Removable Drive G: comes... Larvae!
>> T.T.T.
     File :-(, x)
I like this one... There's a worker lined up alongside her abdomen for a very nice comparison of their size difference.
>> Anonymous
bump!
>> Anonymous
>>237934
Woot. I dont know about dirt vs sand. Sand just seems to be the mainstream. It might be easier to move around since its already in tiny bits.

What kind of turtles? I have 2 malaysian box turtles.
>> Anonymous
What did you name her?
>> Anonymous
HOLY FUCK didn't you make a thread long time ago that you found an ant and put it inside that tube?
>> Anonymous
>>238022
Yes he did. This is the contiuation of that thread

and i think her name is tina.
>> Anonymous
>>238001
>>237934

The problem with dirt is, especially while it's moist, that the ants will very likely dig their nest in the dirt, rather than make the artificial nest you provide their home.
Therefore most often sand is used because it doesn't clog together when it's dry so the corridors they build collapse.
>> T.T.T.
>>238024
Tina came from "Argentina" and was thought up when I was trying to devise an unpleasantly-cheesy MySpace name.

>>238022
Yup, I did. Thread died randomly one day (It had started to receive sages from people for no apparent reason) and I found this new thread started by another person trying to revive it.

>>238090
My idea was that dirt would be more sturdy than sand (and could survive a move), so perhaps make a thin, transparent container with dirt in it attached to a sandy foraging area. I remember reading this was doable, you just had to bake the dirt for awhile to remove any bacteria / mold, etc.
>> T.T.T.
     File :-(, x)
>>238001

3 Eastern Box Turtles
2 Map Turtles
1 Musk Turtle
1 African Sideneck Turtle
3 Red-Eared Sliders
1 Snapping Turtle

It's a bit much even for a turtle-lover like me. Now, some of them I've had for most of my life...

But the others came from a brief marriage with a woman who loved my turtles and kept bringing home hatchlings from a flea-market, at first to my joy but quickly much to my dismay. We had an incredibly good arrangement, which made it very easy to take care of the eventual 20 she brought me to.

However, as they grew she found they were no longer enjoyable and a huge burden, and when we separated she mysteriously got rid of some of them (if her past threats and rants were any guess, she threw them into the local canal) and the rest that were initially mine and the ones she didn't expressly HATE were sent to me. Never saw the others ever again.

Here's an old picture I dug up...
>> Anonymous
how do you breed ants?

Stick a bunch in a tube and let it sit there?
>> T.T.T.
>>238279
For the most part you just catch them after the fact...
>> Anonymous
Have you named your queen yet? I suggest mustache.
>> Anonymous
bump
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>237606
>>237636

Yep it's homemade.

The vivarium part is made of mortar and sand on wood for the ground. It's surrounded by glass, and at the top of the glass the white think is talc. I mix 5/5 talc and alcohol to have a mixture i put on glass with a brush, and when it dries it makes a fine layer of talc. When the ants try to escape, the talc falls off with them. Never have any escape with that.

The round think is a fruit preserve cover, pierced with many holes. It's here to grow beans, and on the beans i'll try to breed aphids. The ants i breed (Lasius niger) breed aphids in the nature, for the nectar they make with bean's sap.

You can see a little hole, it's a pipe that leads to the ants' nest.
You could see it better on that picture. It's made of cell concrete (don't know the real english name, i'm French, try googling siporex) i made this shape with a screwdriver and a lot of patience...There's a glass on it, fixed with silicon.

Under the ants' nest there's a plexiglas reservoir for water, because in the nest the humidity must be something like 80%, so the concrete absorb water from it and drives it in the nest.

I think that's pretty all, ask something if you want to..

By the way i have no pix with ants in it, my queen died so now the colony is dying too. This year i'll catch a new one and hope she'll live longer.
>> Anonymous
>>238469
So do you plant the beans under the cover and just let them grow?

Does it matter which compartment you place the queen in? And is the concrete a solid block?

I think that that's the kind of enclosure that I wanna build.


>>238261
I used to have a baby snapper. But I let him go for whatever reason. I regret it now. I miss him.
>> Anonymous
>>238482
>>Does it matter which compartment you place the queen in? And is the concrete a solid block?

