1787 replies to this topic

[CoolColJ]

That also looks like pheidole

Thanks. I thought so as well, but there is a small chance she could be a Carebara..just found out there are a few smaller species in Australia


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I don't know if my other Pheidole queen has laid any eggs yet. Hard to see if any, through my red transparent test tube rack.

But my Iridomyrmex queen sure is a fast developer, not only did she lay eggs immediately, but quite a lot of them after 1 week!
I also left a foil of raw honey and one Pheidole larvae with her.
She constantly makes trips to the honey, and yesterday munched on the honey coated larvae

I was a bit optimistic on the third Strobe ant nanitic, it still hasn't eclosed yet.
Neither has the Furnace ant cocoon. 2 weeks since it spun, thought it would be a nanitic by now!

Edited by CoolColJ, April 6 2018 - 5:35 PM.

[CoolColJ]

7th April 2018

1 week after capture - Iridomyrmex sp. vs Pheidole sp. queen

G'damn, my recently captured Iridomyrmex queen is incredible productive. 14 eggs in 1 week
And she was not a freshly mated one, I found her under a half submerged brick, with a hole on the side. When I pulled the brick out, she was there with a bunch of Pheidole workers and 2 majors...
Who knows how long she was in there...
Sealed her in a test tube with a foil of raw honey, which she loves. She makes constant trips to it. With one honey encased Pheidole larvae which I think she ate yesterday.
 
 



 

Meanwhile, miss Pheidole has been slacking in the same time frame, freshly mated capture a day before...

Edited by CoolColJ, April 6 2018 - 6:20 PM.

[CoolColJ]

7th April 2018

 

Opisthopsis Rufithorax

 

Third nanitic finally eclosed!

 

Although they are all still timid. Doesn't look like they are ready to be released and start foraging.

So just honey on a cotton bud stuck through the entrance for now.

Don't really want to put food inside the Atom C.....

 

 

Melophorus Sp.

 

Moved them to a new test tube.... that was stressful for both them and me...

But that mold formation was getting out of hand, and the cotton started to get black on that side.

No more bugs inside the tube...

 

Right now the queen is sitting right near the entrance, they won't move from there, for now.

 

-----

 

While out in my backyard I found some 5 small yellow grubs/larvae on the floor and Iridomyrmex bicknelli ants were swarming them.

Not sure what they are, perhaps a wasp nest that had fallen etc.

 

Tried to grab them with my featherweight forceps, and man these ants are stubborn, they won't let go and just keep dragging it away

Pity I don't have any colony large enough to feed on these things yet.

Edited by CoolColJ, April 6 2018 - 11:57 PM.

[CoolColJ]

8th April 2018

 

Pheidole queen #1

 

Ahh it seems this Pheidole queen might be sick/dying..... she doesn't move/react much when I pull out her test tube, and her antenae seems to be barely moving

She is slowly getting into the dead ant posture....

 

 

Opisthopsis Rufithorax

 

Gave the Strobe ants a cotton bud tip soaked with raw honey and some water, like last week, and again she sucked on it for ages. Mega bloated gaster!

Still haven't fed them anything solid yet.

Don't think they want/need it yet, and I don't want to do it in the Atom C nest

 

Melophorus

 

Melophorus settling into the new test tube, some dirt moved into the test tube over night.

Some workers sit on the wet cotton again.

 

Tried to feed them raw honey on a foil, and even when put inside the test tube, they don't seem interested...

But they did drag in a dead mosquito I left in the outworld

Edited by CoolColJ, April 7 2018 - 5:26 PM.

[CoolColJ]

I was wrong, Melophorus queen did not eat her egg, still have 2 eggs and 2 that are semi larvae!

She hasn't laid any since the last batch of two, 9 days ago, and eggs are taking ages to become fully larvae.

Lone cocoon is moving close towards 3 weeks now, when will it eclose?!

No wonder why these ants are so hard to get to the worker stage.

 

Queen has such cute eyes, and she moves around so franticly, it's adorable

 

The larger worker, still has a pretty bloated gaster with bands. I don't see them eat much, but I guess they don't need it.

