School project questions

[antPWS]

Little update.

I have experimented with the ants, and found that when white, green or blue light was on they mostly walked on one side of the running track (This was the side where the light bulb was hanging). But when the light was red, they were walking more in the middle, and even more so when the red light was dimmed. I believe they can hardly or not see red light, and rely on their pheromone tracks/trails to find their way in red lighting. Thus they must be using the white, green and blue light to navigate.

I still can't be entirely sure though, because it could be that they were following their previous pheromone trails. Although it would be weird that with red light they use another path. I cleaned the running track with water and soap in between runs, but I don't know if this has effectively removed the pheromone trails.

Does anyone happen to know if water and soap get rid of the pheromone trails, or atleast a big part of them? And if not, what does get rid of the pheromones?

I want to redo the experiments to see if it wasn't just a coincidence. I also want to try and hang the lightbulb on the other side of the running track, to see if then they will walk on the other side.

AntsLuxemboug I used your topic to find seeds they may like, turns out they really like paprika seeds. LOL they just kept bringing them to their nest. I also tried kiwi seeds, but they couldn't really care for those. (I don't know how to tag you in a post)

Anyways I have really grown to love the colony, honestly I think ants are so cute . They are so friendly LOL, when a few escaped I just scooped them up and they were just chilling on my hand .

[antPWS]

Oh I also took a few pictures that I really liked

LOL don't know if anyone is interested but here they are

https://imgur.com/a/PUwNnE1

[antPWS]

Wanted to add another thing but couldn't edit my previous posts anymore.

Another theory could be that they prefer the shadow over the bright light. Although i don't think that this is true, as the strip of shadow is only like a centimeter wide and they don't specifically walk in that small strip of shadow, they just walk more on the side where the lightbulb is.

I want to test this theory in a few weeks though, as I find it a very interesting thought.

Further more I just switched the side where the lightbulb was hanging and they changed the side that they were walking on! Made me very exited for some reason . I think this really shows that they use the light to navigate and to find their way.

Another thing I want to experiment with is what surface they like the most to walk on, and if they use different surface textures to navigate. That's all for the future though, for now I have to focus on this light experiment.

[Antloverhuman]

It depends what kind of light you use. Maybe the light you use is giving some heat which the ants like and walk under the light because it makes them warm. Bit if you are using LED lights the ants might just be under it because it helps them see more. But if the ants are walking under the light, try putting different colour light at different places in the running track and see what colour of light the ants go to first.
For example, you put a blue light, a green light and a red light at different places. Lets say the ants went under the blue light. So you decrease the intensity of blue light and increase the intensity of green light and try again. If the ants move under the green light it would mean they go under the brightest light. But if they stay under blue light, it means that ants see that specific colour better than the other colours so it doesn't matter if the other light is bright or not

[AntsAntsAnts]

Little update.

I have experimented with the ants, and found that when white, green or blue light was on they mostly walked on one side of the running track (This was the side where the light bulb was hanging). But when the light was red, they were walking more in the middle, and even more so when the red light was dimmed. I believe they can hardly or not see red light, and rely on their pheromone tracks/trails to find their way in red lighting. Thus they must be using the white, green and blue light to navigate.

I still can't be entirely sure though, because it could be that they were following their previous pheromone trails. Although it would be weird that with red light they use another path. I cleaned the running track with water and soap in between runs, but I don't know if this has effectively removed the pheromone trails.

Does anyone happen to know if water and soap get rid of the pheromone trails, or atleast a big part of them? And if not, what does get rid of the pheromones?

I want to redo the experiments to see if it wasn't just a coincidence. I also want to try and hang the lightbulb on the other side of the running track, to see if then they will walk on the other side.

AntsLuxemboug I used your topic to find seeds they may like, turns out they really like paprika seeds. LOL they just kept bringing them to their nest. I also tried kiwi seeds, but they couldn't really care for those. (I don't know how to tag you in a post)

Anyways I have really grown to love the colony, honestly I think ants are so cute . They are so friendly LOL, when a few escaped I just scooped them up and they were just chilling on my hand .

do you know how to get rid of the trails? insect spray jk

[AntsLuxembourg]

AntsLuxemboug I used your topic to find seeds they may like, turns out they really like paprika seeds. LOL they just kept bringing them to their nest. I also tried kiwi seeds, but they couldn't really care for those. (I don't know how to tag you in a post)

You can kind of tag by quoting someone. Of course you can remove all the text that is not needed.
Interesting that your colony loves paprika seeds. Mine didn't like them too much. Collected them less fast than seeds from fruits.

Btw when do you need to finish the project or is it already finished?

[antPWS]

Hey!

sorry for the late reply, whoops

I finished my report and I have my presentation Feb 27th. I'll bring some ant stuff to show and my retired testtube colony of an impressive 6 workers. Their queen died some months ago and now they're just enyoing their last days with me

Probably going to bring some old Y-tong nest I have laying around, the running track I made and a dead Messor worker I put in handsanitizer to preserve her. Who knew you could use handgel to preserve your favourite ant workers lol

[antperson24]

Hey!

sorry for the late reply, whoops

I finished my report and I have my presentation Feb 27th. I'll bring some ant stuff to show and my retired testtube colony of an impressive 6 workers. Their queen died some months ago and now they're just enyoing their last days with me

Probably going to bring some old Y-tong nest I have laying around, the running track I made and a dead Messor worker I put in handsanitizer to preserve her. Who knew you could use handgel to preserve your favourite ant workers lol

Good luck!

[AntsLuxembourg]

If I had known earlier, I would have sponsored some more workers. I still have my colony, despite me trying to find someone to take them in. And I'm sure some bigger amount of workers would have been nice.

[antPWS]

Whew it's been a while since I've been on here, had some struggles with loggin in.

Even though I did't have many ants to show my teacher was impressed nonetheless with the ants and rightfully so!

I ended up getting a score of 8/10 which I'm happy enough about.

I want to thank everyone who has given me advice on here!

I still have my Messor colony and they are fairly happy, although recently I noticed a few majors dying and I don't know why. Will have to look more into that. Also for the first time since I got the colony I spotted the queen lol, she is a shiny healthy looking beauty . Had a small prison break recently but managed to get them all back safe and sound into their nest . Lots of new pupae and eggs, so I'm pretty excited for that to turn into workers.

My Lasius colonies are still alive too lol. Not much activity because it's fairly cold in my room and the poor ladys don't have a heating pad as that has been reserved for my Messors and Camponotus.

A few months ago I got a Camponotus fedtschenkoi queen, she did do practically nothing. I left her to it and half and half expected her to have died or something. I know the species is a slow starter, but nothing happened for 3 months. I was so happy when I checked on her and she had eggs and pupae. Fast forward she now has 4 or 5 workers and is cofortably residing in a heated test tube at 24 degrees Celsius. The workers have a very beautiful color, though I find the queen a bit scary looking lol.

Around the same time that I got the Camponotus I also got a Lasius flavus queen, but she hasn't layed anything yet .

I also couldn't resist getting another Messor queen oops. I believe she has layed a few eggs, but she's mostly pulling the cotton of the testtube. I mostly leave her to it and try not to disturb her but will have to check if I can make her more comfortable in her testtube.

Lasius niger
https://imgur.com/WxIGpSq

Lasius flavus queen
https://imgur.com/xTkeUmb

Camponotus fedtschenkoi
https://imgur.com/2Wn5WFg
https://imgur.com/vhVTleq
https://imgur.com/FXqeVpn
enjoying a chopped up mealworm
https://imgur.com/U2awz0g