It's far too big for a starting colony. If you build it like that you should "seal" some of the chambers with sand. Usually you start a colony in a test tube. When the queen's first workers are starting to forage you can place the tube in the "arena", outside of the new nest.

The block is made of concrete which has been aerated while hardening in order to make it lighter. And yes, it's solid.
>> T.T.T.
     File :-(, x)
Very rarely there'll be a solitary ant that decides to sneak in, and she'll just sit on the rim of my bathtub cleaning her antennae. I decided to take her picture today and she stuck her tongue out at me. Oh well.
>> Anonymous
>>238482

238469 here, listen to this guy>>238489

The pics i posted are of an ant farm designed for a 9 months old colony, i was waiting for the 2nd generation of workers, so they'd be about 50. And i must admit it's still to big for 50, i made it too big in the first place. A nest like this one is good for a colony of at least 100 workers.

The beans were supposed to grow on the covert, the holes are for water draining.

>>238489

Is right about the test tubes, that's the best way to start a colony.
I still got a Solenopsis cf. fugax queen in a test tube, she's probably waiting hotter weather to make her eggs. This summer i'll find some L.niger and i'd like to try Messor, probably Messor barbarus. But right now i'm just waiting...ants require patience, sometime months only to see a microscopic egg.
>> T.T.T.
     File :-(, x)
So I went outside and learned that ants like catfood.
>> Anonymous
>>238543
Ants will eat anything that's organic. It just depends on which ants you're talking about. Lasius will eat anything they find, from insect to suggar, Messor prefer grains, they make something like bread ant eat it, some other ants cut leafs from trees, and make a substrat to grow a mushroom they eat, etc. The ants are a very large family...
>> T.T.T.
>>238543
Oh, I know. I just happened to find them swarming a lost piece of catfood so I took a picture or twenty. ;)

Love how much detail I can get on the camera if I'm outside.
>> T.T.T.
>>238540
Truth. As written on the last thread, the queen in the op picture was captured on a warm day in September... She waited through the winter before she laid her first egg.
>> Anonymous
>>238543
THEY'RE SO HAIRY
>> Anonymous
>>238540
Thx for the info.
bump^
>> Anonymous
bump
>> T.T.T.
     File :-(, x)
lol okay, so... Last night this little one comes running past me. No clue where she came from or if she's mated.
>> Anonymous
>>239488
Make them fight for your love. lol

not really. is it the same kind or different?
>> T.T.T.
>>239503
She's black, almost as small as the Argentine workers. Darn thing kept trying to fly away from me when I found her. :D I'm currently working on making a very small sand pit for the ants to explore, but I need to make a means to prevent their escape like the one above used. Don't think I have the materials at the moment.
>> Anonymous
Sweet
>> Anonymous
bump
>> T.T.T.
     File :-(, x)
This will likely be how I'll start them out once I get some talc/alcohol to coat the walls with.

I considered using the common opals and house, but decided not to.

The largest rock seems good as a feeding spot. The pit can be used for honey and the flat area for organics.
>> T.T.T.
Well, walls now have a layer of talc. I've opened the tube... As usual they aren't too eager to explore so nothing exciting to see.

I've heard talc is a repellent to Argentines (it doesn't hurt them, they just hate the stuff), so it should work doubly well to keep them from raiding my fridge or killing me in my sleep.
>> Anonymous
awesome
>> Anonymous
>>240041
lol nice. how deep is the sand? and what happens if your ant colony outgrows the habitat? do you move them to a bigger one somehow?
>> Anonymous
throw in more sand ?
>> Anonymous
>>239945
That's nice but the only problem will be that you'll not be able to see them in their nest.

BTW i just saw that my Sopelopsis sp. queen died..I knew it was a difficult specie to breed but that's the third in 6 months which die (found them on my university campus). But it begins to be warm here, so hopefully i could catch some Lasius this month.

To wait for them i'm incubating some Extatosoma Tiaratum eggs (a stick insect specie)..With a bit of luck they'll be out this week.
>> T.T.T.
Sand is very shallow and dry, so they won't be digging in it -- they'll still need to keep base in the test tube.