Still they better consume that mosquito or dump it back outside, I don't want a mold build up like last time......

 

click to enlarge

 

 

Strobe queen with the honey bloated gaster and her 3 nanitics

Queen looks rather Camponotus like.

One pupa a week or two away from eclosing, and a large larvae about to spin a cocoon or become a pupa. Well with nanitics around they should all spin cocoons from now on.

These nanitics are larger than I expected, around 5mm, so maybe regular workers might be 6-7mm...

Lighter one is recently eclosed.

 

click for bigger

Edited by CoolColJ, April 7 2018 - 6:42 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Oh, I think I was wrong about the Pheidole queen dying, she seems ok right now.

 

------

 

 

So I watching one of the strobe ant nanitics pluck sand from the Atom C walls and stack them on top the water tower wire mesh, where the queen was...

 

And now it looks like this, well it's a bit thicker in a u shape around the brood, since I took this photo.

 

I counted 10 brood total, maybe 11. So still a nice amount to come

There should be 6 nanitics from the initial pile of eggs she laid - I see 1 cocoon, 1 large larvae and a medium sized one, which should be the remaining 3.

Don't think the queen has laid any more eggs recently.

Well I haven't fed them any protein yet.

 

Edited by CoolColJ, April 8 2018 - 1:11 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Amusing - while I was asleep, the strobe ants moved to the other side of the nest away from the water tower, and took the sand with them

Saves me having to clean it up, if needed

 

The queen also completely sucked the honey tipped cotton bud dry

[CoolColJ]

I have this little gypsum formicarium coming, made by Empire of Ants.

It was cheap, so I figured, why not...not sure which ants I will put in it..

Only thing is, I will have to keep squirting water on it.

Not sure how long gypsum retains moisture

 

120mm x 60mm x 70mm - so it's pretty small, but nicely compact

I wonder if it will hold a few hundred Pheidole, as I am making a 3 queen setup of the largest species we have here....

 

The top part of mine will be different, but the nest area is the same

Edited by CoolColJ, April 8 2018 - 11:00 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Melophorus - 10th April 2018
 
Looks like one of my Melophorus nanitics is about to die.
Instead of staying inside the nest to die, she's been wandering around in the out world all day, and standing stationary for long periods of time.
When near the nest entrance, one of the larger workers tried to drag/carry her back towards the nest, but she resisted and was left alone.

When I tease her with my small paint brush, she will react once, but then just stand still. Sometimes climb the brush, but just not moving much and very slowly, very unlike a Furnace ant.... 

So they would end up with 1 larger worker, 1 smaller one, and 1 nanitic.
Hopefully that single cocoon ecloses soon, and the queen starts laying more eggs.

Will be over 30C degrees the next two days, so that will help

Edited by CoolColJ, April 10 2018 - 2:31 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Well I lost sight of the worker last night, I thought she went back into the nest.
And she did, but is now dead. I think she died and was carried back inside.
They will probably end up eating her

Melophorus queen is acting weird right now, I saw her in the outworld just then, trying to climb up the walls...

Today, I finally saw one Melophorus worker sipping on the raw honey!

----

I got the above gypsum formicarium today, along with a small round outworld which I will thow one of my Atom C into, and turn it into an Inception Chamber of sorts.

I prepped both items, and add some fluon barriers etc.
The gypsum formicarium can sure absorb a lot of water, despite it's small size.
I squirted some 3 full syringes into it, and it's barely wet. Not sure how much more I should squirt into it
I figure I will squirt to only one corner to maintain a moisture gradient.

Should I add substrate into it? maybe dropping it into the nest entrance area

Haven't decided who will go into here just yet....

Now to figure out what colour sand I will use in the circular outwold, which I think the Strobe ants will go into, since they are already in an Atom C
White or red...?

Edited by CoolColJ, April 10 2018 - 11:29 PM.

