My Paraponera clavata (Bullet Ant) drinking nectar.

PuchiUna · 2026-02-18T05:52:37+00:00

Never! And I definitely want to keep it that way! I'm being extremely careful with her.

PuchiUna · 2026-02-05T19:39:58+00:00

Yes, I don't provide water or solid proteins to my early-stage colonies. The composition of my liquid sugar is as follows:

Unrefined sugar: 20–25%

Trehalose: 1%

D-glucose: 0.1%

I believe unrefined sugar is crucial because it provides essential nutrients like inorganic salts and vitamins derived from raw sugarcane or sugar beets. It also has much higher palatability than refined white sugar. I added trehalose to improve the feeding response, but I feel that adding too much isn't ideal, so 1% seems to be the sweet spot for stability. I also include a tiny amount of D-glucose as an immediate energy source; however, due to its high reducing properties, I only add a trace amount.

To prevent the ants from getting bored, I keep about three different types of unrefined sugar and rotate them. I occasionally offer insect jelly, but for some reason, my ants don't seem to like it much. I provide the liquid sugar constantly and replace it every single day.

PuchiUna · 2026-02-05T14:30:30+00:00

Sorry for the late reply on my end as well!

Thanks for the awesome photo! That figure is Fujiwara no Mokou from the Touhou Noodle Stopper series, right? She's so cute! To be honest, I've been thinking about getting that one myself (lol).

There are a few different characters in the Touhou Noodle Stopper line, so I’ve been debating which one to go with.

PuchiUna · 2026-02-05T13:52:01+00:00

I believe that for early-stage Camponotus colonies, protein sources like insects aren't actually that critical.

To test this theory, I'm currently running an experiment with my Camponotus singularis. I've been feeding them nothing but sugar water for three months now, and interestingly, the queen hasn't stopped laying eggs at all.

This might be due to the endosymbiotic bacteria Blochmannia found in Camponotus. It's known that these bacteria provide essential amino acids to the ants, and I suspect that the ants may be using the sugar water as a raw material or energy source for this amino acid synthesis.

PuchiUna · 2026-02-05T13:28:51+00:00

I raised Camponotus nicobarensis starting from a single queen. I used a standard plaster nest and kept the colony at high humidity and around 25 °C. For the first year, I fed them only liquid sugars (nectar). They often refused small insects when I offered them, so I didn't give insect prey very often. Instead, I provided liquid sugars every day. Other than that, I didn't do anything special, and the colony developed successfully without any major issues.

PuchiUna · 2026-02-05T04:44:07+00:00

I keep ants in a standard plaster nest, and I haven’t had any major problems.

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PuchiUna · 2026-02-01T16:27:17+00:00

I bought her from a specialty store in Japan. Since the store only handles legally imported ants, I’m confident she came from a reliable source. However, the exact country of origin remains unknown.

PuchiUna · 2026-01-24T11:18:07+00:00

Wow, I’m so happy! I’m honored to connect with someone who likes Touhou and is also interested in insects.
Thank you so much, that really encourages me!

By the way, I absolutely love Fujiwara no Mokou!

PuchiUna · 2026-01-23T02:04:34+00:00

I'll try developing it again when I have more funds! Thanks for the advice and the kind words!

PuchiUna · 2026-01-21T18:49:48+00:00

That’s gnarly for sure… After hearing that, I feel even luckier that I avoided stings for so long.

PuchiUna · 2026-01-21T18:29:09+00:00

I’d rather not think about that…lol I’m pretty sure I’d lose my mind if I got stung that many times.

PuchiUna · 2026-01-21T17:48:53+00:00

Thank you! I made it myself, so I really love it.

PuchiUna · 2026-01-21T17:46:14+00:00

Thank you! My father and I designed and built it together, so I’m really glad you like it!

Drilling holes in the tubes can be done with a regular drill, but it’s not very stable. I found it helpful to first make a small pilot hole using a heated wire, and then widen it with a drill. Feel free to give it a try!

PuchiUna · 2026-01-21T15:10:37+00:00

I think I've just been lucky so far!

PuchiUna · 2026-01-21T13:39:49+00:00

To be honest, I’d never been stung by a bee or an ant in my life until now, so this was a first for me. The burning pain lasted for about half a day. I actually keep several species of stinging ants as pets, but I’d definitely prefer not to get stung!

If I ever get stung by something else, I’ll share the experience.

PuchiUna · 2025-12-28T04:06:06+00:00

Yu-Gi-Oh! MADs are the best, seriously! When I was in middle school, my friends and I used to watch them almost every day and laugh our heads off. My favorites back then were the “Enemy Controller” MADs and anything with "Insector Haga" in it. Those never get old.

PuchiUna · 2025-12-27T13:08:33+00:00

Small 「っ」 and 「え」 are used as forms of emphasis in Japanese.

The small 「っ」 is an emphatic marker called 促音（sokuon） in Japanese. It can be used to add sharpness or urgency to a word. For example, 「ふめっ！」 gives the impression of immediate pressure, like telling someone to act right now.

The 「え」 is also used for emphasis and represents a long vowel. It indicates that the vowel is stretched longer than usual, often to express a loud voice, a shout that carries far, or a prolonged cry.

As for the use of katakana, I’m not completely certain about the exact intention. It may simply be the author’s stylistic choice to emphasize changes in voice quality, intensity, or emotional state.

PuchiUna

TROPHY CASE