AndyJ's Buggery room

[RichardP]

Nice photos sir...

[Daubz1977]

brilliants photos mate.

[Andyj]

Thanks folks but i wish i could get my real camera in there.

So i added a loo for the ants as they have been building up their waste next to the fungus. I put a small sample pot ( fitting ) to the end of a T piece and put in a bit of waste inside. Strange thing this morning was that i had previously gave them some orange peel and during the night they added loads of it, pith and peel to the new loo and to the old loo too.. Is this a form of air freshener or does the acidity neutralise it perhaps ?

[Acromyrmexbob]

I like it!
Looks fantastic.
Not really suffering from lack of good camera. Ants are adding well, wont be long before the pop explosion comes along. Can Seans pods cope!!

[Andyj]

So today is the start of week five and all seems to be going really well. I'm happy that i have spotted the queen a few times but she disappears very fast when the light goes on, must be really ugly. They still prefer rose leaves over everything i have offered. The portaloo i designed for them is in full flow and all the stats are pretty stable. Erm, still haven't done much about the feeding area but i would like the numbers to increase a bit first. I would really like to have some light in the incubator as i have added an IP cam to the set up so i can watch them via the WWW. The picture is pretty S%^&e in the dark even with the IR. Ill give you the link when i have better pics probably from a feeding area or something.

Here's some pic not sure if this was a bunch of eggs in the first pic








So when i gave them orange peel they cut up all of it adding it to the waste in the main garden pod and to the waste in the loo i made but not to the fungus it self, so what's all that about ???



Thanks for looking

[Britishants.com]

Mine do that! Break stuff up and take it straight to the dump! Looking good tho!

[RichardP]

Certainly nothing I've ever experienced.. very strange....

[Andyj]

I thought to start with that the garden was too wet and they were just going to take the pith. Perhaps the acid neutralizes ammonia or may be ant air fresheners. They have only done this with orange peel.

[Deansie26]

I thought to start with that the garden was too wet and they were just going to take the pith. Perhaps the acid neutralizes ammonia or may be ant air fresheners. They have only done this with orange peel.

Strange eh, like you neutralising theory-keep the toilet fresh!
Looking good though

[Acromyrmexbob]

I think its a simple case of precautionary house keeping. The orange peel has a very strong taste and smell. If they are not going to use it they will dump it. Anything that appears in the dump chamber requires the expenditure of energy to get it there so there must be a good reason to move it. I suspect that the orange peel represents a threat to the fungus as it decomposes and so is moved because of the proximity to the fungus. I doubt the ants would do this if the orange peel were at a distant feeding table.