1787 replies to this topic

[CoolColJ]

I also ran the heating cable over the Pheidole and C.humiliot test tube as they are close by

Over the middle of both test tubes

 

Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm
 

The workers noticed the heating cable warmth with a few mins and moved all the pupa it seems up to the test tube ceiling sticking it up there.

While 8 of the 9 nanitics hung around them.

Then the big pupa pile collapsed to the floor!

And the workers slowly brought them back up again

 

The queen and one worker stayed at the water cotton though. Along with most of the larvae.

Seems like no one to feed the larvae now, apart from the queen and one worker, which they started to do later on....

So the heating cable has downsides in this case

 

Camponotus humilior

 

Took the C.humilior longer to respond, but after a worker noticed, the queen moved up to the heating cable.

Then the two workers with the eggs.

 

Now I can see they are back to two eggs, they must have eaten the third one

WTH, I just gave them a nice chunk of wood roach yesterday!

Edited by CoolColJ, June 9 2018 - 6:15 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Loving that heat cable

 

The workers carted all the pupa, some larvae and all the eggs, and recently hatched larvae and stuck them on the ceiling next to the heat cable

Queen stayed on the water side with the rest of the larvae

 

There is a lot more brood than I thought!

Looks like one pupa may eclose this week

 

click to enlarge

Edited by CoolColJ, June 10 2018 - 3:31 PM.

[CoolColJ]

humilior with the vertical egg placement

Maybe due to the the heat cable

 

click to enlarge

[CoolColJ]

Colony update - 10th June 2018

Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant) 10mm queen

6 nanitics, 1 eclose yesterday, as posted in the last page
I think the last cocoon may eclose in 2 weeks time. Another larvae was starting to spin a cocoon this week.
 

Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen

1 nanitic, 1 minor worker 
Finally moved into the tbe nest as per the previous page

Melophorus sp.- black orange 7-8mm queen

No eggs. 5 workers
No changes.

 
Camponotus humilior
 
4 nanitics, 2 egg.
They had 3 eggs, but seem to have eaten one a few days ago
I may release them this week....
 
Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm
 
9 nanitics. See above pics of the heat cable ones. A lot more brood than I thought!

 
Pheidole sp, all black  7mm
 
6 nanitics. I thought there were only 4 nanitics, but I counted 5 and one just eclosed one.
And it looks like 2 more brown pupa to eclose this week - getting more crowded quickly and catching up to the other one
I will most likely take them out of the test tube rack and place them out in the open next to my other Phediole species above.
Will be cool seeing two different Pheidole species grow side by side.

click to enlarge

 
 
Polyrhachis rufifemur 9mm
 
No eggs, 1 cocoon, 1 nanitic
Even after a month, nanitic still is not as dark as the queen, legs especially.




Camponotus suffusus 18+mm
 
7 workers, and 11 larva
Not much change. They have settled on the left side of the Atom C nest.
There is always a guard at the entrance.
They are exposed to light all the time now, and don't mind it, but vibration and clunks freak them out

Edited by CoolColJ, June 10 2018 - 3:27 PM.

[CoolColJ]

10thJune 2018 - Queen update


Banished Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm

5 eggs, but might be 4 eggs, so she might have eaten one.. grrr I am feeding her too


Pheidole sp. red 7mm
 
was 8-9 eggs, eggs looked to have hatched into small larvae

 
Iridomyrmex sp. 7-8mm
 
Into week 10, still no pupating

click to enlarge


 
2x Phediole sp. red head/black body 8mm
 
Some large larvae now
 
 
3x Phediole sp. red head/black body 8-9mm
 
About the same as last week, some large larvae
 
 
Camponotus consobrinus 16-17mm
 
No eggs

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

 

 

Pheidole antipodum? 14+mm

 

Queens have been moving around a bit.

Queen 2 has curled over a few times now, inspecting her gaster, maybe she has laid or is about to...

This one has also pulled at the water side cotton a bit

But I expect them to lay in spring, about 2+ months from now

Queen 1- no eggs
Queen 2- no eggs

Edited by CoolColJ, June 9 2018 - 11:05 PM.

