1787 replies to this topic

[CoolColJ]

Summer 1st December
 
official first day of Summer
After the record breaking 105mm of rain 2 days ago, and a warm day today, will be on the lookout for more queens this afternoon.


Pheidole Colony E - Pheidole sp, light red head, dark red body, 6-7mm
16mm test tube, styrofoam double chamber setup - heatcable
50 workers, 1 brood boost major, 1 major pupa, small clump of brood
 
Sold this colony today
 
 
Pheidole antipodum 14-15mm queens x 12
in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
 
Finally moved all the queens into their respective setups!
I hedged my bets and tried various setups
 
Quad queen, triple queen, dual queen, and 3 solo queens.
I may still move the dual queen into two solo queens...
 
When I moved the extra queen into a container that already had 3 queens, there was no aggression and they instantly snuggled close together.
They must be a polygynous species - all the signs sure point to that.
 
All setups have a styro foam double chamber entrance.
1) Quad queen - red dirt
2) Triple queen - cardboard insert and aquarium filter wool
3) Dual queen - bare test tube
4) queen with coco coir
5) queen with red dirt
6) queen with white sand
 
 
The substrate looks wetter than they are, due to the flash
 
quad queen with red dirt

 
Triple queen with cardboard, they pulled the filter wool over the cardboard as substrate...

 
Dual queens - they stayed at the front of the test tube...

 
Coco Coir girl cleared all the coir away from the cotton, so the test tube may as well be bare
This one has the dark gaster

 
This girl churned up all the red dirt over night

 
Sand girl kept hers neat and tidy

Edited by CoolColJ, December 1 2018 - 5:48 PM.

[Kalidas]

Oh neat experimenting you got going on

[CoolColJ]

Summer 2nd December 2018

 

Apparently Camponotus consobrinus have been flying at night the last 2 days, but I've been too lazy to go out look for them

And Golden tail sugar ants should be as well during the day, but no signs of them so far

 

 

Pheidole antipodum 14-15mm queens x 12

in styrofoam and heat cable incubator

 

All setups have a styro foam double chamber entrance.

1) Quad queen - red dirt

2) Triple queen - cardboard insert and aquarium filter wool

3) queen - bare test tube

4) queen with coco coir

5) queen with red dirt

6) queen with white sand

7) queen in?

 

Overnight the dual queen setup separated, with one queen moving into the inner chamber. I was wondering if I should separate them or not, so in the end the ants made the decision for me [ ]

 

 

I'll leave that one in the bare tube, she looks smaller as well

As for the separated queen I haven't decided yet. I think substrate can never hurt, and only help.

Especially as the queens poop a lot

 

edit - the queen in the inner chamber moved back out to the other queen......

Edited by CoolColJ, December 1 2018 - 2:33 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Myrmecia nigrocincta, Bull ant, 19-20mm queen
20mm test tube inside small container outworld
5 larvae

When i checked on the queen, the cricket from 3 days was gone, left overs dumped into the honey dish.

And her larvae were quite large, and looking ready to cocoon!

So I moved her into a proper tub and tube setup with substrate, and gave her another fresh semi dead male adult cricket.

Which she stung to death

 

She started with 9 eggs, and now 5 larvae, so some of the eggs were probably eaten as food

 

I may be selling this one soon...

 

click to enlarge

Edited by CoolColJ, December 1 2018 - 4:00 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Pheidole antipodum 14-15mm queens x 12
in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
 
All setups have a styro foam double chamber entrance.
1) Quad queen - red dirt
2) Triple queen - cardboard insert and aquarium filter wool
3) Dual queen - bare test tube
4) queen with coco coir
5) queen with red dirt
6) queen with white sand
 
Checked up on the queens, they are all still alive.
And there have been some changes in a few setups
 
 
Queen 4 now stays where she is in this pic, away from the cotton, she snuggled against the wall of coco coir she cleared away from the cotton.
Interesting...


 
Queen 5 flattened the red dirt somewhat compared to this pic, but now sits against the styrofoam chamber entrance ontop of the red dirt.
Again away from the cotton, pretty cool


 
With Setup 3, the dual queen one. Yeah the queens move to the cotton to rehydrate or drink and then move back to the outer, smaller and dryer chamber...
I was going to split them up, but it's clear they like each others company.
They must like the smaller space in the outer chamber.