[CoolColJ]

I have a moderately large Iridomyrmex queen with 3 workers coming, 10-12mm queen.
So quite a lot larger than my current fast brooding Iridomyrmex queen, but smaller than a meat ant queen (Iridomyrmex purpureus, 15-18mm)
Queen and nanitics have a red upper body and head. I believe they might be Iridomyrmex discors ants.
They look like smaller and cuter version of meat ants
They don't grow as fast, but just as aggressive I believe.
And should be easy to feed if they are like meat ants, honey and meat

 
They will come in a resin nest, with a visible water chamber at the bottom, wicked up by a ceramic piece which is also the ant's drinking water supply
I believe are made by another member here, Del I think.
The smallest version 4x4cm
 

Edited by CoolColJ, April 11 2018 - 2:37 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Iridomyrmex sp. discors? 12th April 2018
 
Got these ants today.
They look a little like mini meat ants
10-11m queen, and 5mm nanitic, so maybe the regular workers will be 6-8mm.
Very active workers. Might be aggressive like meat ants... we will see
 
They are housed in one of these 4x4cm resin nests, with the water chamber underneath that wicks water up.
It's a bit of a mess after the journey to me though...
They are made by a member here, who has a thread on his resin nests,  I think he is called Del, you can buy them from him, if interested.
Aidan Runagall-Mcnaull on facebook
 

 
click to enlarge

Edited by CoolColJ, April 11 2018 - 11:59 PM.

[CoolColJ]

I let them out into a container outworld.
Damn they are fast and active, but relatively poor climbers. Can't cross fluon barrier, phew

Well these guys like egg omlet, first of my ants to do so
Although I think my various Pheidole species might also like it as well, and definitely my other smaller Iridomyrmex

I think they might actually be Iridomyrmex reburrus, workers hit 8mm
http://www.brisbanei...edTyrantAnt.htm

Edited by CoolColJ, April 12 2018 - 1:39 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Iridomyrmex reburrus? 13th April 2018

Man they cleaned up the dab of raw honey I left on the wax paper, nothing left, left some dirt on the sugar water bowl, so they must have had a go at it.
They also love egg omlet, first of the ants I've had so far
Big eaters for 3 workers.

By far the most active workers I've had so far. Considering how young the colony is. There is always 1-2 workers in the outworld doing something.
My long gone Camponotus Aeneopilosus would rank second, followed by the Melophrous.
I think Iridomyrmex are just more active on the whole, both day and night.

They half blocked the nest entrance overnight with dirt from the outworld.

click pics to enlarge


A lot of brood, I'm not going to try and count

There is that large larvae I found yesterday on the right of the nest, two such larvae were sitting on the ground with a bunch of Iridomyrmex pavement ants around them, in my front yard.

I want to take the lid off and give it a good clean, remove all the substrate stuck on it, but yeah it will tough...

Edited by CoolColJ, April 12 2018 - 7:39 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Got these black Phediole sp. queens, 7-8mm

 

There were actually four in the test tube, but one died overnight, either being sick or from fighting.

One of the three remaining seems like a different species - slightly smaller, and head is not red.

This one appears to be missing limbs, one antenna, and looks like her gaster is almost severed...

 

I'm debating about wether I should remove her from the test tube or not.

I also want to move them to a larger test tube.

 

They have at least 13 eggs.

From what I have seen only the 2 larger ones get to attend them

 

as I watch them now, I think one is "nibbling" away at the other larger one, but she does not react, could be just cleaning her, hard to tell....

 

click to enlarge

Edited by CoolColJ, April 12 2018 - 9:55 PM.

[CoolColJ]

I moved the black head Phediole queen to a new test tube with some raw honey as well. Pity she might not be able to found a colony, since she is a species I've not seen before.

The other two seem to be getting along OK, taking turns minding the eggs

 

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 As far as the red headed Iridomyrmex sp. ants

 

They are definitely "meat ants"... I put in a small piece of curry chicken I was having for dinner, and the first worker that found it went ape crazy, and then soon after all 3 came out in frantic fashion

They also blocked off the nest entrance to just a tiny hole enough for one worker to crawl through.

 

Just then I saw one of the workers hack off a small piece of chicken and mad dashed back to the nest and dropped it on top of the brood

Then the queen later picked it up and had a nibble as well

[CoolColJ]

14th April 2018
 
Melophorus
 
Hadn't looked closely at the Melophorus in a few days, and finally, the eggs turned into larvae... that took 2.5 weeks..
And the sole cocoon still has eclosed yet, coming up to 3 weeks now!
It has been really warm lately so that helps, but that is pretty slow growth.
 