[CoolColJ]

11th June 2018

Camponotus suffusus 18+mm

 

I saw 3 workers eating, well sucking all the fluids out of a larvae, last night!

I'm sure they have the reasons to do so, but it's always upsetting to see this, and it may have died.

This brings them down to 10 larvae, which is still a decent amount at this stage

 

Left a foil/wax paper inside it combo of raw honey and a worker came and it enjoyed it, despite there being a Byformica feeder with Sunburst right next to it

They don't call them "sugar ants" for nothing

[CoolColJ]

My suffusus were setting up shop on the left side of the Atom C, since I suspect that is the warmer side as the window is on that side.

 

Today I ran a heating cable past the circular outworld the nest sits inside since I was using it for my other ants, and thought why not.

The cable is 2 inches away from the nest, and even through the outworld red dirt and outworld casing, the ants noticed it.

The guard worker put herself right next to the heating cable, and the whole nest relocated to side closest to the heating cable.

 

A heating cable, in winter is better than using a bright light to get them to move

 

This also triggered more Atom C white sand dumping, 1 grain at a time , to just outside the nest entrance

Since the brood space had moved, and they don't seem to like having the loose white sand under the brood....

Edited by CoolColJ, June 11 2018 - 1:48 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Winter 12th June 2018

 
Camponotus humilior
 RELEASED
 
I noticed they were back to one egg, so overnight they ate another, grrrrr
Been wanting to release them for a while, so today was good a time as any!
Dug a hole and put them into it, covered it up.
Been winter it will help them out as they won't need to forage.
 
Had humilior twice, and both times they have annoyed me, not fun, nor interesting to keep.
Cross them off my list for good...
 

Pheidole sp, all black  7mm queen
 
With the space vacated by the humilior, I took these girls out of the red test tube rack and placed them here beside the other Pheidole test tube below.
The light exposure didn't seem to bother them.
Their cotton is really dirty, much worse than the other, so will need to change it out soon.
But I'll wait till the two brown pupa eclose, which will bring the nanitic count up to 8.
The queen does not sit near the cotton, and the brood pile is also away from it, so that helps
 
Both these test tubes have a heating cable running past for the moment, but the queens do not sit near it, only the brood gets moved.
But the disruption caused in both test tubes caused them to move all the brood back to near the queen....


Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm queen
 
Accidently killed 2 of the workers when the cotton feel out, and one went missing
So back to 6 nanitics.
But the heating cable seems to have cause 3 pupa to go light brown already, so maybe they will eclose soon.

Will need a test tube change soon, but after the next batch of pupa eclose, I'll likely move them into my Inception Chamber.
 

Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen

They seem to be settling into the new tub nest with the heating cable looped around it once, in the middle.
They moved more red dirt into the tube nest overnight and put it where the queen likes to sit.

The smaller nanitic keeps roaming the outworld constantly, and once in a while returns and sits near the heating cable.
Not sure what to make of it... but she may be dying soon...

Edited by CoolColJ, June 11 2018 - 9:24 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Polyrhachis rufifemur 9mm

 

Solitary cocoon finally eclosed today! Been a while, but I missed it getting helped out of the cocoon.

Must have just came out as it's not moving much and looks a little strange

 

click to enlarge

 

[CoolColJ]

Polyrhachis rufifemur

The queen hasn't been out in the outworld or eaten anything for a few weeks, but after the cocoon had eclosed, today she was out and about. Sipping honey and returning to the nest to feed the nanitics, for several trips.

Nanitics are still really passive...

here she notices me, and soon after returns to the nest to feed

 

 

 

Even after another day, the nanitic is still really weak, and clumsy.

She often falls on her back and can't get back up, nobody helps her either.... 

I did see the older nanitic worker try to grab her and carry her, much like the queen did to her a few weeks back.

 

Edited by CoolColJ, June 12 2018 - 9:42 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Made a little Wood roach container today with one egg crate, red dirt at the bottom, and moved in at least 100 live wood roaches of all sizes from the small dirty, wet container of them I bought from the pet shop a week ago.

There was only 1 dead wood roach in the container.

Watered down Fluon barrier on all sides

Feeding them cat snacks and apples. That should keep them alive for a while, and maybe even breed.

 

Decided to do this instead of freezing them.