Edited by CoolColJ, December 1 2018 - 4:55 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Colony update - Summer 2nd December 2018

Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant) 10mm queen
Atom C nest inside circular outworld - tip ofheat cable pressed against side of nest
26 workers, 10 cocoons, 20+ larvae, eggs?

Damn, mass eclosures this week, up 4 workers!
As soon as I saw the pale workers around the brood I knew
Their growth rate has really acclerated quite a bit since the founding days, I supposed the heat cable pressed against their nest helps as well!


Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen
refillable gypsum plugged test tube connected to outworld - heatcable
1 minor worker, 3 large, 2 small larvae?, 9 eggs

Still no cocoons
3 months already....
I measured the temp inside the tests tube and it's at least 26-27 degrees, so warm enough.
One of the larvae is way bigger than the 3 large ones, so it could be a major


Melophorus sp.- black orange 7-8mm queen
Acrylic founding nest - heatcable
2 workers. 1 large, 2 medium, 3 small larvae

This species is growing much faster than the one above.
Since the new worker arrived they also cleaned up the rubbish a bit
The naked pupa must have died or eaten as I see no sign of it...

One good thing about this acrylic founding nest is that it dries fast, good air flow
I overfilled the water sponge and when I pressed the test tube against it to wick, the water spilled into the nest.
A few hours later it's dry.
Probably why there have been no mold issues, despite the ants leaving food bits nearby
In a test tube or a typical nest that soaks water into the nest itself, you would be seeing mold for sure.


Polyrhachis rufifemur 9mm queen
16mm test tube - heat cable
1 nanitic, 1 large, 1 medium, 2 small larvae, 2 hatched egg, 1 egg

Looks like the queen laid a new egg


Pheidole Colony G - 2x Phediole sp. red head/black body 8-9mm queens
16mm test tube - heat cable
26+ workers - first major pupa, second major larvae lots of brood

Second major larvae has been spotted.
A few new workers, and more eclosures soon with a few dark pupa.
Big brood pile now, which has expanded fast the last few weeks.


Pheidole Colony H - Pheidole sp, light red head, dark red body, 6-7mm
I have her in my double test tube modded setup, with a styro foam chamber entrance - heatcable
6 nanitics, small clump of brood

Another nanitic eclose didn't notice
Small stack or eggs, but I'm seeing a small stack of larvae now, so production is starting to ramp up.
Considering that this queen was caught at the same time as the one that I sold with 50 workers recently shows how much this one is lagging....
Either just the queen or my double test tube mod is to blame

They have been using the small piece of macadamia to block the styrofoam double chamber entrance, since the exit cotton is too far for them to pull strands off it
Fed them a trimmed piece of cricket leg yesterday and they dragged it back, and the workers are small enough to tunnel inside

Edited by CoolColJ, December 2 2018 - 12:59 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Summer 2nd December 2018 - Queen update


Meat ant queen - Iridomyrmex purpureus 14mm queen
16mm test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
3 large larvae, 24+ brood

Humming along, and 3 large larvae after 2 weeks
Should pupate soon, and eclose within 2 weeks at worst!


Rhytidoponera cf aspera queen 8-9mm queen
16mm Test tube - in small outworld - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
7+ eggs/small larvae, 2 brood boost cocoons
 
May have sold her, just waiting on payment


Camponotus suffusus bendigensis 17-18mm queen1
20mm Test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
4 eggs  - raw honey dish
 

Camponotus suffusus bendigensis 17mm queen 2
20mm Test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
16 brood - 2 cocoons, 2 large larvae, 1 medium larvae - raw honey dish

I keep forgetting to pull the raw honey dish out, which I will soon do!
Things are going fast though, 4 weeks and 2 cocoons already!


2x Aphaenogaster longiceps 12-13mm queen
16mm test tube - heat cbale
18 eggs, about 6 brood boost large larvae

I think 2 of the brood boost larvae are starting to pupate after a month now.
Lots of eggs, but also what looks like a lot of half eaten eggs as well...

I'll likely sell these when workers arrive


Myrmecia nigrocincta, Bull ant, 19-20mm queens
20mm test tube inside small container outworld
5 larvae

Put her up for sale, if no takers, then I'll just keep her till cocoons are spun, and resell.
If not, keep going until workers etc


Myrmecia fulvipes, bull ant, 17-18mm queen
20mm test tube - in small outworld
no eggs
 
Still no eggs, but I peeped into the test tube entrance , and she was curled over so might be laying!


