1787 replies to this topic

[Barristan]

Awesome pictures in this thread, I also love your strobe setup, I need to build something similar, so I have a hand free .

 

Does the formicarium have museum glass because you don't see any reflections?

[CoolColJ]

Awesome pictures in this thread, I also love your strobe setup, I need to build something similar, so I have a hand free .
 
Does the formicarium have museum glass because you don't see any reflections?

My nest doesn't have museum glass, I just shoot at a low angle.
My LED focus light on the flash helps me judge where the light reflections will land and I move accordingly
It's a bit annoying, if I ever get a full size nest I will be going museum glass


My current flash setup is a different, I have white polystyrene lid from a takeaway meal, attached to the flash top, via holes and two velcro cable ties. Quite loose so I can put it on and off.
This acts like a reflector.
I am planning to replace it with a Rogue Flashbender eventually, as this can be bent and curved into any shape you want and does the same thing, but portable and more robust if you ever need to go outdoor, hiking etc
https://www.amazon.c...DKIKX0DER&psc=1

And then a paper foam rubber banded to the front of the lens in a concave diffuser shape, which I have angled upwards. Need to be bigger, as right now there is a gap between the two.

Edited by CoolColJ, June 3 2018 - 12:43 AM.

[Barristan]

This would be quite nice: https://www.amazon.c...s=macro bracketBut too expensive

[CoolColJ]

This would be quite nice: https://www.amazon.c...s=macro bracketBut too expensive

I have some EBay thing that does the same thing for like $10 or something, but not as good
I have yet to experiment with moving the flash onto that, need a remote cable, but it's one extra thing to setup...

[CoolColJ]

Colony update - 3rd June 2018

Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant) 10mm queen

5 nanitics
One of the cocoons looks to be ready to close this week, looking quite orange through the cocoon
I counted 5 eggs, 5 small larvae, 7 large larave and 2 cocoons. Nice

click to enlarge

 

Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen

1 nanitic, 1 minor worker 

They are still in the small water feeder in the out world... I think I will clean out the dirt from the refillable Chinese test tube and redo it.
The dirt seems to be holding in too much moisture, which they don't like.


Melophorus sp.- black orange 7-8mm queen

No eggs. 5 workers
No changes.

 
Camponotus humilior
 
4 nanitics, 2 egg.
One more egg layed this week.

 
Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm
 
9 nanitics. Same as last week, but even more brood, clump of eggs and pupa of second gen workers.
Some larvae have brown food inside them, and others black, wonder why?



 
Pheidole sp, all black  7mm
 
4 nanitics. looks like more nanitics to eclose this week, brown pupa


 
 
Polyrhachis rufifemur 9mm
 
No eggs, 1 cocoon, 1 nanitic
Nanitic finally darkened after almost a month - most other ants darken within a week!




Camponotus suffusus 18+mm
 
7 workers, and 11 larva after successful merge

Edited by CoolColJ, June 6 2018 - 8:55 PM.

[CoolColJ]

3rd June 2018 - Queen update


Banished Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm

5 eggs, she laid 3 more this week after feasting on a wood roach
That's enough to get her own colony going
 
click to enlarge


Pheidole sp. red 7mm
 
8-9 eggs
I moved her from my drawer to one of my red transparent test tube rack.
She was clutching the eggs in her jaws.
 
Iridomyrmex sp. 7-8mm
 
Into week 9, must be getting close to pupating now.
Didn't think these ants would take 3 months from eggs to nanitics... but once they arrive they explode in growth



 
2x Phediole sp. red head/black body 8mm
 
Much the same as last week
 
 
3x Phediole sp. red head/black body 8-9mm
 
Some large sized larvae now.
There is less brood here than the number of eggs they laid. So they must ahve eaten some brood.
Still plenty left
  

 
 
Iridomyrmex purpureus - meat ant 14mm
 
She has 11 eggs, a decent amount for these fast growers, but still fairly large and aggressive ants
 


 
Camponotus consobrinus 16-17mm
 
No eggs

Pheidole sp, light red head, dark red body, 6-7mm
 
Queen 1 - no eggs
Queen 2 - no eggs

[CoolColJ]

Finally got those two queens

They measured around 14mm in the test tube, but from experience, they could be 1mm larger outside of it.

