foxtheantkeeper - Tumblr blog

[foxtheantkeeper]

I like when Pheidole ants do the thing with the head

[foxtheantkeeper]

[foxtheantkeeper]

The local phiedole gals love some strawberry.

I'm going to have to put a strawberry plant in their out world I guess lol.

[foxtheantkeeper]

It's that time again!

[foxtheantkeeper]

It's raining ants again!

[foxtheantkeeper]

When ants die, a few days later they emit oleic acid, which tells the living ants to dispose of their corpse.

A myrmecologist named Ed Wilson discovered this and dropped the chemical on a living ant. It was immediately carried off, despite the fact that it was still moving, and clearly not dead.

[foxtheantkeeper]

The Pheidole gals got their first major and I'm so excited! This means they're doing well and eating right. I can't wait until they grow more so that I can put them in a proper formicarium~~

[foxtheantkeeper]

Don't think so @critter-stories. Got it off thingiverse. It does look a lot like his, but it is slightly different internally I believe.

[foxtheantkeeper]

Moved the Pheidole colony in to a clean test tube. Their old one had a bit of a mold problem so they needed to move.

They're also not really eating anything any more. I've tried cricket leg, oats, seeds, fruit, and a couple other things and they just don't seem to like any of it. Anyone know of better foods for them?

[foxtheantkeeper]

Looks pretty good for my first print in half a year. Still need to tweak the nozzle height and bed leveling but otherwise I'm pretty ok with this. Now I just need to slap some plexiglass on the top of it and make a proper lid to keep it dark inside.

[foxtheantkeeper]

Remembered I have a 3D printer, so I'm gonna print my own formicarium for the camponodus ladies. Looks like a nice copy of the AntsCanada one so I hope it'll be suitable.

After this one I'm going to print a compact formicarium for the raspberry crazies. They need to get out of that test tube soon lol.

[foxtheantkeeper]

My Camponotus test tube has become quite packed! The ants are super big and very active, and I think in the coming week I'm going to try to build them a proper terrarium to move in to!

That queen is just so huge though. It's a delight watching these gals move about and share food. They're actually putting a lot of effort in to tunneling through the cotton ball at the end. I have swapped it out once already, but as you can see they're already about a third the way through the new one.

[foxtheantkeeper]

AAAAAAAA I went on vacay for a week and got back to find 3 of the queens have produced their first nanitics!!! The first two are Tetramorium, but I have no idea what the last one is. I was originally thinking raspberry crazy ant, but I am really not sure. If anyone has any ideas let me know.

[foxtheantkeeper]

Found a Lasius something queen walking around at the pool. Decided to add her to my collection, but I'm really not sure where I'm gonna put her lol.

[foxtheantkeeper]

I found their new hidey hole! There are actually several areas where brood is kept now.

[foxtheantkeeper]

Distributing my first queens to a local who wanted to start Antkeeping. It's weird giving away these gals but I simply don't have enough terrariums for all of them.

[foxtheantkeeper]

Found a camponotus queen wandering around my room last night! Wow she's big!!