Updates from a Danish noob

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oOFutteOo
Posts: 67
Joined: Sat May 26, 2018 2:45 am
Location: Denmark

Updates from a Danish noob

Post: # 38516Post oOFutteOo
Fri Jun 22, 2018 4:23 am

Hallo All

i am still very new to this hobby, i have made a couple of posts in here but still do not have an ant colloni. I got the idea to start a new "Topic" her to describe my progress rater than ask questions, but of course all help and comments are appreciated.

I have designed and 3D printed an outworld and a formacarium, they are very influatede by AntsCanada's designs, hope i dont get in bad standing for it ;) but i like to make stuff.

I'm hoping to catch a Lasius niger queen this summer and release it in the formacarium before the colloni goes in to hibernation.

Best regards

Rolf

my first update :D :

22/06-2018
My daughter saw a winged ant in the entrance to one of the ant colleies in the pavement outside our front door, the weather is very windy and we have had some rain, hoping they will start flying if the weather gets better.

oOFutteOo
Posts: 67
Joined: Sat May 26, 2018 2:45 am
Location: Denmark

Re: Updates from a Danish noob

Post: # 38697Post oOFutteOo
Sun Jun 24, 2018 8:05 am

24/06-2018
I have just been out i the front yard and there is a lot of activity in the ant hills out there. there are both queens and drones "im not sure what the males are called". But so far i have not seen any leave the entrance. I have uploaded some pictures of my formacarium and outworld. also i have made hose connectors and coffin like thing is to keep the testtube setup in the dark, tere is a lid for inspektion so you don't need to move it to look in to it.
https://imgur.com/a/AN97bQL

oOFutteOo
Posts: 67
Joined: Sat May 26, 2018 2:45 am
Location: Denmark

Re: Updates from a Danish noob

Post: # 39774Post oOFutteOo
Wed Jul 04, 2018 5:33 am

04/07-2018

We are now a couple of days into July were the Lasius Niger should start to fly in Denmark. I have still not seen any winged ants in the air or on the ground, but i can see them in the mouth of the mounds there are lots of small male ants i guess and if i look closely spying with my phone i can see much larger queens a bit deeper in the mounds. I'm leaving for my summer holiday this Saturday it would bee perfect if they would fly before this that way they would be in their test tubes and i would not bee tempted to look too offend at them :D

oOFutteOo
Posts: 67
Joined: Sat May 26, 2018 2:45 am
Location: Denmark

Re: Updates from a Danish noob

Post: # 39896Post oOFutteOo
Thu Jul 05, 2018 1:35 am

05/07 2018

So last night when i came home i went to pick my son up at a play mate and their garden were swarming with queens, in a matter of 5 minutes we caught 5 queens. I think they are all Lasius niger but not sure but they are relay common in danish gardens. we went home and set them up in test tubes and put them into a closet. Now i just hope they can survive while i'm on holiday for 3 weeks :shock: , but on the other hand it might be good, then i won't stress them :D.

oOFutteOo
Posts: 67
Joined: Sat May 26, 2018 2:45 am
Location: Denmark

Re: Updates from a Danish noob

Post: # 46093Post oOFutteOo
Mon Jul 30, 2018 6:58 am

30/7 2018

So after my 3 week holiday 8-) i returned home to my ants and looked in on them they all have big clusters of brood and all seams fine it there are still plenty of water i the testtubes, now i'm just hoping the ants will hatch.
Seams i need to register as a gan farmer pretty soon :D.

oOFutteOo
Posts: 67
Joined: Sat May 26, 2018 2:45 am
Location: Denmark

Re: Updates from a Danish noob

Post: # 46458Post oOFutteOo
Fri Aug 03, 2018 3:48 am

03/08-2018

Last time i looked in on my queens, i took a couple of photos with a cheap macro lens, and i thought i would share them. They are all of the same queen.
https://imgur.com/a/wH0cMMj

oOFutteOo
Posts: 67
Joined: Sat May 26, 2018 2:45 am
Location: Denmark

Re: Updates from a Danish noob

Post: # 47296Post oOFutteOo
Mon Aug 13, 2018 1:27 am

13/8 2018

When i looked into one of my queens test tubes this weekend 5 new ants had emerged :D they were all black so i guess they were a couple of days old. I desided to feed them i caught some fruit flies and a spider in my kitchen and froze them. I had 2 mini out worlds ready an i used these on the biggest colonies one had 5 workers the other had 6, the other 3 colonies got a "foil plate" with a drop of honey and a fruit fly. I will keep the 3d printer running ad make mini out world for the last 3 colonies. :geek:

here are some photos of the mini outworld and one of the ant colonies with their plate:
https://imgur.com/a/M0zBzvL

oOFutteOo
Posts: 67
Joined: Sat May 26, 2018 2:45 am
Location: Denmark

Re: Updates from a Danish noob

Post: # 47525Post oOFutteOo
Wed Aug 15, 2018 1:40 am

15/8-2018

One of the large colonies (5 workers) drank all their honey :o , so i added a drop more to their foil plat. all the other colonies i left alone except the one i accidentally flooded :shock: trying to move the cotton ball against the water, to make the founding chamber larger. i had dried the founding camber with a small cotton ball and put the camber in a 45 degree angel so the cotton ball could drain back in the water chamber. But all seamed to bee fine today.

oOFutteOo
Posts: 67
Joined: Sat May 26, 2018 2:45 am
Location: Denmark

Re: Updates from a Danish noob

Post: # 48248Post oOFutteOo
Wed Aug 22, 2018 8:31 am

22/8- 2018

All is fine I have feed all my colonies a second time, and all seems good most of the colonies are up to 10 workers and have nice piles of brood. i'm not sure how much protein to provide, i think i will get my hands on some more fruit flies or some mehlworms, so i can provide them with plenty next time.
Now 3 of the five colonies have mini outworld and the last 2 are printed and almost ready. they work relay well and it is funny to see the workers dash thru the tube.

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Ltislander
Posts: 221
Joined: Sun Jul 23, 2017 8:25 pm
Location: Massachusetts

Re: Updates from a Danish noob

Post: # 48811Post Ltislander
Wed Aug 29, 2018 4:16 pm

My ants have 10 workers and eat 5 fruit flies a day. Remember you can’t over feed a colony. It just depends on how hungry they are!

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