One looks a little larger

They look like Pheidole queens, just a lot larger and bulkier

They are either Carebara or most likely Pheidole Antipodum queens, but in either case, they will have multi sizes of majors

 

ID thread discussion

http://www.formicult...tralia-2952018/

 

click to enlarge

 

Edited by CoolColJ, June 3 2018 - 6:46 PM.

[CoolColJ]

is this a mite on the queen's head?

 

[CoolColJ]

soaked that queen under water for 15 mins, she went dormant after 6 mins.

That should drown the mite, if it is one, but after taking her out, it looks like it's still there, but maybe dead.

She stirred after a few mins on tissue

 

these jewellers loupe 30x magnifying glass from Ebay are pretty good for looking at things like this

 

she kept floating, so had to use an upside down vial lid, filled with water, to push her down 1cm under the water

Edited by CoolColJ, June 4 2018 - 1:17 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Debating as to if I should put one of the Phediole antipodum? queens in my Mini Hearth.

I'm not a fan of the Mini hearth, it is dark and hard to see inside.

And I think it does not suit the type of ants like these Pheidole and Carebara ants, where they explode with lots of small minor workers.

Better for larger and medium sized ants that grow and brood slower IMO

 

They were both in 18mm test tubes, I moved them to 20mm ones for the time being.

I just angled their test tube up and slide them in, they don't seem to grip well.

They kinda freaked out for a bit and hung out near the entrance cotton, but have slowly moved towards the water side, 1cm at a time

 

 

 

5th June 2018

 

Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen

 

They are still in the small water feeder in the out world... I have replaced the Chinese tube nest lined with dirt with another, but without the dirt and a cotton wool jammed in front of the gypsum section to absorb any leaks.

So that makes it a regular test tube setup that you can refill in a way

 

On a sad note, it looks like the last nanitic might die soon, as she has been hanging out on the square water feeder, away from the rest of the colony.

That would leave the poor queen just 1 regular minor worker. It should be 2 but I accidently squashed one

Pretty painful for them as they do not lay eggs and brood fast unlike other ants.

 

 

Iridomyrmex purpureus queen - meat ant 14mm

 

RIP

 

She was fine this morning

But a few minutes ago, I saw she was on her back, legs splayed out, and motionless... took her test tube out of the rack... and she is dead

 

I haven't formed much of an emotional attachment to her yet, she was only here for a week or so

Might explain why she was constantly cleaning herself, and why she was at the front cotton yesterday.

You can never tell when these ants will just die of all of a sudden.

At least she died before she had workers

 

She leaves behind 11 eggs, not sure what to do with them. I could feed them to my largest Pheidole colony, but that may be more hassle than worth it.

I could get another queen instantly, as there is someone selling 15 of them really cheap with eggs.... but I dunno if I really want another just yet

They are quite common and easy to get hold of, I might even catch a few queens of my own one day.

Edited by CoolColJ, June 4 2018 - 8:39 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Camponotus suffusus

 

I fed the Camponotus suffusus colony a small wood roach a few days ago.

Was worried about the roach body causing mold in the nest, as they have been moving it around the Atom C nest.

 

But just then I saw a worker drag the remains out, all the way to the opposite side of the nest entrance and dump it there - nice, neat ants

As I mentioned before, but they keep dumping the white sand from the Atom C nest outside the entrance as well.

Must be something they don't like about it. Seems to be from areas where the brood is sitting on.

 

They also have been moving the brood from one side of the nest to other, on a daily basis, same as the queen.

 

 

[CoolColJ]

6th June 2018

Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm

 

Gave them a small piece of cooked chicken mince last night, they nibbled it a bit.

And today they dragged it all the way to the cotton and brood, with at least one worker on it round the clock.

 

Surprised me, they are not fussy eaters at all

 

The small piece of raw almond I gave them a few weeks back is still there in the middle of the test tube, getting smaller, they nibble on it in between any other food I give them.

