28 replies to this topic

[LC3]

Hello everyone so today I was walking around outside and it started to rain, so I was thinking of setting of for an expedition next morning to find some Tetramorium queens. While I was walking and pondering about stuff I just so happened to notice a de-alate Tetramorium queen! 

 

3 dead queens I found on the 12th of july.

 

 

Anyways I was hunting this species for the last few weeks so I was really pleased to have finally caught one. However I don't know whether it's T.caespitum or T. sp e I'm not really concerned what species she is though. I think I'm just gonna nickname her caespitum e b/c why not?

 

Anyways here's some pictures.

 

My set-up the paper-clip is to remove that cotton if necessary. 

 

 

she measures around 8 mm or so.

 

Oh BTW I also have 2 Camponotus modoc colonies probably not gonna do a journal for them but here's some pictures anyways.

 

This is the second queen who I refer to as Queen B. She  seems really jumpy and doesn't tend to her eggs a lot.

 

Here's my first queen (queen A) had her for two months now and she's doing great.

 

Queen A's pupae. She had a lot of immature larvae ( about 7) but seems like this is what was left of the pile.

Edited by LC3, February 16 2018 - 7:31 PM.

[Lamarr]

What kind of setup is Camponotus modoc queen B in? It doesn't look like a usual test tube setup.

[Ants4fun]

Nice, I just found a tetramorium queen the other day.

[William. T]

Good idea with the paper clip.

[LC3]

What kind of setup is Camponotus modoc queen B in? It doesn't look like a usual test tube setup.

Because of the small testubes I have the queens don't seem to like being in there. 

For queen A I put her in this plastic box and let her settle in it by herself.The box is rectangular but missing one of it's smaller sides so the testube could be slid in and covered with a ruler.

For queen B I used a similar box but it wasn't missing one of the sides and it was shorter so I couldn't put a ruler over it to cover it. Instead I filled the tube up with water and put it in the box plugged the remaining space with cotton. Which leaves a small portion serving as the chamber. And than I covered that up with a small semi-clear plastic piece.

 

 

 

Also I want to keep this journal active so can I raise Caespitum e in the light? I've never done it with Camponotus b/c they're really sensitive.

[LC3]

Update. 25/06/2015

 

When I was walking home I noticed a small Tetramorium colony with workers that seemed to be all nanitics.

So I went inside to get my device to take pictures and when I was outside I found her...

 

 

 

 

I'm a bit concerned about her setup since it's a plastic tube, and I'm kinda skeptic about plastic.

 

Oh, and here some pictures on that immature Tetramorium colony.

 

 

 

 

[LC3]

26/02/2015

 

Just checked on them today and found one of the queens laid eggs. 

Now my second queen doesn't seem to be doing so well in the test tube so I decided to experiment around.

 

I made a formicarium using a gel  farm and dirt. ( cleaned the formicarium before adding the dirt. I hate gel farms.)

 

Here's some pictures:

 

 

 

And here's her majesty's claustral-chamber.

 

         

 

 

Here's some pictures on Caespitum e.

 

 

Hard to see but she has eggs.

[ctantkeeper]

tetramorium caespitum is the old name for tetramorium Sp. E. although it is correct to label the species as tetramorium sp. E since the original name is no longer relevant, many people still use the original. if you live in the U.S., T. Sp. E is one of the most common species of tetramorium here. btw, this species is not native to the U.S., it was originally from Europe, making it an invasive species.

[LC3]

K, Thanks for clarifying. (Probably go do some research anyway  )

I'll still be calling the first queen I caught Caespitum e, I like the name. (Pretty sure nobody names their ants but whatevs   )

[Herdo]

K, Thanks for clarifying. (Probably go do some research anyway  )

I'll still be calling the first queen I caught Caespitum e, I like the name. (Pretty sure nobody names their ants but whatevs   )

 

 

Very cool!  

 

Also, I was wondering about the naming of queens as well haha.

[LC3]

09/07/2015

Just checked on them today and Caespitum e has larvae!  

Not to mention a large pile of eggs never thought Tetramorium laid so many eggs.

 

The other Tetramorium seems to have barricaded herself some weeks ago. I don't know how she's doing because I can't see her. Hope she's doing fine.

 

Tetramorium queen, the top test tube has a Lasius sp. in it.

 

T. sp e queen tending to eggs and Larvae.

 

Most of the eggs have developed into Larvae.

