1787 replies to this topic

[CoolColJ]

Also got this gorgeous Polyrhachis rufifemur today

 

Queen, 1 nanitic, 1 cocoon, near eclosing, and supposed to be some eggs, but I didn't notice any, but they could be hidden, or eaten....

The test tube is also just about empty

 

So I put the test tube in an outworld, openned, and a fresh test tube attached to the outworld.

Foil of honey, bowl of sugar water, and water feeder.

 

Queen didn't sample any of these but she did explore everywhere, while her cute little nanitic baby sit the cocoon.

Quite the opposite of most claustral queens.

Good climber, but lucky she can't cross the fluon barrier

 

About 8-9mm, and looks bigger than I thought. Her long legs help that.

She moves in an interesting way

Nanitic is still quite light in colour, only recently eclosed I presume.

And much smaller than a regular worker.

 

click for larger

 

 

[CoolColJ]

Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen - 23 May 2018

 

The one and only larvae finally spun into a cocoon.

Smaller than I thought, so it may not be a major after all...

[CoolColJ]

Closeup of suffusus queen, the test tube is quite dirty so some of the patchiness is due to that, but I think this species queen has a patchy look when photographed, much like iridomyrmex queens

From last night when she was eating the wood roach

 

click for larger

 

Pic from someone else, so much redder looking in the head and upper torso, but the same patchiness.

The workers look the same, but the queens do not.

 

 

Possible the red variant is the queen of the Camponotus suffusus bendigensis

http://antclub.org/files/Camponotus%20suffusus_3.jpg

http://antclub.org/files/Camponotus%20suffusus_2.jpg

Edited by CoolColJ, May 22 2018 - 3:14 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Finally got some better pics of my Camponotus consobrinus queen, while I was moving her from test tube + cellophane red wrap into a new 20mm transparent red test tube rack

She won't lay eggs till next spring

 

 

click for larger

Edited by CoolColJ, May 23 2018 - 12:42 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Moved the camponotus suffusus to a new 20+mm test tube, with the help of the sun, but ended up cracking and breaking it when I tried to remove the tubing from it... sigh.. anyway better pics 

 

click to enlarge

 

 

 

Workers remind more of meat ants in the way they look and move/act than typical Camponotus minor workers

 

[CoolColJ]

Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen - 24 May 2018
 
Crap, the last larvae/cocoon has died and got eaten by the looks of it

So now down to no eggs/brood, 1 minor worker and a nanitic
And the cotton has pretty dense black mold on it now.
I hope the brood didn't die because of the mold....

I think time to dump test tubes for them and move them to something that I can hydrate constantly and doesn't build up mold
When one of those Chinese single chamber bamboo tube nests arrive, I might use that or the Mini Hearth I have
I have an Inception Chamber, but it's too big for them and will likely move the largest Pheidole colony into it
But I have so many ants, to decide which gets which nest...

[CoolColJ]

I got a heating cable this week.

Did a quick test of it yesterday, running it by the end of a few test tubes.
One C.humilior worker noticed and parked herself right next to the cotton
C.suffusus queen moved from the cotton right up to it

Once I get my setups organised and the table cleared I can set it up properly for longer term use

---

So I cracked and broke the C.suffusus test tube as I mentioned above.
And while fitting a 20mm test tube into a 3D printed 20mm to 16mm connector to hook up a tubing to their broken test tube.
I also broke this new test tube trying to remove it from the 3D printed adapter....!

Bummer. But I think I will just smash their already broken test tube, from the water side, drain it, pull the cotton to easily get them to move into a new test tube by placing them into a container

Had planned to put them into my spare Atom C nest, inside a circular outworld, but I'm saving it up for my other 5 worker C.suffusus colony

Edited by CoolColJ, May 23 2018 - 2:51 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Polyrhachis rufifemur - 24 May 2018
 
Their test tube looks dry, well no water left, but the cotton may be still moist.
In any case they haven't moved out yet, even though I have a fresh, covered test tube connected to the outworld, right outside their current one, and the queen has explored it.