[CoolColJ]

Camponotus humilior - 7th June 2018

 

Queen laid another egg, so back up to 3.. maybe I'll keep them around for a bit longer

For Camponotus these develop pretty fast, 1 month in warmer weather, the last time I had a colony of these.

[AntsNewZealand]

I keep amblyopone and the one down side is that their egg to worker usually takes up to 8 months but they are still very cool and pretty big

[CoolColJ]

I keep amblyopone and the one down side is that their egg to worker usually takes up to 8 months but they are still very cool and pretty big

 

That's way too long for me - so it was a good decision on my part to not get the queen + brood that I saw, in hindsight

[CoolColJ]

Camponotus consobrinus queen

 

My eggless queen has been moving ever closer to the entrance cotton, each week.

She is now only an inch away from it....2.5 inches away from the water side, that's pretty dry

 

I have seen a video of large colony of these living in a large glass outworld with zero hydration, apart from a water feeder in a corner... they must really like it dry

[CoolColJ]

8th June 2018

 

Pheidole sp, all black  7mm

 

5th nanitic just eclosed. And it looks like the 6th might do so in the nest few days

 

Compared to the other Pheidole colony I have, this queen is a lot more aggressive, whenever I open their test tube, so I might attach an outworld sooner than later.

Although that might change with a few more workers, as then the queen might not be so guard dog like and let the workers do it instead, like the other colony.

 

 

Polyrhachis rufifemur 9mm

 

Queen has come out into the outworld much, unlike when she first arrived here.

She hasn't eaten since 2 weeks ago where I gave them that dead larvae from the passed away Camponotus suffusus queen.

I gave them a small potion of wood roach just then, put it at the nest entrance.

And she approached and gave it a look, but didn't take it...still very cautious

She did come back a few more times , but kept her distance.

 

Maybe later tongight she will eat it

 

 

3x Phediole sp. red head/black body 8-9mm

 

Also gave these 3 queens a small chunk of wood roach, as they appear to be eating some of their brood.

But since they have already eaten, it might be too late, as they are probabbly no longer hungry... and so it seems.. as one approached it, but quickly returned

Edited by CoolColJ, June 7 2018 - 11:13 PM.

[CoolColJ]

See how big the two Pheidole antipodum? queens I got recently are vs my black Camponotus consobrinus, the second largest queen I have here at 16-17mm.
Largest I have is Camponotus suffusus at 18+mm.
Consobrinus on the left.
Definitely not your average Pheidole queens

click to enlarge 


And the consobrinus vs my 9-10mm Camponotus humilior queen as reference

Edited by CoolColJ, June 8 2018 - 7:21 PM.

[CoolColJ]

9th June 2018

 

Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant) 10mm queen

 

Just noticed the 6th nanitic had just eclosed, probably a few hours ago.

I see a very pale looking 6th worker in the Atom C nest, still being cleaned a little by her sisters.

And so she just makes the weekly cutoff, when I predicted a cocoon was about to eclose this week on Sunday

One more nanitic cocoon left.

 

nest is starting to look more interesting

 

They haven't eaten much of anything I give them, at least none of the insect bits I have left them.

Haven't seen them on the raw honey either the last few weeks.

But eggs and brood are still coming along.

 

 

click to enlarge

[CoolColJ]

Melophorus nest situation...
 
click for larger

So my Melophours were still nesting in the Water feeder test tube as in the above pics...

LOL I finally got them to move into the attached test tube by wrapping a heating cable around the middle of it.
After 10 mins the queen noticed the warmth and moved into the test tube.
I then removed the water feeder test tube. I'll keep the heating cable there for the next day or so until they claim this test tube as their home...
They also seem a lot more lively with the heat, they have their zip and "furnance ant" speed back

 

They have already spread red dirt from the outworld all along the inside of the test tube, but mostly near the entrance

The pics above show the old test tube which I have removed, the new one does not have dirt inside, and I have a cotton dam between the gypsum part of the refillable tube nest and the ants, to hold some water and prevent leaks.

Edited by CoolColJ, June 9 2018 - 6:00 PM.