AndyJ's Buggery room

[Acromyrmexbob]

Okay, I can see that. Well maybe someone out there will help me out.

[Andyj]

Okay, I can see that. Well maybe someone out there will help me out.

I felt quite bad about not helping you,,,, but i'm over it now

Quick update from me..

Construction in pod 2 is well on the way and already fills about a third of the space perhaps.



During the later past of last week the ants reopened pod 3 and began to move some soil into it and have constructed some kind of ramp at the entrance.



Today the first signs of a new garden.



Ants are now accepting Cooked pea's, cooked sprouts and kale making winter feeding a less daunting task.

[Acromyrmexbob]

Acros always accept Brussell Sprouts well. In some ways they are easier to feed over winter than atta although atta accept Sprouts also.

[Deansie26]

Brilliant Andy, things are going well eh. Where are they dumping now?

[Andyj]

Sprouts are handy and taking them cooked is also handy except that they are wet and probably bringing in a lot of humidity with them. Anyway it's a good way of recycling our left overs and we don't use salt in our cooking. Trouble is my dinner is getting smaller after ive saved some for the Dog, Parrot and now the Ants


@Jamie. They are still dumping in the ferrero roche box < spelling and i have never emptied it yet. I want them to dump into some sort of water container so i can just remove it. Disconnecting the loo as it is, is going to be a bit difficult with escapees.

[Deansie26]

That's great there using it, can you not just disconnect the dump and plug it with cotton wool? Can see you already do this with the cotton wool in the photo.

That experiment sounds interesting but it would be a nightmare with escapees, plus you could easily half the queen if you can't see where she is.
Can you see yours queen Andy? I can never see mine.

[Andyj]

I have taken it apart as you said before but now there are alot more ants. Ill do it shortly, going to have to anyway. Havent seen the queen in ages shame they are not as big as attas.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

[Acromyrmexbob]

Andy, apologies if this has been asked before but what are your arrangements for feeding the ants to prevent them escaping when you add leaves?
I am assuming you have put something around the top of the feeding container like vaseline or similar? Is this effective?

[Andyj]

What i did was to cut out a piece of perspex and then cut a hole in the top with a jig saw, then paint the underside with PTFE. I then glued in on the top of a glass fish tank. I leave this open so that it doesn't get humid and wet which helps the PTFE last longer. I wanted it to be one piece rather then glue bits together so the ants couldn't get a foot hold on the joints. It's been like this for about 5 months now and the ants just fall off. Not one escapee as far as i know. Only problem i have is the head room being in a cabinet but it's manageable. I also need to move that heat mat because any leaves/stems that aren't in water quickly dry out.



Picure 5 months old, lot of activity in there now

[RichardP]

Good idea.. nice handiwork