There should be two more eggs, but I can't see them, hopefully they are behind the cocoon.
 
On the right is the remains of one of two large larvae I found in my front yard a day ago, surrounded by Iridomyrmex black pavement ants.

click pics to enlarge 

 
 
Iridomyrmex reburrus?

They completely covered the nest entrance, leaving only a small gap, where you can see the worker crawling through




They also split up the brood. To the right you can see an ant drinking from the moisture wicking part of the nest. That is one nice feature of this nest over my Atom C nest, inbuilt drinking water
Also some of the curry chicken I left in the outworld foil, can be seen with the brood



Right of the nest looks like their garbage and toilet area

Edited by CoolColJ, April 13 2018 - 5:46 PM.

[CoolColJ]

I finally saw a Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant) nanitic explore their new round outworld.
So it's probably time I started feeding them some solid food.

She was zipping along in her blinking, semi-teleporting movement style

 

On the bad side, I think she just casually zipped up the wall and through the Fluon barriers....

Edited by CoolColJ, April 13 2018 - 5:57 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Hooray - the black headed queen with missing limbs - who I moved to a new test tube, laid her first egg!

She may yet get a colony going.

Once she has nanitics, they can do everything for her and clean her

 

I'm keen to see what type of majors this species has

 

---

 

there is a single egg in the above pics, the ones with a blue background, to the right, I think this may be one of her eggs

 

 

edit - she actually has 5 eggs scattered around the test tube, but I need to confirm

Well they look like eggs through my LED lit magnifier, and through the red test tube holder

Edited by CoolColJ, April 13 2018 - 9:08 PM.

[CoolColJ]

15th April 2018 - mega queen update
 
 
Iridomyrmex sp. 7-8mm
 
Into second week and she's still going strong, over 30 eggs now! 
She's also the most active of the 6 queens I have in test tubes right now, constantly on the move, cleaning, minding her eggs and going to the raw honey I left in the front part of the test tube, I just put in a fresh one this morning and she went straight to it and sucked it for a while.
Over 30 nanitics is crazy.... this is one fertile queen...I predict a huge and fast growing colony soon 
 

Looks like her gaster is also damaged... wow

click for larger


 
Phediole sp. red head/black body 8mm
 
13 eggs when I got them a day ago, have laid a further 15+, over 30 eggs now!
Queens are getting along nicely, each has their own bunch of eggs but they sometimes pool them together and take turns minding them
 


Pheidole sp. all black 7mm

Overnight she managed to gather all her scattered eggs, and I can confirm she laid a further 7 eggs, 12 total.
11 in this pic, 1 egg further forward near the foil of raw honey in he test tube.
Hopefully she finds it. She may be missing a few limbs, and part of her left antenna, but she's still chugging along... you go girl!
 

 
 
 
Pheidole sp. red with darker/black gaster - 7mm
 
Caught her freshly mated on my car windscreen, she had just shed her wings and male was present.
3 weeks now and zip, no eggs. She does not move from this position. Does not approach the raw honey on the foil.
 

 
 
Pheidole sp. all red - 6mm
 
Found her under a brick 2 weeks ago. Sipped honey on the first few days. Now she doesn't move much and again zero eggs
 

 
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Don't know what's up with the red Pheidoles..... but the black ones are crazy fertile!
 

-------

 

 

Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant)

Hard to get a good photo today, due to condensation, but it looks like they have 2 cocoons, 4 large larvae, a bunch of smaller larvae and eggs

 

 

 

Iridomyrmex sp. reburrus?

 

Eggs and a lot of brood all piled up ontop each other, looks well fed. There is going to be population explosion in a few weeks time...

 

 

 

Melophorus sp.

 

Single cocoon still not eclosed yet... 3 weeks now.... 2 larvae growing fairly fast since they transformed from eggs.

I dunno what happened to the other 2 eggs though...

And no new eggs laid in weeks

Edited by CoolColJ, April 15 2018 - 4:55 AM.