New around here. I am in the Fort Worth area of Texas, USA. I knew of the AC community before but never really dived in, mostly because of opportunity and time. Well, I tripped over a log slated for our burn pile that happened to have an established Camponotus sp. colony in it, so opportunity came a knocking and I answered. I made a post introducing myself and the situation in the new members forum. Basically I am doing this on a budget, so homemade is the way I went. The completed setup is at the bottom of the post.
When I first found the log I positively identified the queen scurrying away when a piece of the log broke off when I picked it up. Here she is.
Video of her.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-CjeKwUMz1MRXoJcQYY1AJXQMWU0X1rr
Here is the broken piece I put in an aquarium on the left (was known to contain the queen) and the rest of the log in another aquarium on the right.
The very next day I found the ants moving much of their brood into a rusty lamp on the porch a few feet from the aquariums. I think it was all just too wet or having the hive split in two was freaking them out. I put some petroleum jelly on the rims of the aquariums to contain them then went about cutting open the old lamp base. I also confirmed the queen was still in her smaller piece of the log.
Here is the lamp and the brood in the base after I cut it open. Lots of angry workers swarmed out during the cutting, what are you going do though?
So after this I thought maybe I need to get something together the next day since they seemed ready to find someplace more permanent and homey. I didn't know what kind of stress levels these guys could take...
So I made a 2 in 1 outland / formicarium out of some wood and a 20 gallon aquarium. I have lots of random crap like this along with tools to make random things.
Hers is the wood all carved up.
Here is the wood in the aquarium along with other angles of the setup. I rubbed some clay on the high parts of the wood just to have some color contrast between the chambers / tunnels and the rest of the wood.
As you can see, the wood was not fitted well. There is too big of a gap between it and the glass, allowing dirt and ants to get between the uncarved spots and the glass. Strike 1 on my rush job.
Here I have put in a heating pad (reptile under the tank heating pad) and a water dish. I don't have any test tubes at the moment but I will get some soon. The heating pad is under the right corner and comes up and onto the right side, heating that bottom right corner from the bottom and the side. Do y'all think this will give a good heating gradient? I also have cardboard in place to cover the viewing side of the formicarium so the colony can live in dark peace when I'm not being nosy.
I've also drilled two holes on the top right that just go straight down an inch or two, leading nowhere. These I figured I could put water in to moisten the right side a bit. Also, since there is more of a gap then I wanted I can drop water between the glass and wood also if that would do a better job in making a moisture gradient. My understanding is Camponotus sp. usually like it fairly dry so I'm not sure how much I should really be concerned with this.
I am using a good layer of petroleum jelly on the top inch and on the underside of the lip to contain them, does that seem sufficient? So far I've seen no one even attempt to cross the jelly when it is encountered.
Though the gap exists the silicone seems to have made a good enough seal on the sides and bottom to not allow them to go from the bottom of the wood to the soil and rocks underneath the soil. So hopefully there will be no secret nesting and I can keep tabs on their activity. This is my first real ant formicarium and I would like to view their nesting for pleasure and assurances that all is going well.
The outland is just river rocks with red clay compacted on top. You can dig up the clay around here after going a couple of inches past the top soil. I figured the clay will be good at mitigating any soil nesting and unwanted pests and bacterium. Maybe, idk, sounded good when I thought of it.
Ants in their new home in the reply! Apparently there is a character limit and I like to write novels... sorry!
