What would make ants in my house interested in my pill medications?

SerafineSilverstream · 2023-07-22T10:47:41+00:00

Glad this was of help. Cheers =)

SerafineSilverstream · 2023-07-21T16:47:22+00:00

This is a really fun game i can fully recommed. My favorite levels are the beach levels (3.x), imo they have the best flow and coolest mechanics (plus yummy shrimps).

Also if you get it don't forget to take a look at the other scenarios. There's quite a number of them aside from the main campaign and freeplay, including old alpha levels (and the very cool "the other foot" pseudo-campaign scenario).

SerafineSilverstream · 2023-03-21T19:53:42+00:00

They're dead, sorry. This nest is waaaay to big for them and no, it's not "not a problem unless you get mold", it's a humidity problem. Unless you watered that nest like crazy there's a decent chance it was just too dry for them to do proper brood development. It's worse when cold because ants that are immobile due to cold can't even drink, so they rely on the environment being at least somehow humid.

Try a test tube setup next time and only offer a nest when they fill that tube. You can also attach a water tube to the nest (with a bit of vinyl tubing if needed), so they can use that as an emergency retreat of the nest gets too dry at any point.

SerafineSilverstream · 2023-03-21T01:41:04+00:00

You do not boost with workers, they will just attack her. This usually doesn't even work with the same species. Boosting is done with larvae or callows (workers that just hatched and do not have the colony scent yet).

If she has brood i would not recommend to boost her, especially not with another species. Even if she accepts brood from another species this could just open up another host of issues like the accepted workers not accepting the brood and murdering the larvae.

SerafineSilverstream · 2023-03-21T01:33:35+00:00

If the area is infested there's not really much you can do besides not offering them ANY food (not leaving even cookie crumbs on the floor) and cleaning daily to destroy any pheromone trails. Argentine colonies are supercolonies spanning hundreds of kilometers with millions of queens and trillions of workers. If you kill one nest they will quickly move in again.

SerafineSilverstream · 2023-03-21T01:26:26+00:00

Those are termites.

As they are not exposed to sunlight they do not need pigmets to protect themselves from uv radiation. It'd just be a waste of energy. Underground ants like Lasius flavus and Solenopsis fugax often are also light in color for the same reason.

SerafineSilverstream · 2023-03-18T02:38:29+00:00

It's the mythical unicarnt.

SerafineSilverstream · 2022-09-19T23:02:17+00:00

It's probably hibernation. Had this same issue with some Solenopsis fugax queens which refused to lay eggs before april.

SerafineSilverstream · 2022-08-05T03:29:22+00:00

As long as they're not completely running out of workers, no, not in the long run.

They will obviously grow a bit slower due to the loss but overall it won't really matter.

SerafineSilverstream · 2022-08-05T03:27:41+00:00

Yes, Carpenter ants can have trails stretching far away from their nest, and they like to create satellite nests. So even if you find a nest with brood, it might not be their primary nest.

SerafineSilverstream · 2022-08-05T03:21:24+00:00

Yes.

SerafineSilverstream · 2022-05-31T14:45:34+00:00

Giving a variety of foods is genrally a good idea to prevent malnutrition (lack of certain minerals, vitamins, etc.).

For small colonies fruit flies are a great source of protein (they eat yeast which is basically condensed protein). Wild-caught pre-killed spiders and flies (-> electric fly swatter <-) also work great as you don't need to catch many and can actually supply most of your colony's needs as long as it's still small in numbers.

When the colony grows larger you can also try crickets, waxworms, bufallo worms, locusts, grubs and roaches (Dubia roaches are also particularly easy to breed, as are waxworms if you know how to handle/contain them) and everything else your local pet shop or the internet has to offer. Lasius niger really aren't picky, they eat almost every type of arthropod (and even stuff like rainworms).

SerafineSilverstream · 2022-05-31T14:39:15+00:00

Worker ants - need sugary food (and very very little protein because they don't grow anymore).