Pheidole antipodum 14-15mm queens x 12
in styrofoam and heat cable incubator

All setups have a styro foam double chamber entrance.
1) Quad queen - red dirt
2) Triple queen - cardboard insert and aquarium filter wool
3) Dual queen - bare test tube
4) queen with coco coir
5) queen with red dirt
6) queen with white sand

No eggs so far
 
The dual queen setup in still outside warpped with thick red film.
Just observing them, as they stay in the outer chamber next to the exit cotton.
The others in my styrofoam and heat cable incubator set at 27 degrees average

Edited by CoolColJ, December 2 2018 - 1:18 AM.

[YsTheAnt]

That Myrmecia queen has 'good genes' . If you decide to keep her, you should have a decent sized colony going very fast compared to other people keeping this species.

[CoolColJ]

That Myrmecia queen has 'good genes' . If you decide to keep her, you should have a decent sized colony going very fast compared to other people keeping this species.

Yeah her larvae are much larger than the other queen I kept in the box with her.
None of my queens were heated either, average of 22-23C degrees temp in the room

Although the 10 brood one I sent to a girl in Queensland was up there with her, but apparently that one ate all her larvae after a week...
But she kept that one under red film in an outworld.
Since they have good eyesight, red film doesn't work as well.

This one I have in an outworld now with nothing covering the test tube.
Just overhanging cardboard sitting on top the outworld lid, with really dim ambient lighting.

Edited by CoolColJ, December 2 2018 - 1:54 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Summer 3rd December 2018

Pheidole antipodum 14-15mm queens x 12
in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
 
All setups have a styro foam double chamber entrance.
1) Quad queen - red dirt
2) Triple queen - cardboard insert and aquarium filter wool
3) Dual queen - bare test tube, red film kept outside in room
4) queen with coco coir
5) queen with red dirt
6) queen with white sand
 
My dual queen Pheidole setup has a few eggs already, even though I kept them outside of my incubator so I could check on them for a bit as they nested in the outer dryer chamber right against the exit cotton...on my styrofoam dual chamber test tube setups... and only covered by red film.... This will make feeding them a challenge once workers arrive...

 

Exposing them to light does not bother them, no alarm reaction, just a twitch of the antenna..

 

I am still thinking of splitting them.

Edited by CoolColJ, December 2 2018 - 1:53 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Myrmecia nigrocincta, Bull ant, 19-20mm queen
20mm test tube inside small container outworld
5 larvae

Someone paid for her this morning, so sold

Edited by CoolColJ, December 2 2018 - 2:59 PM.

[CoolColJ]

10 mins well spent. I hopped down to the local tennis court on the edge of bushland down the road from my house to just maybe check things out with my LED torch at 9:30pm. Saw a bunch of consobrinus workers and majors doing tandem runs

Then looked at the tennis court and found this big ant just standing there all confused!

I figured consobrinus queen, if so I must have missed their flights earlier in the evening

 

Back home I see she has no bands, and measured 18-19mm!

So it must be a Camponotus cf nigriceps!
 

Edited by CoolColJ, December 3 2018 - 3:05 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Longest Camponotus queen here yet, bigger than the dead 18mm Camponotus suffusus queens I have from a few months back.
She is likely the queen of these massive 15.5-16mm orange majors I see around here!
 
click to enlarge

Edited by CoolColJ, December 3 2018 - 5:11 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Summer 4th December 2018

Pheidole antipodum 14-15mm queens x 12
in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
 
All setups have a styro foam double chamber entrance - except noted
1) Quad queen - red dirt, red film outside on heat cable
2) Triple queen - cardboard insert and aquarium filter wool
3) Dual queen - bare test tube, red film kept outside in room - some eggs
4) queen with coco coir
5) queen with red dirt
6) queen with white sand
 
I moved out the quad queen setup, which does not have any eggs yet I think.
The red sand in their test tube is still way too wet, it's not drying, so I removed the double chamber entrance, some red dirt, and placed it outside on the heat cable.
To let it dry out. Red film around test tube.
The queens barely reacted...

Still pondering the dual queen setup, and a bit worried that they set up shop against the exit cotton
I half want to split them up...


Camponotus cf nigriceps 19mm queen

20mm test tube, styrofoam double chamber entrance, in styrofoam and heat cable incubator

 

Put her in a fresh 20mm test tube with a styrofoam double chamber entrance - she ran in there and squeezed in, you could hear the styrofoam squeak

And now into my styrofoam and heat cable incubator

 

She measures 19mm!

