can we get a ants general thread going, i'm excited i just brought my Camponotus castaneus queen i caught last may out of hibernation a week ago and she just started laying eggs again over this last weekend
we know you didn't die antman.
she has all seven of her nantics from last year as well, clutch of eggs from last fall that don't look so good (i think their dead, brown and crusty looking) they haven't grown any more since last fall but they are still carrying them around but i think that is all instinct
>>2082309
lol not antman, but another lover of insects especially ants
>>2082307
And just what is wrong with Uncles! !
>>2082307
I was thinking of buying one of those gel ant farm things that you put ants in
but...it seems like a dead end. what if the colony is successful, and they eat too much/produce too much waste to continue surviving? I guess you could just dump em out somewhere. but then they'll probably get savaged by other ants and fuckin...lizards and shit
Would it be immoral to have a competition to have two people raise the strongest ant colony they can with the same starting point, and then later connect the town farms and watch the ants have a war?
Also how can I make my ants more resilient against ant based attacks?
>>2083196
god this sounds so fun, like a childhood dream come true
>>2083193
You are correct in that those farms are a shitshow, don't get one
It's not a colony. It's generally illegal to send queen ants in the mail so the company sends you a few workers. They just dig around in the food goo and don't have any eggs or queen to tend to or even any real food to scavenge.
>>2082307
I caught one of them probably three years ago. Unmated. Let her go after I snapped this picture.
>>2082311
Feed the nantics, they'll get her laying eggs again.
>>2083193
>>2083771
Gel farms are shit for long term. Plaster/Grout is probably more your speed if you want to see all the underground action.
op here, my first nantic died today, sad to see it go, it didn't make it quite a year (eclosed in August last year), that's if its the first one born im not sure if it is, queens got a healthy clutch of eggs, counted bout 8-9 when i got home form work, shes laying a lot more then she did last year and a lot earlier in the season
>>2083771
well i can find my own queen i wasn't planning to order ants. and there's one of those goo things now that has an area that you can put food crumbs in so you can watch them come and carry the food
i wonder if there are any actual good ant farms, bigger ones..
>>2083793
i have been feeding them, thing is i cant get them to come into the outworld to eat, i,ve been feeding them within the nest, i got excited to see the one roaming around the outworld a couple days ago thinking they were ready to start foraging, i've seen a few ants roaming outside my house so im thinking the time must be right, well yesterday i noticed the one roaming the outworld had one leg that seemed paralyzed, and this morning i saw it laying on its back kicking as if it couldn,t get up, just got home from work and its dead
>>2083193
dont their garbage, check out tar heel ants or ants canada
>>2084055
>tar heel ants
hey neat i live in NC. good suggestion thanks
http://antfarm.yuku.com/directory#.Vuu4rfkrIdU
great forum for fellow ant keepers, anyone got some other suggestions?
>>2083196
introduce more proteins into their diet, more protein equals bigger stronger ants with harder exoskeletons, but they cant survive on just proteins, they can suffer something called protein poisoning which can kill a colony, like us they have to have somewhat of a balanced diet,depends on the species as well, some species have vastly different diets from on another
>>2084055
>>2084056
hmm looking at their products...how come the foraging area on this one has a straight hole in it? won't the ants just..leave? i mean i guess you can cover it but...
It seems like this could be a really good idea to make money, by making stuff like this, wow...really interested in their designs
>>2083793
i remember this pic a few ant threads back
>>2082307
>Ant society
VS
>Termite society
VS
>Bee society
Which society comes out the best and the strongest?
Also what other insects work as a type of society like ants termites and bee's?
>>2084062
search the web for "diy formacariums", which one? and you might be right about it needing to be covered, some are designed to be connected to one another for larger setups
>>2084065
ants by a mile.
>>2084065
termite queen=approximately one to two years
Studies show that queen termites can live up to decades under ideal climate conditions. Workers and soldiers live approximately one to two years. Termite colonies can persist for the life of the primary queen and beyond, so by the time the primary queen dies, the colony can have quite an expansive territory.
ant queen=Ant colonies can be long-lived. The queens can live for up to 30 years, and workers live from 1 to 3 years. Males, however, are more transitory, being quite short-lived and surviving for only a few weeks. Ant queens are estimated to live 100 times as long as solitary insects of a similar size.
bee queen=5 years
How long does a bee live?