I want to first make sure I can keep them contained in something like this before I get elaborate... Seems to work so far.

Also, they've filled the floor of their tube with sand. Beyond that, they usually don't go more than half an inch from home before running back inside.
>> Anonymous
>>240551
Mine did that too, and they closed their tube with all they founded, even the remains of a spider i gave them. They weren't adventurous either in the beginning, but after some days they'll explore all the vivarium. Try putting some food at the opposite and there's a good chance they find it anyway (well let some food near the tube in case they can't find it).

You're right about letting them in the tube, until they lack space it's the best option for them. You have time to built something biger.
>> Anonymous
bump
>> Anonymous
more bump
>> Anonymous
bump^2
>> T.T.T.
Thinking that little winged ant may have been a male; it died shortly after catching it. Ah well.
>> Anonymous
thats sad. but you dont want too many colonies at once.
>> Anonymous
>>241268
You don't want too many colonies at once, but starting a new colony is kinda difficult sometime so it's better to catch several queen in case of multiple failure. I got 3 queen which died recently..But it was a difficult specie to breed.
>> SAGE SAGE
It should die again.. I mean SAGE
>> Anonymous
>>241626
See what I did there?
>> T.T.T.
>>241633
I saw, I just don't care.
>> Anonymous
bump :)
>> T.T.T.
     File :-(, x)
Not a lot of excitement as they're still camping in the tube, but here's a pic I took when they gathered some sand.
>> Anonymous
>>242370
neat. I want to start a colony but I hate having to wait till august. Keep me inspired!
>> Black_Knight !DlQLyppdkQ
We have a huge nest in the city I live in, I'm not use if it's a single nest or a network of them, but the ants are everywhere.

I remember when a rival ant colony tried to set up shop right in the middle of the other nest. It was able to develop undisturbed, but after a while, the main nest just descended on the new colony and laid siege on them for days on end. The newer ants tried to do the basic tactics of covering their entriances and spray chem trails to confuse the attackers, but you knew it was over when the attackers were dragging the defends from the covered holes and then the ants outside proceeded to rip that ant apart.

By the end of the second day, it wasn't as much a battle as it was a slaughter. I wasn't there to see if they dragged out the queen or killed her inside the nest, but I saw when the reached a hatchery and had a supply line of their captured eggs and pupas to take back to fed their own or enslave them.

Ant war is hell.
>> T.T.T.
>>242697
Ant slavery is interesting.

Oh, did anyone ever play SimAnt? I remember finding out that if the NPC ants grabbed enemy young, they'd instantly become food units. However if your PC ant grabbed them, you could take them back to your nest and they'd grow into your own workers.
>> Black_Knight !DlQLyppdkQ
>>242708
I still have the manual for both the Mac and SNES version, where they stuff every single tibit about ants in them.
>> Anonymous
>>242708
God DAMN was that game ever fun. Leading a massive war party against the dread spider was insane fun.
>> Anonymous
Ant war rocks. Ima try and find simant now. at least on youtube.
>> T.T.T.
I ended up finding all kinds of interesting quirks about the game by myself. Such as if you tunnel deep you can locate a tunnel to the enemy nest and can conduct solo assassin missions to kill their queen. lol...

I hear there's some game called Empire of Ants that was quite cool, but I haven't tried it yet.
>> Black_Knight !DlQLyppdkQ
>>242733
Don't forget to go into experiment and turn on silly, you get smart ass comments for the bugs and you can control the spider
>> Anonymous
What seems to be your ants favorite foods? Have you tried alot of different things?
>> T.T.T.
>>243400
I've only ever managed to feed them honey as of now. I've offered them a dead fly and other such things and they've either acted scared of, or completely ignored these options.
>> Anonymous
Am I the only one who doesn't care about some ants?
>> Anonymous
>>243495
probably.