I might put them into my Mini Hearth. Decisions...

Still haven't seen any eggs, so she may have eaten them during the trip to me

Edited by CoolColJ, May 23 2018 - 2:57 PM.

[CoolColJ]

24 May 2018
 
Camponotus suffusus

 

Oh man disaster... my queen lost her whole left antenna, all my fault

Talk about mistakes galore.

 

So the plan was to put their broken test tube in a container, smash the water end to drain it and remove the cotton.

Place the remaining test tube into an outworld with a fresh test tube for them to move into.

Plan would have worked if i had gently smack the rear end on a concrete corner or something.

 

Instead I took a dumbbell plate I use to foot stop my door, and smash the end of it.

Result = glass flying everywhere and the whole test tube collapsing.

 

Off course the ants were both shocked and freaked that whole nest was gone.

I had to scramble, but lucky the ants were in no hurry to climb out of the container, they were instead stumbling around looking for a place to hide.

 

I placed their new test tube into the container, but it wasn't quite big enough to place the entrance right where they were.

So I had to guide the queen there, as they tried to wedge themselves under the red film around the test tube.

Once the queen found the place, the workers eventually did the same and carted the larvae into it.

I could not locate the single egg anywhere in the container nor in the old and new test tube, so it's lost

But all 6 larvae are fine.

 

And then I saw a limb, which I thought was an ant leg, but none of the ants were missing any, so I just assumed it belonged to the wood cockroach I fed them earlier.

It was only later on when I was examining them did I notice the queen was missing a whole left antenna!

 

She seems fine, as far as worker interaction goes, but she is definitely more clumsy and stumbling into things as the single right antenna has to do the work of two

 

I also have another 5 worker suffusus colony coming next week, so this hurts less, but still......

 

 

Camponotus humilior

 

Having moved them out of the red transparent test tube rack, and Blu tacking them outside on my desk next to a Pheidole test tube, the queen must be fairly happy with things as she laid a whole new egg sometime last night!

After they ate the last 3 and all of their eggs, I had given up hope.

I gave them 3/4 of a small wood roach, and they have been munching on it for a few days now, so they that helps.

 

But their test tube is not covered from light at all, only a small piece of red cellophane wrap loosely drapped over one side of the test tube.

So I guess the it's not the ambient light so much that bothers them, but having a constant stable environment more so.

 

The Pheidole colony next door is exposed to light pretty much all the time, and the queen is laying eggs.

I in fact saw an egg stuck on the queen's gaster for a while a few days ago

 

So I did plan to release these ants, starting to have too many colonies, but now emotionally, I am uncertain I want to do so.

Sigh...

 

-

 

-

 

On that note

 

Someone is giving me a Meat ant queen, Iridomyrmex purpureus, she basically looks like a 14mm version of my current 7-8mm Iridomyrmex queen

They all look about the same, these Iridomyrmex queens but the workers are not.

And she does have a fair few eggs, so that's another soon to be colony in the future....

 

her

 

Despite being fairly big, they are fast growing and aggressive ants.

7-8mm workers

 

Edited by CoolColJ, May 23 2018 - 9:40 PM.

[CoolColJ]

25th May 2018

 

Pheidole sp, all black  7mm

 

third nanitic just eclosed

It will be a while till the next nanitic, trickling them out, unlike my other Pheidole.

Their test tube still sits in the red transparent test tube holder.

 

Small bit of black mold starting to form at the top of the cotton dam....

 

 

Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm

 

Still at 9 nanitics, but very active colony, and they are massing a brood pile, which should explode into the next batch of second gen workers.

They are exposed to light at all hours except when I'm asleep, and they don't mind it one bit.

 

The foil of raw honey I left in their test tube, seems to have leaked onto the test tube surface.

