1787 replies to this topic

[CoolColJ]

Those are  not majors, just workers and those are very similar  to the Tapinoma  sessile we have here. Probably is Ochetellus glaber  or  perhaps a Technomyrmex.

 

 

Thanks, I also have other suggestions of Doleromyrma or Nylanderia species.

[CoolColJ]

27th March 2018
 
Second day of my newly aquired ant colony, and they are settling in nicely.
They seem to like it pretty dry, settling right in the middle of the test tube. The ones inside the test tube around the queen, don't move a whole lot.
While there are usually around 5 or so normal sized workers outside exploring/foraging.
Pretty active at night, as well as during the day.
 
I counted around 60 workers total, and they may have around the same number in brood.

So they like some honey, but not the sugar water as of now, didn't touch the raw almonds nor the small pieces of meat last night.
I caught a baby cockroach at work this morning, so I'll give them a portion to test and the rest to the Melophorus
 

the foil on the right is where their original nest subtrate eggs/larvae were, will remove it later today

edit - they also piled some substrate inside the test tube, just in front of the brood overnight
Small ants, so maybe I should make a cotton wool and straw entrance for the tube.

Click to enlarge -





Melophorus
 
There is one worker that I see grabbing dirt from the outworld and carrying it into the nest everynight, but sometimes another joins in.
Well this cheeky worker has piled all the dirt at the nest entrance, and also grabbed the substrate where the queen, cocoon and eggs were, and used that as well
She then stands guard there half the time, mostly at night, and runs and alerts the queen in frantic fashion whenever something freaks her out, and then queen comes out to the entrance to inspect.
 
I guess she wants to make the nest entrance smaller and feel more secure.
 
click for full size

Edited by CoolColJ, March 27 2018 - 5:27 PM.

[CoolColJ]

So I found this ant in my backyard, I think it's a queen, but the gaster is quite thin.
It appears to be missing limbs and legs.
I found something similar a few months back, also missing limbs and being attacked by ants of the same colour.
Tetramorium bicarinatum type ants.

She was under some loose debris with another ant that ran off, which I think was another queen, but I lost track of it
She doesn't look well, but I put it into a test tube. You never know
About 7mm in length



she definitely has the 3 dots on her head , that a queen of her species has

Edited by CoolColJ, March 27 2018 - 10:29 PM.

[CoolColJ]

My current Melophorus sp. queen is about 7-8mm

This guy's queen is 12-15mm - yikes.
That is like Camponotus size, but chunky.
He may sell it to me, fingers crossed, because that's the Melophorus species I wanted all along!
So the majors would be around 8-10mm, thick and fast

Edited by CoolColJ, March 28 2018 - 12:14 AM.

[CoolColJ]

I remeasured the Tetramorium bicarinatum looking queen and she is around 5-6mm.
Took better pics, through the test tube opening.
She is missing one leg and the remainder are stumps
Will she be able to start a colony like this?
I can't see how she will clean her antennae...

[CoolColJ]

So with the new Doleromyrma sp. colony -

I know the workers will take some raw honey, but they haven't since the first time.
Nope to sugar water, meat, raw nuts, grape, dead baby cockroach...

So I have no idea what they eat!
They have a lot of brood, so ie expected them to be eager for food, but some workers have fully loaded gasters.

They also walk over my fluon barrier. I had a some escapees last night until I used the side clamps on the container lid.
But things could get ugly when the colony gets larger

Thinking hard about releasing them back to where I found them.
I just don't know enough about them to give them the proper care

Edited by CoolColJ, March 28 2018 - 5:20 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Melophorus - 29th March 2018

Since I saw some Pheidole males in my backyard (and even captured one http://www.formicult...alia-2932018/),I was searching my backyard for possible Pheidole queens, lifting objects up and looking under neath etc,
and when I moved this container of rocks over, I saw a mature Pheidole colony underneath with larvae and some major pupae on display!

I took two of the larger larvae (majors?), and put them in my young Melophorus species family's test tube.
At first they freaked out, but the workers eventually moved them to their brood, and the queen inspected them.

Let's see what happens....

They also laid another 2 eggs since 4 days ago, again in batches of two every time. Four total, and one cocoon about to eclose, things are looking good.

click to enlarge

[CoolColJ]

30th march 2018

 

Melophorus
 
Well Well so much for that... the Melohorus sp. queen started munching on one of two Pheidole the larvae last night, really getting into it.
She removed the whole outer layer, because by this morning one of the smaller workers was dragging a smaller version of it around and also chowing down
Well I can't think of an easier way to feed some quality protein to the queen....

 
Tetramorium bicarinatum queen

Well she is still alive and kicking, so who knows...
And moves quite well, despite the fact she has lost a lot of limbs

I put in a small amount of raw honey on a wax paper in her test tube, and put her away.

 
Phediole sp. queen
 
LOL, I was about to leave work in my car and turned the wipers on, and saw a queen ant on my screen, I franticly got out (I keep queen capture vials in my car for such occasions!)
and try to capture it, but she ran into the crack of the screen trim. I also saw a male there and a bunch of wings

So I blew into the crack and eventually flushed her out - bag one Pheidole queen - the all red ones

There were a ton of wings on my car bonnet actually! I looked around for more but they were long gone.