 

My C. modoc queen (Queen A) has 2 nanitics! Never realized when the eclosed, one of them was still immobile, one of the cocoons are probably going to eclose soon since I can see the worker inside plus she has tons of eggs under the cacoons 2 or 3 batches of 8!.  

Can't say the same for my other C. modoc queen, she's still struggling to lay eggs. 

 

 

Edited by LC3, July 9 2015 - 10:14 PM.

[Herdo]

Wow, that is a lot of eggs/larva. Congrats! It's weird how two queens of the same species will lay a very different number of eggs.

[LC3]

July 19th 2015

 

Tetramorium sp. e

 

Pretty sure Caespitum e has pupae I can't tell but they aren't larvae looking.

 She also finally accepted honey  (not sure why that's something to get excited about) she rejected it ever since I caught her. 

 

 She was pretty pissed about me taking photos of her.

 

 

Caespitum e

Flipped her tube to see the brood, Obviously this doesn't help her anger issues.

 

The other queen is still sumwhere in the dirt, Who knows how she's doing.

 

Lasius alienus

A week or so ago I boosted these queens with pupae from a parasitic Lasius sp. aaand they accepted the brood. c:

 I gave them 3 each, one of them only has two I'm not sure if I lost that pupae or she ate it.

 

Oh and the yellow Lasius? well I dunno what species they are but I'm not rushed to figure it out. I only know 3 things about them:

1. They smell like lemon peels

2. They like trees or wood

3. They are yellow(ish)

 

While I was out I also did some mosquito hunting.

 On your opinion are mosquitoes suitable for ant food? I fed them to ants with not a lot of problem. 

 

 

 

 

Edited by LC3, July 20 2015 - 10:09 AM.

[Huch]

tetramorium caespitum is the old name for tetramorium Sp. E. although it is correct to label the species as tetramorium sp. E since the original name is no longer relevant, many people still use the original. if you live in the U.S., T. Sp. E is one of the most common species of tetramorium here. btw, this species is not native to the U.S., it was originally from Europe, making it an invasive species.

I didn't know this either.

[AntsAreUs]

Isn't it spelled Lasius alienus?

[LC3]

Isn't it spelled Lasius alienus?

Oops, It is Gaige. Thanks for pointing that out. My spelling skills aren't the best haha.

[LC3]

Le 30th July [2015]

 

Some of the Tetramorium pupae eclosed and I'm pretty sure the rest will follow.. I can't believe how tiny their nanitics are! I think I might squish one by accident or loose them haha.

The queen isn't angry when I open the test tube now. for some reason..

 

My Lasius alienus larvae spun some body bags.They we're ripping out the cotton which is weird not to mention some of the pupae don't have body bags. The parasitic Lasius sp. haven't eclosed yet.

 

Queen in the plastic test tube.

Queen in the glass tube

 

A pupae in a body bag beside a naked pupae.

 

 

I was also at a water park the other day and needless to say I was more keen on finding all the ants nesting in the pavement and trees than any of the other stuff.

 

Interesting the local Tetramorium population are weirdly coloured. I remember a few years ago when I was there, there were a lot of these red Tetramorium but they were all being raided by a Lasius sp. (Maybe L.neoniger?). Now they have all been displaced by the common black Tetramoriums. I have seen some red/black Tetramoriums (red thorax and black head).I found one nest of totally red Tetramorium (fighting some black ones) and a stray worker in the grass. I think I also found a red coloured Tetramorium queen at a beach.. Sadly I lost it because of the wind.

 

Oh and another thing? The place might be scrapped next year ;~;

 

(Red/black Tetramorium)

 I found a Formica nest and dropped some pizza toppings near the nest... A few minutes later a bunch of Tetras were swarming all over the place. There wasn't really a war the Formica weren't intended on getting the food and the Tetras were trying to haul the food back to their nest. I counted the casualties though. One Formica worker with an injured leg and 1 dead Tetra worker and a 2 others sprayed with acid (although their armour seemed to protect them). The Tetras couldn't catch the Formicas and the Formicas couldn't bit through Tetras haha.

 

 

 

[TheAnswerIsTheLogic]

very well, gg

[Huch]

Cool LC3. If you keep your colony until next year, maybe you can find a couple Species E queens and start a multi-queen colony. I plan on doing that next year. Species E are my favorite.

[LC3]

I might not do it with this queen since I'm pretty new to ant keeping and I don't want to experiment with my only succesful sp e colony but I will put two sp e queens together next year if I find any.