And the ants have been piling all their garbage and small grains of raw nuts onto it.

They still return to this mess all the time to feed on the honey...

Also have a small piece of raw Almond and pine seeds, which have been there for a while and they ants still nibble on both.

Gave them 1/4 of a fresh wood roach bum a few days ago and they enjoyed it, no trace of it left now, they ate it shell and all.

Any bits left were dumped on the honey pile I guess.

 

And so that's why their cotton is mold free after all this time!

 

 

Polyrhachis rufifemur

 

1 nanitic, and a single cocoon which hasn't eclosed yet, but should soon.

 

Their test tube that sits in an simple, small outworld is empty and dry as far as I can see, and they don't want to leave.

There is a fresh test tube right connected to the outworld, but they don't seem interested.

On the bright side, if they can survive like this, no mold issues!

 

I saw the queen forage in the outworld earlier, she seem slow compared to days before.

She can't seem to discover the water in the Byformica water feeder, but the simple Chinese acrylic water feeder, with a cotton wool wicking the water, she found

Haven't seen her take the raw honey yet.

And the bit of wood roach she ignored. Left some baby crickets at the end of her test tube, which she should see the nest time she ventures out.

 

I know she is a semi-claustral breed, but it's odd she does all the foraging, while the nanitic attends the cocoon.

Wonder when this will change.

 

It may be better to take them out of this setup and place them in a test tube or the Mini hearth.

Edited by CoolColJ, May 24 2018 - 7:17 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Got this cheap and simple nest. It holds about 4 full syringes of water at the bottom.

While the water doesn't touch the nest, it should hydrate via evaporation

 

The nest always feels cool and damp to the touch.

I don't think it's gypsum, as it feels powdery like clay.

I have a gypsum nest and it feels much harder.

 

Lid with mesh opening up top.

Chamber network covers all 4 sides

Looks like it will hold a lot of ants as a result.

 

I might put one of my Pheidole colonies in it eventually.

 

 

I might try putting some cotton in the water tank area

Edited by CoolColJ, May 24 2018 - 7:09 PM.

[AntsAreUs]

Oh dang, you released that Ponera queen? I have been keeping Ponera a while now. They are quite fun little ants to keep and watch. As for caring for them, they do sort of need something to dig in, or very small artificial chambers along with a foraging area of course. They are normally subterranean ants and feed on various kinds of soil dwelling arthropods. Most feeders seem to work for mine.

[CoolColJ]

Oh dang, you released that Ponera queen? I have been keeping Ponera a while now. They are quite fun little ants to keep and watch. As for caring for them, they do sort of need something to dig in, or very small artificial chambers along with a foraging area of course. They are normally subterranean ants and feed on various kinds of soil dwelling arthropods. Most feeders seem to work for mine.

 

yeah I did

I figure i wouldn't be able to care for it properly. The last time I took in a colony of similar small ants, the wild Doleromyrma colony with 50 workers.

The queen died, and they wouldn't eat any of the typical food ants are fed, apart from some Pheidole larvae.

So the Ponera would be a similar issue for me I think.

[CoolColJ]

What the hell

 

The 4th humilior worker disappeared again... she was there earlier in the day... I highly doubt she died and was eaten that quickly.

The last time she disappeared, she showed up again a day later...

 

I looked through the whole test tube and even pulled the cotton out, zip, no sign of her.

Just strange all round!

 

So I am thinking of releasing these ants over the weekend.

 

Then tempted to dig out the Iridomyrmex bicknelli ants I let go 2 weeks ago.

And put them in the nest above to test.

Prolific, easy going, and active ants - perfect

 

I do miss them

I saw a few of the workers foraging a few days ago, doubt they find as much food as I provided them, nor the sweet taste of mountain bee raw honey

 

As to how I will do this? maybe dig their nest into a container and place the test tube there, and hope they enter, well if the queen does, then it's all good.