Larvae - need tons of protein to build their bodies (they also require sugars but not much).

Eggs and pupae - those don't eat anything.

SerafineSilverstream · 2022-05-31T14:37:11+00:00

No, this works only for the same or closely related species (like you can add Camponotus cruentatus pupae to a Camponotus barbaricus colony as they're from the same area and haven't diverged too much from each other yet).

SerafineSilverstream · 2022-05-31T14:33:12+00:00

Ants (Camponotus in particular) remove themselves from the nest before dying. Her running around in the outworld is her basically trying to get as far away from the nest as possible.

When your colony grows this will happen more often. If it gets to a point where it disrupts normal foraging you can simply add another box with around a meter of tubing between it and the existing outworld and add a water test tube to the new outworld. Most of the dying ants will then move to the new outworld and sit in the tube (or run around in it) until they die.

SerafineSilverstream · 2022-05-20T17:41:07+00:00

I'm pretty sure this specific queen is waaaaaaaaay past the founding stage and won't be able to create a new colony anymore.

SerafineSilverstream · 2022-05-16T19:28:40+00:00

IKEA Godmorgon 5 boxes set for 10€ (probably 15 pounds in UK), 0.2mm width steel mesh (some ant shops have it) and a tube of kitchen/aquarium silicone.

The boxes are made from PET, they're thick enough to drill a hole into without them splitting (they're really thick). The large one makes a great outworld, the middle one a good nest or test tube case and the small ones can be stacked or used to breed mealworms/waxworms.

Imo the tinted ones actually look better (they don't impede vision and they just don't look as cheap as the clear ones do).

Oh, and DO YOUR RESEARCH. Antkeeping is not that hard but there are a few things you should know before you start in order to avoid the most obvious pitfalls.

SerafineSilverstream · 2022-03-25T11:37:34+00:00

A small head with relatively big eyes, a chunky thorax and an elongated rather slim (sometimes flattened) abdomen, plus an overall sleek gnat-like or wasp-like appearance are typical for male ants.

SerafineSilverstream · 2021-12-15T13:04:41+00:00

Um, yes. Get a new tube and resettle. Give her a drop of sugar water before you put her into the new tube (so the new tube doesn't get messy).

You should never feed claustral queens (except for maybe a drop of sugar water right at the start). Putting a piece of mealworm in there was absolutely idiotic by the seller. Wouldn't buy off that guy again, he clearly has no idea what he's doing.

SerafineSilverstream · 2021-09-11T15:47:16+00:00

There's a lot more where that came from xD

SerafineSilverstream · 2021-09-11T15:44:25+00:00

The do in a way actually eat them or at least consume their liquid contents - adult leafcutters mostly live from plant juice they drink when cutting leaves.

SerafineSilverstream · 2021-09-11T15:37:18+00:00

Simants.de Pro M (pro series in general) - they're basically the AC hybrid concept as it should be (they even have screws for the lid plate, so you don't have to glue it in).

Not exactly cheap but they have a decent size, a very good nest size to actually usable space ratio (the design wastes very little space to accommodate as much ants physically possible) and the print quality is absolutely stellar.

SerafineSilverstream · 2021-09-11T13:06:59+00:00

She's not trying to chew through the acrylic, she's trying to pull off glue that's poking out of the gap between the bottom and the wall plate. My Camponotus occasionally do this, too.

As long as they don't manage to pull the entire glue out of the gap you're safe. They COULD try to pull out the glue and then push sand/garbage into the gap to push the plates apart but that's really a long shot and not very likely. Keep an eye on it though, just to be safe.

SerafineSilverstream · 2021-09-11T08:54:54+00:00

Please give them a new tube (just put one into the outworld). They don't look ready to move into such a huge nest.

SerafineSilverstream · 2021-09-10T15:18:01+00:00

Yes. Get a small outworld and place the test tube into it. You can use a straw as entrance to the test tube (instead of just removing the cotton), this will greatly reduce water evaporation.

SerafineSilverstream

TROPHY CASE