I found out that putting them into hot water from the tap for 20 secs, kills them good, along with any parasites if any. They die within a few seconds actually.

Now my ants don't freak out from their twitching nerves when I used to just grab them with my cross lock tweezers (best way I found to grab them as the tweezers are spring loaded and never let go) and the snip them up

Better than frozen insects, fresher as well.

Edited by CoolColJ, June 12 2018 - 9:56 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Winter 14th June 2018

 

 

Oh man, getting Pheidole to move is like sh*tting uphill!

 

 

Pheidole sp, all black  7mm queen
 

Force them into a new test tube after the heating cable, bright light, and sun didn't do anything, they just stick to the cotton even more stubbornly.

Now blowing into the test tube does trigger the queen but they return after a bit...

I basically gaffer taped the fresh test tube on, and and swung them in using centrifugal force.

Brutal but effective - but I probably lost some eggs and larvae in the process, but I can afford it with these.

 

Queen was shocked for a bit, but was settled after a few hours.

This queen and the workers do sometimes position themselves and the brood near the heating cable.

But the queen doesn't stay near the cable much.

 

Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm queen

 

Their test tube cotton is already pretty dirty.

They also don't use the heating cable anymore.

 

Tried to get these to move, but they won't budge. And they have too much brood to use the above method.

All methods don't work

Poking the queen with a small paint brush gets her to run into the other test tube easy enough.

But the workers won't follow her, they get scared and dig in.

 

Not sure how to get them to move.

Way too much water in test tube to dry them out.

And unlike a founding formicairum with a lid, I can't just expose them

SUCKS!

 

I guess I'll let them get more workers, and just smack a hole in the back of the glass test tube, drain the water and pull the cotton out and dump them all into the Inception Chamber outworld when the time comes

 

At least I was able to clean up all the rubbish in their test tube when the queen was in the other test tube and the workers rooting into the water cotton.

 

 

[anttics]

Man if I found one of those suffuses when I was in Sydney it could have someway found it’s way in my luggage.

Lol. I think the same. There are some silver armor looking ants. The size of Camponotus in our family ranch. Is located in the high jungle of the Amazon region Peru. It is a species. I have never seen in pics. I'm 100% sure they have not been found by science yet. just me and the natives of the land know about them. Next time ill go ill try to bring some sample for you all to check.

[CoolColJ]

Test tube alternative founding nest thoughts

 

Having been frustrated with test tube setups for founding queens, and looking for something cheap but effective

I will be trying out some small vented petri dish, 55x15mm, for founding queens.

 

Just a matter of figuring out the hydration method, that can match a test tube for longevity.

 

Perhaps a double stacked Petri dishes that are joined together, the bottom one slightly offset for a syringe hole to be drilled into.

And then a hole to connect both dishes, with a wick/cotton placed inside a small section of vinyl tubing.

 

The offset overhang area of the top dish can be used to drill a hole through it's floor and a small vinyl tubing inserted for the entrance

 

Will probably just Blu tack the two dishes together so I can pull them apart when needed, but the vinyl tubing inserted in the hole between the two dishes should hold both together pretty well.

 

If the hydration cotton ever gets moldy, I can just pull the bottom half of the lower Petri dish off and replace it quickly.

Getting the ants out is just as easy as pulling the top petri dish lid off

 

Red dirt to be placed into the top petri dish as substrate

[CoolColJ]

Winter 15th June 2018

 
Pheidole sp, all black  7mm queen
 
Looks like another nanitic has just eclosed, bringing them up to 7 now.
And maybe two more by tonight.
The heating cable is helping here


Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm queen
 
After accidently killing 2 nanitics, they were down to 6, but I can only see 5 right now...
So another has died?
Well a few more pupa look to be ready to eclose soon.
And they have a lot of brood.


Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen

Can't seem to find the last nanitic worker, so she has passed away last night
No sign of her body though, and they are poor climbers, so I don't think she escaped.

Down to one regular minor worker... really wish I hadn't accidently hurt that other minor worker, that later died, now
Hope the queen starts to lay eggs come spring.


-

Wood Roach farm

Yesterday I pulled out the egg crates to have a look, there is a ton of them there, I saw a medium sized grey beetle in there with them!