Also when I arrived at 5:30am, I looked around under lights etc, and no sign of them.
So between 6 and 7am they flew, so most likely around dawn

Hmm, although no activity in my backyard, but I did see some males wandering around yesterday.
So maybe soon. Still waiting on the black Pheidole species to start flying  
Well there are a few different species of red Pheidole here, but major's heads on the red ones are not as big as the black species.

Majors from my backyard


Pretty sure this is a Pheidole sp. queen. The red smaller variety we have here
She is about 7mm long. I believe the black ones are closer to 10mm
Put some raw honey on a wax paper and put her away. I can see her sipping the honey now through the red test tube holder I use.
I'll probably removed it later today.

Edited by CoolColJ, March 29 2018 - 4:42 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Doleromyrma sp. 30th march 2018

 

I added a new smaller plastic test tube into the Doleromyrma sp. container today.

This used to be a water feeding test tube for another outworld,  but as the water levels got lower, I pushed the cotton dam further downwards.

 

Anyway ever since this has been installed, there has been a constant stream of workers entering and doing hamster wheel circles near the cotton dam!

 

There are always at least two workers doing hamster wheel circles in there....sometimes a third joins in, and when one leaves, another is always there to fill the spot.... very strange

have no idea why they are doing this!

I guess that's how they get their daily exercise

 

I also dropped a bunch of Pheidole brood in front of their test tube nest, which the workers have dumped in a small pile in the front part of their nest.

You can see it in the video, at 0:43 a worker is dragging one in at the bottom left

I still don't know what they like to eat, but this is one way to get them some protein....

 

Light doesn't seem to bother them much anymore, considering this was a wild colony a week ago, that's unexpected.

 

Edited by CoolColJ, March 30 2018 - 1:41 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Opisthopsis rufithorax - 31st March 2018
 
So still no nanitics for her, but the cocoon is gotten much darker and one pupa has eyes and the same dark colour.
So she pretty much skipped the cocoon stage!?
Interesting, as there is substrate in the nest...
 
She laid 3 new eggs since 6 days ago
brood count is 15  = 2 cocoons, 3 pupae,  1 large larvae, 1 small one, 8 eggs

click to enlarge



previous brood pic to compare, from 25th March, 6 days ago

Edited by CoolColJ, March 31 2018 - 6:59 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Found another queen this morning....
 
I saw a hole next to a half submerged brick on the side of the carpark at work, so I pulled the brick out and there she was
Some kind of Iridomyrmex
She was near some Pheidole sp., so I'm puzzled
7-8mm in length, about the same as my Pheidole queen, maybe slightly larger.
 
Is something strange going on with the top front part of her gaster?
And she looks kinda patchy

----

Put her in a test tube with a foil of raw honey and one Pheidole brood. She really loves the honey, she keeps going back and forth from the water side cotton to the foil to sip on it. Every minute.
None of my other current and past queens have liked honey this much, nor have they been this easy to feed, even the Camponotus Humilior!
My transparent red test tube holder allows me to observe her, without her been actually exposed to light
 

Edited by CoolColJ, March 30 2018 - 10:17 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Interesting growth and formations happening on an old beetle carcass, no wonder the Melophorus sp. ants have been stacking soil on it, ahha.... lucky it's not touching the cotton wool...

The two oldest eggs laid a week ago haven't developed much, I thought they would be a small larvae by now.
 
I also made a ghetto camera flash guide and diffuser out of a toilet roll, which happens to be white inside, and 2 layers of tissue paper rubber banded on the end of it, works suprisingly well!
Currently holding it on with my left hand
Gets rid of the lens shadow when focusing down close on the ants.
Next step is to line foil inside for better light reflection, seal the back end and make a longer version so I can sit it on the flash, with rubber bands around the camera body etc.

click to enlarge

Edited by CoolColJ, March 31 2018 - 7:48 PM.

[CoolColJ]

2nd April 2018
 
 
Doleromyrma sp.
 
I had a lot of escapees from these small guys today. Small, being able to walk over Fluon barriers, fast and excellent at climbing = hard to contain.
Eventually got most of them back in.
 
I also have not seen the queen in a while. Thought I saw her gaster a few days ago, but could not locate her head, so I just dismissed it to her being under workers.
 
So I decided to release them back to where i found them.
They took off and moved all the brood the moment I set their test tube down outside, and unsealed it.
Watched them for a bit, and there was no sign of the queen anywhere... either she died or the workers killed and ate her....
Left the tube there and went back upstair, and one of the escapees had returned to the outworld!
Well he'll have to stay here by himself till tommorrow
 
When I went back to fetch my test tube, the ants and brood were all gone, but there 3 large black ants there picking up the Pheidole brood left behind.
I used to think they with Polyrhachais, but on closer look they have trap jaws!
 
 
Opisthopsis Rufithorax

Wooo, my strobe ant queen's first nanitic finally eclosed after nearly 2 months!
Although a lot faster since my last post about them than I expected, as they were barely orange back then.
The second one has eclosed since these vids and photos this morning, she has a much paler gaster even though she is only a few hours younger.
Maybe not having a cocoon is the cause.