 

Edited by CoolColJ, December 3 2018 - 6:11 PM.

[CoolColJ]

2x Aphaenogaster longiceps 12-13mm queen
16mm test tube - heat cable
2 pupa, 4 brood boost large larvae, 20+ eggs

 

Been a long time coming, a bit over a month, but 2 of the 6 brood boost larvae remaining have pupated!
On the bad side there is some nasty mold from the half eaten eggs!
And lots of scattered eggs and half eaten ones.. that don't seem to hatch, sure seems like both queens or one is infertile!

 

I'll see what happens when the two pupa eclose, but it's looking likely I'll be releasing these 2

 

click to enlarge

 

 

[YsTheAnt]

Aphaenogaster can be this way. Oftentimes they lay trophic eggs for larvae and don't lay eggs that are fertile till the larvae aren't hungry. Try a new tube and a bit of food when the workers arrive. Oftentimes they look infertile but really aren't.

[CoolColJ]

Summer 5th December 2018

Aphaenogaster longiceps 12-13mm queen1
16mm test tube - heat cable
2 pupa, 4 brood boost large larvae, 20+ eggs
 
Aphaenogaster longiceps 12-13mm queen2
20mm test tube - aquarium filter wool - heat cable

 

I moved the queen that seems to mope around at the front of the test tube to another 20mm one I had lying around from the recently released R.aspera Gamergate colony, temporarily, and overnight she already has a new cluster of over 10 eggs!

She stands over it, and they are grouped together apart form 2 scattered eggs. So maybe she is OK.

 

The other queen's behavior in the moldy test tube has also changed with the split. She no longer stands on the cotton all the time and has come down, moved some of the brood around. Maybe having the two queens in the same test tube causes dysfunction...

[CoolColJ]

Pheidole antipodum 14-15mm queens x 12
in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
 
All setups have a styro foam double chamber entrance - except noted
1) Quad queen - red dirt, no double chamber entrance
2) Triple queen - cardboard insert and aquarium filter wool
3) Dual queen - bare test tube, red film kept outside in room - cluster of 10+ eggs
4) queen with coco coir
5) queen with red dirt
6) queen with white sand
 
Putting the quad queen setup on the heatcable was a bad move...wet red dirt and heat = more condensation
Last thing I needed when I'm trying to dry the dirt out!
I had insert some folded tissue paper with my forceps and soak up all the water on the ceiling of the test tube - the ants did not react
And same for the red dirt.
Then put back into incubator which does not cause condensation due to the even heat, at least based on past experience.
Will check up again later today

The Dual queens have a nice clusters of 10+ eggs now, and still stand side by side in the outer chamber, so maybe I won't split them up.

I might split one of the quad queen setup to a new test tube though...

[CoolColJ]

Camponotus cf nigriceps 19mm queen
20mm test tube, in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
 
Got her some cocoons for a little brood boost - from hopefully the same species, big orange and black/maroon gaster things.
4 small and 3 larger cocoons... hopefully the larger ones are just majors and not alates!

Silly me decided not to bring along my featherweight forceps, thinking I didn't need them... so I had to scoop them up and also use my fingers while lots of angry large ants were scurrying around.. I pray i did not damage them...

 

Also saw over 10 alates in the nest, so it's a large and mature nest. I'll be keeping my eye on it for more queens!

 

She seem a bit annoyed at the cocoons and looked to attack some of them, then piled them against the cotton exit... I will check up on her in a weeks time and see how it all goes down..

 

click to enlarge

[CoolColJ]

Iridomyrmex species - dark red head/throax, iridescent bronze gaster, 10-11 queen

16mm test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator

 

10-11mm Iridomyrmex species queen from Alice Springs, with red head/thorax and a iridescent bronze coloured gaster like a meat ant queen, but with a more slender build.

Have no idea on species or what the workers look like!

 

She has similar behaviour, fast movement, agility of some of the smaller Iridomyrmex species

She only started laying on Sunday and already has 19 eggs

Unlike the other Iridomyrmex that I have had, this one stresses out a bit more easily by light, and goes checks on the exit cotton and pulls on the water dam in the test tube

I put her into my incubator, let's see if she has as fast a brood speed as the smaller Iridomyrmex or Meat ants!

 

click to enlarge