It might be a beetle that a meal worm turns into.... I crushed it and gave it to my suffusus, but they didn't want it, so I trashed it.

 

I saw a bunch of roaches in the water feeder test tube last night, which I didn't expect so they do drink from it.

They also seem mostly active at night as far as eating goes, but it might be due to the fact my food area is exposed. Haven't seen any small roaches at the food, just a few large ones... do they have a social stomach?

 

They are pretty cute and adorable, actually

Edited by CoolColJ, June 15 2018 - 3:56 AM.

[CoolColJ]

2x Phediole sp. queens -  red head/black body 8mm

 

These two queens have been in this dinky 12x100mm test tube, which is running low of water, and I have been wanting to move them to a larger 16x150mm test tube for ages, but it was hard when they only had small eggs.

Well today I looked and they have what looks like 3 pupa, a bunch or larave and some smaller egg/larve.

At least large enough for me to see and move.

 

I moved the queens to an upside down vial.

 

And then swung in the pupa and larger larvae to the fresh test tube.

After I had to manually move all the eggs and smaller larvae with a combo of a wet cotton bud and a narrow feathweight forceps, gently sticking them to one side of it.

 

When all done, I let the queens into the fresh test tube.

So far they have huddled at the cotton end.

Hopefully they find all the eggs/larvae at the front of the test tube and gather them, once they have settled down....

 

I needed to do this before the nanitics arrived, otherwise it will get messy....

 

I will most likely sell these two, as I already have 5 queens of this species and one well on it's way to founding a large colony!

 

I wish I already had my petri dishes, step drill bits here so I could have moved them into my Petri dish founding nest idea....

Edited by CoolColJ, June 15 2018 - 3:56 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Winter 16th June 2018

 
Pheidole sp, all black  7mm queen
 
2 more pupa eclosed so they now have 9 nanitics, nice.
Only a few larvae and pupa left, but another has gone light brown, so may eclose in a few days time.
Will confirm how much brood/eggs left when I take a pic tomorrow.


Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm queen
 
Wow, 3 pupa eclosed over night, heat cable is really working well here.
So back up to 8 workers.
There is a clump of some 12 pupa and 1 larvae near the heating cable the workers piled up last night, and two are brown which should eclose today.
Would be up to 12 workers now had I not accidentally killed 3, and another that somehow disappeared...

There is is still a lot of larvae and few more pupa near the queen back at the wet cotton side.
At least 20+. So this colony is expanding quite fast.

The 3 newly eclosed workers stay near the queen and attend the larvae there.


--

2x Phediole sp. queens - red head/black body 8mm

The two queens that I moved as per above, did manage to find most of their brood and clump them together.
There is only 1 small larvae that is still at the front.
In hindsight I should have used the much longer wooden barbecue skewers (I just bought some today)
to place the eggs and small larvae right next to the cotton instead of a cotton bud placing them near the front

Maybe I'll take them out of the test tube rack and place them on the heating cable to give them a boost.
Get some nanitics up before I decide to sell them.

Edited by CoolColJ, June 15 2018 - 7:53 PM.

[CoolColJ]

I gave some Protein jelly to some of my ants to test, small blob on wax paper.

Two small founding Pheidole colonies had a worker come and go, suck on it most of the time. I expected that.

 

Polyrhachis rufifemur, no interest, well they don't have any interest in the wood roach bits I gave them either, dumping it back outside on the wax paper, neatly beside the raw honey
They only want raw honey right now....

 

What suprised me was my black and orange Melophorus workers taking to it, well one did. I've been leaving them wood roach and meal worm bits, but they never touched any.

Haven't seem them sip the raw honey either, but the protein jelly, they seem to like 

 

These gals -

[Derpy]

What nest is that?

[CoolColJ]

What nest is that?

 

 

Little Chinese acrylic founding test tube type nest I got from Aliexpress to try out

https://www.aliexpre....548f4c4dqdpV9P

 

The water doesn't last too long, I have to refill every week.

So compared to a test tube the evaporation rate is pretty high.

I feel my petri dish idea will be much better

 

click for larger image

Edited by CoolColJ, June 16 2018 - 6:52 AM.