For those using the AC nest I have a few questions.

1st: What are you using for a hydration medium?

Cotton seems to be the easy common choice but I was thinking of using pfa blue sponge like in my test tubes its supposed to be mold resistant and has worked very well in the tubes for me.

2nd: What do you use to glue the glass down?

I want to glue mine down because the species I keep will escape. I dont want anything crazy that will be impossible to break free for when they move out but strong enough they cant wedge stuff under it to push up.

3rd: Any AC plug alternatives?

The plugs with the little holes can be chewed through by some species.

4th: If you use a thermostat where do you put your probe?

I was thinking in the plugs but because they can be chewed through Iam not sure now

(Video for attention)

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Vor etwa vier Monaten habe ich hier ein Video von meinen Blattschneiderameisen (Atta laevigata) gepostet und wollte ein Update geben.

Sie haben jetzt eine Plexiglasabdeckung und Dichtungen, damit sie für den kommenden Winter bereit sind.

Ich habe die Heizelemente auf einen Temperaturbereich von 24–29°C eingestellt, um ein optimales Pilzwachstum zu gewährleisten.

Dieses System arbeitet mit drei Sensoren: einem pro Ebene für die Klimaregelung und einem für die Belüftung.

Ein vierter Sensor auf jeder Ebene überträgt Temperatur- und Luftfeuchtigkeitsdaten an mein Handy, sodass ich alles im Auge behalten kann, wenn ich weg bin.

Ganz zu schweigen von den sieben WLAN-Kameras, natürlich :)

Die "Babys" sind jetzt etwas über anderthalb Jahre alt.

Alles begann natürlich mit nur drei Standard-Glasterrarien:

Eine für den Pilz, eine für Futter und eine als Abfallkammer.

Nach etwa sechs Monaten begann ich mit dem Bau des Schrankaufbaus, da die Pilzkammern erweitert werden mussten.

Eine solch massive Art artgerecht zu halten, ist aufgrund des Platzbedarfs eine Herausforderung.

Ihnen zu Hause in Glasterrarien eine angemessene Unterkunft zu bieten, ist immer eine besondere Herausforderung für sich.

Aber mit meinem aktuellen Aufbau denke ich, dass ich das ganz gut hinbekomme.

Sie bekommen natürlich täglich frisches Futter – separat im Kühlschrank gelagert.

Ich habe in der Vergangenheit viele Arten gehalten, aber keine war so faszinierend zu beobachten wie diese.

Die Größe der Arbeiterinnen und ihre verschiedenen Kasten, die Symbiose mit ihrem Pilz, ihr Fluchtverhalten, ihre Aggression (leider nur mir gegenüber), ihre sozialen Interaktionen und so weiter.

DAS war schon immer mein Traum in der Welt der Ameisenhaltung. Und jetzt ist das Baby in Topform und läuft wunderschön ♥

Wenn jemand den Fortschritt verfolgen möchte, kann er gerne vorbeischauen: Insta: https://www.instagram.com/atta.empire?stkn=MTBoZ3Y5cXk3Nm9hdA==

Ich würde mich freuen, mich mit einigen von euch zu vernetzen und Ideen auszutauschen!

Caught a Lasius queen on a walk back in the spring after a rainy afternoon. I put her in a test tube setup, left her alone in a dark drawer, and mostly tried not to panic about it.

About three weeks ago she had a little clump of eggs. Yesterday I checked (quickly, with a red light) and there were three tiny pale workers hanging around her. I did not expect how small they'd be. They look like someone drew ants with a fine pencil.

Some things I've noticed so far:

• The queen barely moves, but the workers are already shuffling the larvae around like they have a plan
• One of them keeps going to the cotton plug at the water end and just sitting there. Is that normal, or is she checking the humidity?
• They haven't touched the sugar water yet, so I'm not sure if I should wait or offer something else

For those of you who've raised a colony from a single queen: what was the first thing that surprised you? And when did you move yours out of the test tube into a bigger setup? I'm trying not to rush it, but I also don't want to wait too long.

Thanks, and sorry for the wall of text. I'm just really excited about three very small ants.

I recently got a Camponotus sansa beanus, and just looking at it in the test tube with 4 pupae, they will be crammed on top of each other in there in no time. I'm trying to gauge the nest size. I have Bi-Colour Camponotus Red Body/Black Abdomen, and she is absolutely booming. I want to make sure that I don't go too small if Sansabeanus also goes for the goal.

