Jonathans Ant Colony
This is where it all happens! For my birthday, my brother gave me a
space-age ant colony. A small tank about six inches wide and high, filled with blue coloured jelly.
They require no food or water (the jelly has all the food and water they need to survive).
There are about 20 ants in the colony with no queen which means you have to capture or buy some
more as the population decreases.
After recovering from the 2 hour hysterical ordeal of getting the ants out of their
small transportation container and into the tank, I have become rather fascinated by them. So much so
that I have decided to put regular photos on the net to show you all how the tunnels are progressing!
14 May 2005
The ants have started to settle down now. Most of them are working together on the
tunnels. A couple of them have "left" the colony and are eating a hole in the seal in order to get
out. Maybe they can smell the sugar in my tea and want a taste of it?
It has been a while since I used my video camera, so I decided to film the ants.
Here is the footage...
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13 May 2005
After several failed attempts to get the ants to leave the tissue, they are all now
quite happy to huddle in the corner of the tank. Leaving them in darkness over night seems to have calmed
the colony down a little bit. A couple of days later and they have started to modify one of the tunnels
I made for them. Take a look...
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10 May 2005
These two pictures show you what you get with your ant colony. Oh! I forgot to
include the magnifying glass in the photo - a bit late now to take the photo again! The rod
is for creating a "starter tunnel" to encourage the ants to dig.
The instructions say to make four tunnels for the ants.
Two an inch deep and another couple about half and inch deep. Slightly more difficult than it sounds
because the jelly collapses the moment you pull the stick out... I hope the ants build a better tunnel
than these...
Okay... the ants have arrived in a small plastic film case. Apparently, you are supposed
to just tap the container and the ants drop out and into the open tank. Well, that might be the case with
who ever wrote the instructions, but my ants seem to have made the temporary container their home. The little
devils just hide inside the tissue. Attempts to unfold it bring about utter chaos as the ants crawl up the sides of the
tank and over the dining room table. Not good! One hour later, they are all back in the tank. And still huddled together
inside the tissue. They will stay there until I get home from work tomorrow and try again.
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