Ants will tend to run to the nearest hole if the nest is opened up.

 

Although I think the other 30+ brood Iridomyrmex queen I have might be a bicknelli as well, but won't know for sure till workers arrive.

Edited by CoolColJ, May 25 2018 - 3:07 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Well when I was getting ready for work at 4:30am, I did see that 4th humilor worker wandering on the table I keep some of my ant setups... but she ran away when I approached, and now I can't locate her

 

I left open a few empty outworlds, that have a water feeder and fluon barriers, maybe she will get trapped inside one, or she will return to her test tube nest and wait at the entrance cotton.

Which I think was what happened last time and she re entered the nest when I opened it up, without me knowing... as to how she got out, beats me, these are normally timid ants, but this one must have rushed out when I last opened their test tube..!

 

 

 

Camponotus suffusus #1 - 26 May 2018

 

Ahhh looks like one of the 6 larvae is getting eaten... it must have died as a result of my actions a few days ago

So I lost an egg, one larvae and the queen's left antenna - talk about a costly test tube move!

 

-

 

-

 

More and more, I am starting to dread test tubes with the mold, water running out etc.

I kept my Strobe ants in the Atom C nest right from the start when the queen had 7 larvae and look how well they are doing, and zero nest changes.

This greatly reduces stress for me and them. No mold issues as well.

All I did was open the nest up, and place it inside an outworld, when the workers arrived.

 

Considering getting a few Ant-Topia test tube replacement founding nests, with their superior hydration tank below the nest that wicks up via a ceramic piece.

Better system than the Tarheel Ants water tower, which tends to overflow into the nest and you can never tell exactly how much water you have left.

And better than the other resin nest I had (went with the red headed Iridomyrmex queen + brood I traded) which consumes the ceramic tile that wicks the water up.

 

Large viewable water tank is nice.

http://anttopia.com/image/cache/catalog/Micro%20V6/32116965_10214555435658151_3597034710968041472_n-500x500.jpg

 

The good thing about Tar Heel ants nests is the magnetic lid though, when it comes time to move the ants, there is no need to fiddle with lights or drying the nest out.

Just pull the lid off, and the ants will move out promptly.

Hopefully the Ant-Topia one can do that as well.

 

Test tubes are still good for queens that have no eggs yet, and keeping them in there for long periods of time, but once they do, then moving them to one of these founding nests is better for my sanity.

Feeding is a little harder though.

[CoolColJ]

26th May 2018
 

Polyrhachis rufifemur
 
Finally got them to move into a fresh test tube, by vinyl tubing a new one onto the old, covering the new one with red film, and exposing the old side with Sun.
it took about 30mins, but the queen eventually moved the cocoon over.
Then straight after rushed back, and grabbed the nanitic, and carried her across in her mandibles, quite cute

 

Now the nanitic is actually much more active now, since being carried across.

before she would sit on the cocoon and not do much.

 

Still pretty strange seeing the nanitic being so passive, and the queen doing everything, vs other queens and their nanitics.

With the others, it's the other way around. Semi-claustral vs claustral queens, or just a trait of this particular family?

 

So even with a dry test tube they wouldn't move out on their own. Seems like they don't need much moisture?

 

And there are no eggs for sure, so she must have ate them all on the journey to me.

 

 

edit - Oh I see her repeatedly thump her gaster on the ground when she's confronting  or approaching a "prey"

Edited by CoolColJ, May 25 2018 - 8:05 PM.

[drtrmiller]

She can't seem to discover the water in the Byformica water feeder, but the simple Chinese acrylic water feeder, with a cotton wool wicking the water, she found

 

byFormica Liquid Feeders feature a unique, semi-closed design which reduces moisture loss due to evaporation (even 1 ml of water can last for a week or longer), restricts even the smallest ants from getting sucked into the feeder, and lessens the likelihood that some ants will attempt to cover the exposed liquid with dirt.  Only ants which demonstrate extremely poor searching behavior, or those with heads or mandibles too large to fit into the drinking ports (Myrmecia, Odontomachus, etc.), will have difficulty finding or drinking from these feeders, including those containing plain water.