>>243491
and i meant with all your ant colonies. not just this one. I assume the others graduated beyond honey
>> Anonymous
>>236072
We've had a rash of Fire Ant colonies in the yard. I tried to cultivate one to suit my needs (read a chance to grow a semi controlled ant farm) but being the non native, invasive species they were, within 24 hours they had gone from one rather large nest to 6 smaller ones

Also, another note, and maybe /an/ knows more about this than I do, but I find that if you destroy and ant nest twice within a short time they will almost without fail abandon it.
>> T.T.T.
>>243565
This is my first colony that got to the phase of feeding. There are some other colonies posted here but they're not by the OP picture guy.
>> Anonymous
These creatures look slightly like zerglings.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
Said giant squid could fuck up a komodo dragon.

Also, sperm whales > orcas.
>> sage dage
>>243719

oh ffs i said reply to other thread not this one, 4chan!

btw sage cuz ants got boring
>> Anonymous
bump
>> Anonymous
!!bump!!
>> Anonymous
Well. Today I lost it. Since an unfortunate incident when I was younger I have hated ants. But this thread has helped change that into an morbid obsession.

I just got out of college for the summer and since I dont have a job yet my mom had me do some yarding today. Well after a bit of work I see an old stump and I curiously stabbed my small shovel into it. Withdrawling I was delighted to see ants errupts from this hole. Seizing the moment, I quickly ran to get a larger shovel and bucket.

After a few moments the bucket was filled and I spent the next 2 hours sorting through the debris. I was paranoid at first of being bitten a few million times, but soon found out that they were much too small to cause any pain. This joy was however short lived as a few managed to find there mark further up my arm before I noticed them.

I found several egg and larva rooms but didnt find the queen sadly. I returned to the colony and tried digging some more and found another egg room but did not locate the queen.

Its sad that I nearly destroyed a whole colony for nothing but you could say my parents are happy.
I'll go early tomorrow morn to check out another colony. I found 4 others.
>> Anonymous
^bump
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
Holy crap, it's time for it to die again.
>> Anonymous
yea im not saving it this time.
>> T.T.T.
I am in agreement. I don't even care to have this up if there's people who have no interest in this thread, yet insist on coming here to let us know they don't want to come here.

Then the thread is no longer about ants, it's about assholes. And I really have no desire to talk about assholes, so get the thing nuked and go the hell away.

You can't stop it from continuing on it's official blog, so you accomplish nothing.

Good day.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
I got ants too, I'm especially into Camponotus species
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
My Camponotus barbaricus
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
And my C. herculeanus
>> Anonymous
>>245045
Nice shot. So their young are tan?
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
Myrmica rubra - this is an especially interesting species as they are polygynous (multiple queens)
This colony only has two queens so far, but when there's a new nuptial flight I'll introduce more of them.
>> Anonymous
>>245045
>>245048
those are big and abit scary. wouldnt want to be bitten by them.
>> age age
Bump this thread, sagefags need to go climb a wall of dicks.
>> Anonymous
bump :)
>> Anonymous
Just got back from climbing.
>> Anonymous
>>245103
Aah, you made me laugh. *hugs*
>> Anonymous
>>245103
lulz
>> Anonymous
I've been seeing some ants that have a nest IN my backyard tree. I'm assuming they're carpenter ants of some sort.

They have a hole in one of the branches where, quite regularly, one will pop it's head out and drop out a shred of wood. It looks like a pile of sawdust on the ground below.

Those ants are freaking hugenormous. I'd hate to see the size of their queen...
>> dave
ants are strange
>> Anonymous
In the house that I lived in as a kid, there was a sidewalk leading out from the front porch and to the road, and we always got ant hills on both sides of the sidewalk. One day I was sitting on the steps of that sidewalk with my friend and we watched these two fire ants fight, they reminded me of two men- they were standing on their hind legs and grabbing each other with their front legs, and rolling around with each other. It was pretty awesome but I've never seen another ant fight like that.