In the summer a worker bee only lives for about 40 days. As no young are raised over the winter months, the workers born in the autumn will live until the following spring. A queen can live up to 5 years however for the beekeeper a queen is past her prime in her third year.
so far the only ones we know of are Isoptera, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, (ants, termites and bees)
>>2083196
hahah I was literally just thinking about this very idea. I think it would be awesome, you could have a 'battle arena' in the middle where the two colonies meet.
what ants talk about
https://youtu.be/JbxPAmms3jc
>>2084063
Yeah, I keep posting pictures from 2-3 years ago because I got a real job and don't have time do to fun ant stuff anymore :^(
>>2084065
Ants and termites come out as equals.
Unlike the other social hymenoptras, they have a more generalised economy.
I'm really digging their monumental architecture, too. Especially that of the termites, which essentially build skyscrapers.
![hqdefault[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/6KV4s6S.jpg "hqdefault[1].jpg")
>mfw ants spotted in my pantry
they're neat animals but this will not continue in my house
>>2084374
Guess you better nuke them from orbit.
It's the only way to be sure.
>>2084374
does wonders
>>2084065
Not sure about termites but some species of ants can be really nasty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFnJm4kSIAA
>>2082307
Ant's are known to be social creatures which can cause schizophrenia. Due to this anti-social behavior, ant's often fuck and cannibalize each others faces.
This behavior has been observed in all species generally residing in the southwestern United States, and as well as in Africa, South America, Canada and North America. As well as Asia, Australia, New Hampsiire and Germany.
Due to the bite of these creatures people can inherit a bacteria that causes them to eat their own faeces. This trait is inherent in all human beings who come into contact with the usual painless sting. Shit eating is inevitable.
>>2085395
that poor little anty is just chilling on top of the trap saying, hmm whats dat there in dat hole? should i get in there and have a look see....
>>2085395
This is like a safe little hotel for ants, right?
>>2085374
LMAO
Good one Ripley
>>2082311
only form of briod able to hibernate is larvae. eggs and pupae die in winter.
larvae lose most of their fluids shortly befire winter and shrivel up a little
>>2084052
there are a lot if shops that sell mistly those.
most of them are in Europe (Germany) but there is also one in Canada and in China and Japan those are even finding their way to Japan.
This may be a bit off-topic, but I'm fascinated by ants, but I have a pretty awful fear of all insects. Any tips for how to become less of a pussy?
Ants freak me the FUCK out. But also they are cool. Edds' ant farm from Ed Edd and Eddy was pretty cool
Do ants nornally taste like salt?
Because I ate one once and it tasted like salt.
>>2084065
Ants by far, Bees have flying as an advantage but thats it.
I watched a documentary on ants a while ago, a hive and ant hill were close to each other and one day a bear wanted honey. He knocked the hive to the ground but the bees drove him away so he tried the ant hill but the ants drove him away.
After the bear left, the ants marched out and started attacking the hive for their larvae and other goodies to eat.
Theres good documentaries to be watched on ants, I found two 1 hour long each on youtube. Watch them, Ants can be spooky when it comes to efficiency.
>>2084069
Don't forget some Ant Queens can store male ant seed inside their bodies for very long periods of time in order to fertilize themselves with it later.
>>2087191
Bees are busier than ants. A good portion of an ant colony sits around in the nest all day doing nothing.
>>2084065
why did you put an apostrophe to pluralize the word bee
>>2087285
Team yellow is top.
You guys should check out http://www.antscanada.com if you're interested in keeping an ant colony. You can even expand them when the colony is successful.
>>2087430
got one for 90$ last year its great, got my C. castaneus currently living in it
>>2082307
Anyone know where i can get a red harvester ant queen?
i know red harvesters are used in ant farms alot so i figure they cant be too rare, and yes i do live the state where they live so no issue there.
I'd just like to avoid getting a queen on my own since thats a big hassle
>>2088441
it's illegal to sell/buy queens within the US without a permit.
You're gonna have to collect your own. Good luck m80.
>>2085395
Those it kill those really tiny ants? I swear they never take bait and I just learned to co-exist with them.
>>2085399
>>2089084
yeah, that's what i use mine for, put one down and in about a day and a half i see zero ants
>>2085399
you won!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGJ2jMZ-gaI
>>2089508
fucking cool saw this bout a year ago, amazes me that PETA fags are bitching bout animal cruelty on this, their fucking fire ants their nothing but a plague on people
op here, shes going strong, shes laid more eggs in just one month compared to her seven she laid over the entire summer last year, shes at about 14 eggs so far this month, i think i might get some pics going so i can show everyone
For ya`ll who plan on catching your own queens, very usefull chart http://www.formiculture.com/ant-mating-chart.htm
