Adventurenet.net

Good morning from Austin, Texas on Wednesday Sept. 6. It is 8:39 am and currently ⛅ 80° F (26.6 ° C).

Late last night I doodled in my Wreck This Journal to complete the Color Outside Of The Lines page.

Glad to have another page completed.

There are several pages that I have partially completed that are about halfway done now and soon I will be traveling to Michigan for a few days to visit my best friend Tony.

During my trip we will do tons of dumb stuff and try to complete a Wreck This Journal that he has.

But back to yesterday. This is the day that the ants arrived.

In retrospect I would have gathered my own ants, but I did specifically want carpenter ants and no queen so this is why this batch was purchased on eBay.

After arrival the ants were placed into the refrigerator for 10 minutes to slow them down enough to be deposited into the farm.

A quarter of a grape and a cotton pad drenched in water to feed and rehydrate these tiny creatures has been provided.

The tunnels were built after a bit of feeding and cleaning by the ants. I need to find a way to empty out their graveyard, now.

I think a pipe cleaner and another 10 minutes in the fridge may accomplish this.

I am not sure what the best way to keep the ants out of the chamber where these bodies have been deposited is, yet. I suspect I will remove the ends of the tubes and tape them over. I may need to remove a few live ants and place them back into the enclosure later.

But I do want to be as gentle as possible and I am looking into the best options for providing protein as well.

For now these little fellows are delightful and are everything I had hoped. I do not believe that I will attempt to expand this hobby by increasing the size of the enclosure or by getting a queen ant, but the option is there should I change my mind. It has only been a day.

Keanu & I both need to get out of bed. I believe that I will send another postcard today.