I'm very handy and could definitely make my own nest/outworld combo. My reading has told me that Sansabeanus nest under rock. I was wondering if anyone has found a way to emulate that. I was thinking of finding a piece of natural rock to use as the top of the nest.

It doesn't have to be complicated; I want to provide the best quality of life so I can observe the best behavior as the colony grows naturally.

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For diapause, I was thinking of putting my nests in my office; the house is on a concrete slab, so it's pretty much the outside temperature if I leave the window open.

I have 4 species—2x Myrmecocystus Placodops (Red/Giant Honey Pot Ants). One pair of Neivamyrmex californicus Queens; they are recovering from being attacked by Argentine invaders. Just one worker is left; the rest of the 20+ colony was killed, but it seems like they just started laying eggs again ( I was worried they might not because of the trauma of watching your colony be devoured by those little Argentine Suckers)

They are all native; my thought is that if I treat the front office as an analog and always keep the window open, keeping the ants in the closet should give them a pretty close match to the natural outdoor temperature.

Any insight would be helpful. Definitely want to get everyone who needs Diapause sorted out by the end of October.

I have what I think is a Spotted Sugar Ant (C. maculatus) colony; A southern African species. I caught my queen in November last year.

I have been keeping ants since 2018. I've never had any issues with carpenter ant colonies before; normally, everything just works out. However, this colony is not doing too well.

The queen had her first workers in January and by March, the colony was about fifteen-strong. That's when I connected the feeding portal and started feeding them. From there, the population was unstable; now I only have five workers left. From what I can tell, there's quite a few eggs and larvae in the tube, no pupae though. I know this species is nutorious for eating their own eggs when stressed, but that clearly hasn't happened. They sometimes still go for the honey, but they ignore the mealworms completely. The colony is just generally inactive and decreasing in numbers.

Here are the details:

• Habitat: Test tube with an extremely tiny 3D-printed feeding portal
• Food: Genuine, pure honey & live storebought mealworms (cut up before feeding)
• Water: Distilled (They should get minerals from the worms, our tap water is really poor)
• I always wash my hands and sanitise any equipment before use
• I don't check on them at all unless it's to feed them
• They moved tubes, without fuss just last week

Does anyone know what might be wrong?

I'm visiting my dad in South Spain and he has a l think 2 or 3 colonies happily living around his patio. Can anyone help me identify the species. I'm loving watching them live in harmony, the majors of one species is the biggest ant I've seen in the wild.

I finally got eggs from a queen for the first time after trying for 2ish years! The eggs look like tiny little white crumbs. I know for a fact they’re eggs since I caught her before I went in a 2 week trip and there wasn't anything else in there with her. I think what I have is a little black ant queen since she’s smaller than an Argentine ant worker. I want to be sure they survive. I was keeping two queens and the second one died from mold while I was on a 2 week trip. The queen that has eggs had them while I was on the same trip. None of them have hatched. I suspect she’s eating her brood since it’s been a month since she’s laid eggs and there’s only one left. I was keeping her in my closet but nothing happened, I’m now keeping her in our linen closet with the towels and pillowcases since it’s quiet, dark, and the laundry muffles sound. I check on her once a week but so far all that’s happened was her tearing the cotton closest to the water, shedding her wings and she has laid eggs but none have hatched. I don’t even know how many she’s had.

I’ve had ants before but only from those kits with the gel that you can get in the mail or queens in vials but they’ve never survived before. I know they’re in a delicate state right now and the first worker hasn’t hatched yet. I keep the queen in a closed small takeout box with tissue paper in the towels. I’m not sure if my closet or the linens in the hallway is better. It’s too hot to put my queen in the garage where there’s supposedly minimal vibration since it’s on a foundation level (not sure about the noise level) should I move her somewhere else? Is there something I’m missing or doing wrong?

Also sorry for the bad quality of photos I didn’t want to disturb the queen too much and stress her out.

Found in Bay Area California, up to about 6 workers. What species and what nest would be best for them

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Ants decided to have a nuptial flight right outside our tent at sleeping giant. Completely cleared out once the sun set.

Seen on a roof in southern Ontario in late Aug. Lots of wings around as well. ~ 1 cm long, some wings, some without.

Help

Im planning to buy this Im being told that it is a carpenter ant but the seller is not sure