Queen seems more chill now, less work for her

So when should I start feeding them?
They do not seem to be in a hurry to look for food, so I assume they will be ok for a while

Unfortunately when I shot this video, it was a bit dark, so when brightening it up made it very noisey....
I'll try and get a better video, with the two nanitics, they move in an interesting blink like manner.



Stabilized version, in case this is too shakey
but it is blurrier   https://www.youtube....h?v=PWh-TGh7ISk



click to enlarge

Edited by CoolColJ, April 2 2018 - 1:47 PM.

[CoolColJ]

updates on my 3 queens -

I examined them today with my LED lit magnifier through the dark red transparent surface of my test tube holder

The Pheidole sp. queen definitely has some eggs already.
Iridomyrmex sp. might have laid a few eggs, but hard to tell. She was not a freshly mated queen unlike the Pheidole queen, so things could go different with her.

Tetramorium bicarinatum, has been camping at the exit cotton wool unlike the two above, and she has something with her, but it's hard to tell.
It almost looks like an eclosed Pheidole worker that I left with her as food...
She hasn't died yet, so I'll give her a chance.

Will get easier to tell when larvae arrive.

[CoolColJ]

Opisthopsis rufithorax - 3rd April 2018

Man my Strobe ant queen sure loves her honey!

I wasn't sure if I would feed them this soon, but decided to cut a cotton bud in half, dab some raw honey on it and stick it into the Atom C nest, with cotton wool to keep it sealed.
 
The queen came to check it out straight away, and then she didn't move her body for 30+ mins straight, sucking the honey! Nothing will take her attention away, even me moving the nest and slight vibration.
She went back to the workers for a bit, and came back for another 20 min stint... and she's still there
 
I haven't seen any of the nanitics on it. One did come by twice to check up on the queen, but they circle back around to the brood.
 
I think she just about just sucked it all dry!
First of my queens that wasn't timid, and would actually approach the honey herself.
 
Also I noticed the Queen lays out the brood, nicely spaced out ontop of the wire mesh over the water tower.
While the nanitics pile all the brood on top each other, against the wall

edit - She literally sucked the first cotton bud dry!
I put in another one, this time soaked in water, in case they wanted some of it, and then more raw honey on the tip.
The queen came by again and is still there after an hour... her gaster is huge with bands in it now.
Finally saw a nanitic on it as well.
They have good eyesight so they can see me looking

click to enlarge 

Edited by CoolColJ, April 2 2018 - 8:52 PM.

[CoolColJ]

That lone Doleromyrma sp. worker stayed in water feeder test tube overnight.
In the morning I sealed him up and placed the test tube open on the same spot the colony moved out from yesterday.
I figured the pheromone trails would still be there and she would find them and the new nest

Came back from work, and there were a few of them inside the test tube
So their new nest is still exactly where they moved into yesterday.

I suspect these small ants might feed on small things like mites and other similar critters.
So yeah, even if the queen was still around I wouldn't be able to take care of them

[CoolColJ]

That bloated gaster of the Strobe ant queen
That should keep her and her nanitics fed for a while.

Also the third nanitic is about eclose, piled under the brood.
Has formed dark eyes, and is quite orange.
Probably in a day or two.

I put them into a temporary outworld and opened the nest up, put in a small portion of a small beetle I stepped on by mistake in my bathroom... just outside the nest
It's a little dry, and I think they might not go outside to eat it. If not, no big deal, they will eat when they are ready, I'm sure.

click for larger

Edited by CoolColJ, April 4 2018 - 5:51 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Melophorus - 5th April 2018

Damn, one egg has gone missing, as it it wasn't hard enough to get her to lay eggs as is
I guess the queen ate it...?
On the positive side, two of the earlier laid eggs are turning into larvae, different appearance.
While the lone cocoon is taking it's merry time to eclose!

And she was rather "itchy" today, twisted all up, and even had workers help scratch and clean her.
Quite worrying, and why were the workers fiddling around in the big mold formation?

I need to move them to a new test tube tommorrow!

click to enlarge

Edited by CoolColJ, April 6 2018 - 1:07 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Stack of bricks in your backyard = nice ant trap

Yesterday I found several Pheidole colonies under them
Oh and a spider (ant food), wood lice among other things

Today I was lifting up bricks in my backyard, and found another solo Tetramorium bicarinatum queen.
I captured her and on closer inspection, she too has lost some limbs and one antenna.
After that I decided to release both her and my current one, which has not laid any eggs. Put them back under that brick, it should keep them safe for a bit

I also found this queen...
At first I thought Pheidole queen, she has that similar look and colours. Reddish/brown etc
But she is smaller than the Pheidole queen I have in a test tube next to her in the rack.

Put her in a test tube, and my patent pending foil dish with a twisted handle, with a drop of raw honey.
Wow, she must be starving, she just sat on that honey and sucked it for ages.

Edited by CoolColJ, April 6 2018 - 3:47 AM.

[YsTheAnt]

That also looks like pheidole