That's my only interesting ant story except the one where I used to sit under the Peking Willow that my neighbor (who was Chinese) used to have, and would go home with ants all on me but I had no clue. I don't know why they didn't bite me. Maybe they did and I just don't remember. :\ I tried to have an ant farm once, but I didn't know it was really a whole bunch of technical stuff and went scooping up random ants into my little plastic thing, and in retrospect I feel pretty bad because I probably fucked up some poor little ants that day. v.v
>> Anonymous
>>245278
Their queen is the size of a person. If you play your cards right you can get to sex her up.
>> Anonymous
One of my earliest childhood memories was building a house out of Mega-Bolx, and smashing it to see hundreds of orange carpenter ants pouring out. I wasn't freaked out by them or anything, though.
>> Anonymous
bump
>> Anonymous
How boring. The ants still haven't bothered to explore, even for food. Wonder what's up with them...
>> Anonymous
Yea....i think its about time you kick those ants out and tell them to get a job. Time for them to grow up and stop laying around and watching tv all day
>> Anonymous
Jesus Christ this thread is almost one month old.
>> Anonymous
>>246429
2month aniversery? woot

well 2month topic 1 month thread. Cause the first one died after a month then it was reborn.
>> Anonymous
watch the documentary "Ants- Natures secret power"
>> Anonymous
Something from Ants - Nature's Secret Power
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQERRbU23bU
>> Anonymous
It may die already...
>> Anonymous
Any updates to Tina?
>> Anonymous
bump for updates
>> sage sage
sage went in all fields
>> Anonymous
bump
>> Anonymous
There are no updates anymore, it seems that the colony crumbled...
>> Anonymous
>>247098
Anon you make me laugh.
>> Anonymous
>>247658
meh...this is sadness

>>247891
we havent heard anything in awhile..i didnt know if maybe the OP ate them or somthing...
>> T.T.T.
>>246399
>>246879
These were from me, actually. I just don't always but the Tina tag on these posts.

I'm not really sure what to make of the ants at this time. They've had the tube uncorked for awhile, but all they accomplished was pulling in some sand to half-fill the tube entrance.

Since then they've simply stayed in the tube and I've not seen them leave it once. Out of worry they're hungry, I've placed some honey right at the entrance, but I'm not sure if any of them have gone to it yet.

According to someone else on here, his filled in the entrance entirely and just camped the tube for awhile longer. Maybe they're waiting until they have more workers.

If it's anything like the Zerg, having that sturdy base of drones is important afterall. ;)
>> Anonymous
!pmub
>> Anonymous
WOAH! Fucking ants! Fuck this shit right in the ass.
>> Anonymous
>>236100
Saging just means not bumping. So effectively it doesn't do anything.
>> Astro
.
>> Anonymous
bump
>> Anonymous
­
>> Anonymous
Up and at'em, Anonymous Ant!
>> Anonymous
If you have an open enclosure, what happens during mating season when the males and future-queens start swarming?
>> Anonymous
die
>> Anonymous
>>248198
>>247658
>>247214
>>246987
>>245103
>>243495
>>241626
>>236234
>>248643
>>249103
Don't feel anger -- feel pity: They literally have nothing better to do with their time.
>> Anonymous
:3
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
Hey anyfags, did I find a queen?
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
ant*
Closeup
>> Anonymous
>>249165
yeah fag.
>> Anonymous
>>249176
How do I poz this little bitch up to make me an army of pissed off nigger ants?
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
just an fyi to everyone interested, the old thread has been archived, look for it on 4chanarchives

to the sagefags, fuck off

to the OP, post more update, we must see how your zerg swarm..er....ant colony is developing
>> Anonymous
Nobody cares.
>> T.T.T.
I think they've been busy. I'd put a coin next to their tube with some honey on it (won't soak into the sand this way) and I've noticed some sand has appeared on it, and now the honey is gone. Some soaked into the sand I'm sure, but it couldn't have been THAT much. The queen looks a little fatter, too. Yay for feeding.
>> Anonymous
just doing my part
>> Anonymous
bump
>> Anonymous
>>249259
woot. Good to hear. I'm glad the ants are still doing somthing..if its only looking at the world from the safety of a tube.

Lazy bums.....ANYWAY... I do hope to go queen hunting soon.
>> T.T.T.
Speaking of queen hunting. Yesterday, I noticed something sticking out from under my desk lamp and found a winged black ant there.