 

I offer plain water-filled feeders to all my colonies, which include small ants like Monomorium and Pheidole, to larger ants like Camponotus, and observe them drinking constantly, as the humidity in my living space is kept very low.  If ants are truly searching for water, they will absolutely find it in byFormica feeders.  Though, it will obviously take longer to find initially than other designs which place the liquid out in the open.

[CoolColJ]

 

She can't seem to discover the water in the Byformica water feeder, but the simple Chinese acrylic water feeder, with a cotton wool wicking the water, she found

 

byFormica Liquid Feeders feature a unique, semi-closed design which reduces moisture loss due to evaporation (even 1 ml of water can last for a week or longer), restricts even the smallest ants from getting sucked into the feeder, and lessens the likelihood that some ants will attempt to cover the exposed liquid with dirt.  Only ants which demonstrate extremely poor searching behavior, or those with heads or mandibles too large to fit into the drinking ports (Myrmecia, Odontomachus, etc.), will have difficulty finding or drinking from these feeders, including those containing plain water.

 

I offer plain water-filled feeders to all my colonies, which include small ants like Monomorium and Pheidole, to larger ants like Camponotus, and observe them drinking constantly, as the humidity in my living space is kept very low.  If ants are truly searching for water, they will absolutely find it in byFormica feeders.  Though, it will obviously take longer to find initially than other designs which place the liquid out in the open.

 

 

 

It was just a quick test , I have yet to try it with all my other ants, but yes it does evaporate much slower than my other water feeders, but quicker than a cotton dammed test tube feeder, although there is a difference in liquid volume.

[CoolColJ]

Polyrhachis rufifemur

 

So I just saw the queen exploring the outworld quite a bit, and then tried a few times to grab hold of the nanitic and attempt to carry her outside of the nest in her mandibles.

After the 4th time, finally doing so, she dumped her outside, much like a parent does to a child that sits in front of the TV/computer too much 　 

I guess teaching her to forage...and stop being so passive,,, very interesting behaviour, something I don't see in any of my other claustral queen ants

[CoolColJ]

27th May 2018
 

Camponotus suffusus colony 1 - RIP
 
I woke up and looked at the suffusus test tube through the red film, and saw the queen at the entrance cotton.
I thought it was odd, and on closer look her antenna were not moving...
Pulled the cotton out and her jaws were locked on like she was trying to get out, and she was motionless!

It hit me immediately that she was dying

She looked fine 9 hours ago when I went to bed!

 

I pulled her out and put on some tissues, wet her with some water.

She was still moving a bit, but by the time you read this, she has long passed.

 

Put her back in after a bit, for the workers to have some last moment with her, and the workers started cleaning her.

Then later moved some of the larvae around her.

 

Later took her out when she was dead.

 

The workers started acting weird, they moved all the brood to the front.

And one was dumped on the honey I put in on wax paper soon after taking the queen out.

Like the normally do with rubbish, was she dead?!

And then look like they were spraying formic acid on the larvae, with their gasters turned into each larvae

I took that larvae on the honey out and cleaned her a bit, put back in but the worker dumpoed he against the entrance cotton.

The others were gathered together.

 

If the larvae are still alive in 2 days time, I will donate them to my other suffusus colony of 5 workers with brood incoming

Dropped the honey soaked dumped one into the Polyrhachis rufifemur's outworld

 

-

 

So that fatal test tube change killed her? If the glass was enough to slice her antenna off clean, then there may have been more damage done.

But I cannot see any fatal wounds

 

 

This death is pretty gut renching emotionally

 

My tribute, and her last moments....

 

 

click to enlarge

Edited by CoolColJ, May 27 2018 - 3:49 AM.