It was near death and died within the hour. Best I can assume is it was blown in through the air-conditioner. I didn't spot any ant activity outside, though.
>> Anonymous
>>249164

It's a winged queen, which means she isn't fertile.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
Today I received a colony of Cataglyphis velox from a fellow myrmecologist.

Pretty cool ants considering the size difference between minor and major workers.

The picture included is the queen with workers who are defending her.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2008/05/16/houston-suffers-attack-of-crazy-rasberry-ants/?mod=WSJB
log

Hey /an/ this seems like your kind of thing
>> Anonymous
>>249856
Yea I heard about those Rasberry Crazy Ants.

I guess they kill and eat fire ants and stuff and their bite isnt as painful.

Sounds good to me....however...they have a strong strong afinity for electronics. They've been bulding nests in computers and tvs. Thats what the problem is i guess.
>> T.T.T.
>>249903
Ants in MY computer?
It's more likely than you think!
Click here for FREE AntScan!
>> Anonymous
Ants are what I hate about this time of year.

GET OUT OF MY FUCKING KITCHEN YOU SIX-LEGGED HIVE-NIGGERS
>> Anonymous
>>249957

You only have ants because you have sweet stuff laying everywhere, clean your fucking kitchen.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
We had ants this spring that were all over the god damn house but weren't eating anything. OTHER THAN MY FLESH. One of you ant people should tame them or something.
>> Anonymous
/an/ - Ants
>> Anonymous
>>250045
Ant Riders.
>> T.T.T.
     File :-(, x)
>>250068
Oh the possibilities.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
If anyone's interested, here's a picture of the biggest ant specie known.

Camponotus gigas
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
more
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
and more
>> T.T.T.
>>250465
>>250468
>>250469
"A handful of these ants may meet at night to engage in what has observed to be ritual battle. These fights can continue for several months."
>> T.T.T.
I find I have a little bit of a problem. As the ants have filled the tube with sand, this will make it difficult to change the water (as it requires turning the tube it vertically).

On a related note, they're in need of the ~monthly water refill.

Whatcha think -- should I prepare a new tube with a water source, put it next to theirs, and hope they move into it?
>> Anonymous
>>250539

Personally i just put another new tube with fresh water in the vivarium and the ants go in it themselves.
>> T.T.T.
>>250541
That's what I was figuring they'd do.

Online how-to's mentioned how one could simply let their water run out within the tube to get them to move into a digging container.
>> Durr I'm a Lemon !!dg5Lt6zhJ5y
I must say, I was genuinely intrigued when I spotted the previous thread in 4chanarchive, and I came to /an/ to see if there was some continuation or somethin.

I was positively surprised. This is real-life interesting.
>> T.T.T.
     File :-(, x)
Had a little trouble getting a decent shot of them lately. S'why I haven't had much to show.
>> T.T.T.
     File :-(, x)
Let's hope THIS works. I'll not be home for a few days...
>> Anonymous
OP how the hell did you get a queen
>> Anonymous
>>250575
She was found hobbling across a hotel lobby if I remember correctly.
>> Anonymous
>>250577

what the fuck I have been looking for a queen since I was like 5 years old, no joke
>> Anonymous
You should be, like, VERY unlucky. In my city there's like thousands of them in the streets in summer before a storm.

Pick only those who have ripped their wings of and are trying to hide, those who still got wings haven't been fertilized.
>> Anonymous
>>250565

It will work, I had the same setup and they move in like 2 hours. As soon as their first tube runs dry, they go for the moist one. Another time they took maybe a day, they weren't hungry so they didn't go out for food and didn't find the tube immediatly.

If they really don't want to move, which will be surprising, or if you want to make them change for whatever reason, just put the tube they're in under a desk lamp (NOT too close - just light, no heat) and the other under cardboard. Mine took about 20min to switch tubes when they found the one in dark.
>> Anonymous
>>250465
holy cow.... those would hurt

>>250539
yea..force those lazy bums to move. They have gotten too comfortable. Hopefully you dont have one of those ants that only make colonies of like 20 ants total...id feel jipped
>> T.T.T.
>>250610
As for this queen in particular, who knows. She seems to have, at best, a dozen workers now. I've long since been unable to tell. For her SPECIES, well. They're known to make many-queen mega-colonies. ...This may be a BAD thing for me later. :P
>> Anonymous
>>250710

Yeah, Lasius niger is a bitch to keep, after 1 year they double in numbers each MONTH
>> T.T.T.
>>250854
That's scary. Hopefully my Argentine Ants here aren't going to be THAT bad.
>> Anonymous
Linepithema humile (Argentine ants) are polygyn (they have multiple queens, who all lay eggs at a massive rate), which is ever worse than Lasius niger who are monogyn (one queen).
>> Anonymous
>>250891

By the way, if you have a queen extra, I would be interested in buying one, unless you're American of course.
>> T.T.T.
>>250906
I'm American and just have the one currently.
>> Anonymous
you could allways steal the eggs and eat them, i hear they're a delicacy in some parts of the world.
>> Anonymous
>>250854
as a bystander who has no responsibility over the care of the ants or in the event of a break out...i hope Tina gets to laying.

she move tubes yet?
>> T.T.T.
     File :-(, x)
>>251042
Not so far. Their water supply isn't COMPLETELY gone yet.

I've removed the food source by their door to encourage exploring.

I've put cardboard over the new tube to bait them with darkness as well.

I'll be out of town come morning. I may still be able to post here, though I won't be near the ants for a week to see what's going on.

I will note a couple times I have caught a worker running out of the new tube, so at least one of them knows about it.
>> Anonymous
>>250918

Yes they are, they just taste like chicken eggs actually.
>> Anonymous
>>251094

The cotton has to be completely dry before they will even think about moving.
>> Anonymous
>>251141
problem solved!
>> Anonymous
I FINALLY DID IT!!!

i found not one but TWO queens from the same colony. I had tried earlier to find one
>>244245me

but i went to a freinds house and we went outside to scope out spots to bring a shovel back to later and he kicked over a old roof shingle that was folded over a few times.

Instant ants. The whole colony was living above ground...i guess somtimes u just get lucky like that. It wasnt very big..maybe 200 some ants and 2 queens that we found and captured. I managed to get a few eggs and pupae and about 20 ants to start me off.

We then built an enclosure using the contrete method. His had this electric grinder that we used to grind up the block so it went fairly quickly.

The queens and several ants were in a small film canister while waiting. I gently set it down and was surprised to see some leave instantly and begin to explore their new domain.

Pics to come
>> Anonymous
>>251462

make sure you go back to original nest site once in a while to catch the remaining ants and queens or they will have no use and eventually die
>> Anonymous
bump
>> Anonymous
>>251639
i tried to but they pretty much dispersed. ill look again later though
>> Anonymous
protect the queen?

which one's the queen?

im the queen!

no you're not.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>251462
me again..found a few more of the ant colony got about 30ish full grown ants. 2 queens a couple pupae and eggs.

3 or 4 pics of my set up we made in an hour

this is the concrete tunnels with a clear plastic cover
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>251787
feasting on some honey
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>251789
this is most of their set up. The green thing is a tube that runs to the concrete.

I have to say that so far, in the 9 some hours that i've known my ants now, they have been alot more active then OPs

They have moved the 2 queens and pupae under that peice of bark for the moment and seem rather organized. However they've yet to enter the tube. I'm not sure if they are scared of it or what. I saw one start to but it turned around and left...i was rather disapointed

Hopefully they do move into the tunnels that we built for them.
>> Anonymous
Ants are so adorable. I don't understand it.
>> Anonymous
>>251789

Try to give them maple syrup instead of honey because it contains a lot more nutritions.
>> Anonymous
bumpity bump
>> Anonymous
bump
>> Anonymous
we need a /ant/ board
>> Anonymous
>>252221

I don't think that's necessary, not a lot of people are into invertebrates like ants
>> Anonymous
bump
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
Today I received a colony of Aphaenogaster senilis, they are pretty cool because they don't have the ability to give food to each other (trophylaxis) like most ants, all workers lay food eggs and the others eat them.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>252590

The queen with a lot of brood.
>> Anonymous
Ants are like IRL zerg.
>> Anonymous
>>252593
shes not that big comparitively.

enjoy your minions. I went camping and my freind is looking after my new colony. I wonder how they are doing...if they've moved into the concrete yet...

ill find out tomorrow
>> Anonymous
>>252590
Wait a minute, whos actually eating what? The colony cant be self sufficient on its own eggs.
>> Anonymous
>>252704
zerg are fantasy ants
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>252975

Yes they are, all the workers can produce eggs which they keep on a big pile free for everyone to consume when needed.

See the picture, it's the pile of food eggs.

My source for this information is the book 'The Ants' by 'Bert Hölldobler' and of course by observing them ;)
>> Anonymous
Bump. This shit is interesting.
>> Anonymous
>>253058
Moar on egg eating
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
And if anyone is interested, this the biggest queen I have.
>> Anonymous
>>253068
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
>> Anonymous
>>253070

She is only 3 cm long, it's not "that" big.
>> Anonymous
>check it out
http://torax.outwar.com/page/126899
>> Anonymous
bump
>> Anonymous
Well I'm back from my trip and i gotta go move the small ant colony with 2 queens that we found in a shingle to my house tomororw. Not sure how they are doing.

I'll find out tomorrow. Hopefully my freind took care of them while I was away.
>> Anonymous
wow

this is like Live Action dorf fortress
>> Anonymous
>>253866
nope
>> Anonymous
Can't this thread just die now?
>> sage sage
     File :-(, x)
sage

I want this thread dead before Duke Nukem Forever comes out.
>> "Aw hell, it's always some damn thang..." T.T.T.
Back from my trip as well.

I expected to be posting while I was in Florida but as it turns out the router was on the fritz.

I got home a couple hours ago and ... gee, now I can't get a display on my home computer. Monitors that work won't work on the system either... Best I can assume is that being unplugged for a week made it forget whatever I did that made it work the last time...

I was able to get to someone else's system to check up on things, but I'm fuming mad right now.

In ant news, my ants have not moved yet. I'm surprised, but they seem to be alive and content so whatever suits them...

When I was in Florida, any of the days I went near the Ft. Lauderdale area there were ants swarming. Little brown queens half the size of mine and males clinging to them even smaller than my workers. They kept landing on the windshield. When I got out at a theatre I saw there were hundreds of wingless females scurrying across the pavement.

I didn't capture any of them, but it would've been incredibly easy.
>> Update... T.T.T.
Fixed the stupid thing. Apparently my "non SLI mode" chip loosened up on it's own.

I blame gremlins.

Or raspberry crazy ants.

Or gremlins riding ants made out of raspberries. And the raspberries are sentient. And crazy.
>> Anonymous
>>254069
before the end of time, sorry can't let that happen
>> Anonymous
>>254112
good to know your ants faired better then mine one your vacation.

i might try again. but its pretty discouraging when they go
>> Anonymous
bump
>> Anonymous
So... I'm curious. Does anyone know what those little brown ants were in Florida?

I don't think they'd be Argentine because,
1.) They were half the size of mine.
2.) They were swarming. Argentines supposedly mate in the colony.
>> Anonymous
/ants/
>> Anonymous
>>250465

In Sumatra, ANTS RAEP YOU!
>> Anonymous
>>254878

You have any idea how many ants species there are in Florida?
The only thing that could help is pictures.
>> T.T.T.
>>255055
Sadly I didn't have my camera handy. They might be "crazy ants", but that's just a guess.
>> T.T.T.
I haven't disturbed the ants, and the queen and young still remain in the old, practically dry tube.

However, I was curious, so I shined a light in the dark tube. There are several workers sitting in there.

Obviously they've found the other tube and started to make use of it.
>> Anonymous
>>255971

That looks good, moving is now imminent
>> Anonymous
http://www.metafilter.com/71725/The-Crazy-Raspberry-Ants-are-coming-The-Crazy-Raspberry-Ants-are-com
ing
>> Anonymous
nooo dont die

saved from page 10 last post
>> Anonymous
i just posted in here why didnt it move?
>> Anonymous
>>256242
erm... im posted and not saging and its not moving....it seems deletion is iminent.

and just when i may have found a new queen. Black carpenter ants. big ens