1787 replies to this topic

[Leo]

is this the thread with the most posts???!!!

[CoolColJ]

is this the thread with the most posts???!!!

Only because I put all my ants in the same thread, but rather that than maintain 20 odd threads

[CoolColJ]

Summer 20th December 2018
 
Pheidole Colony H - Pheidole sp, light red head, dark red body, 6-7mm
16mm, with a styro foam chamber entrance - heatcable
6 nanitics, some brood pupa, small clump of brood
 
Ok this colony was in my double test tube mod.... I decided to try refill the water tube....
Open lid, syringed water in, closed lid, which forced the water out and flood the ant test tube!
Lucky I did have the styrofoam double chamber entrance, which the queen hung onto and the brood floated and wedged against it!
 
After much fiddling I did dry out the ant tube, moved the queen who hung onto the styrofoam peice, along with 2 workers to a new test tube.
Vinyl tubed the old with the new one, after removing the water tube.
The 4 workers left in the old tube eventually gathered all the brood, and then moved them all to the queen later on
 
Phew!
They are now nesting in the double chamber entrance, but should move to the cotton eventually.
Some of the pupa look close to eclosing

Aphaenogaster longiceps 12-13mm queen2
16mm test tube - heat cable
2 workers, 20+ eggs

second worker eclosed.
It looks like they may have abandoned the brood boost larvae. I saw a worker move it against the raw honey dish, near the heat cable and left it there...



Rhytidoponera cf aspera queen 8-9mm queen
16mm Test tube - in small outworld - heatcable
2 workers, 4 small larvae?

I think the second worker that eclosed a few days ago has died?
I see a worker in the middle of the test tube, but she hasn't moved in a day
How does that happen???

Their test tube is a tad wet, so I will need to move them to a new one... which will be tricky.

[Major]

https://imgur.com/a/xTFlpXe

Not edited

[Nare]

https://imgur.com/a/xTFlpXe

Not edited

That is one gnarly mantis...

[CoolColJ]

strange looking thing

[CoolColJ]

Summer 21st November 2018
 
 
Woah everything happening today!
 
 
Camponotus cf nigriceps 19mm queen 1
20mm test tube, in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
5 eggs
 
Sweet, she laid 5 eggs, 2 days after I moved her into my incubator!
The other smaller queen has not, and I see she has pulled on the cotton...
 
click to enlarge

 
 
Meat ant queen - Iridomyrmex purpureus 14mm queen
16mm test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
1 nanitic, 6 pupa, 8 larvae, 17+ eggs
 
A nanitic has eclosed! Still very pale so probably eclosed today.
2 more pupa look ready to eclose soon. And another 2 few days later.
Will keep them inside the incubator until all pupa have eclosed and then take them out and feed them.
Then they will go onto the heat cable outside.
 


look at the mandibles of the pupa, built for ripping meat up


caught the queen laying an egg already!



Camponotus suffusus bendigensis 17-18mm queen1
20mm Test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
2 brood boost coocons and 1 medium larvae, 4 small larvae, 1 egg  - raw honey dish
 
She laid another egg.
Then I pinched 2 cocoons from the queen below for her, and a larvae happen to get stuck on a cocoon, so she got that one as well
She happily accepted them all
One cocoon looks quite dark, due to the worker inside, so it may eclose soon...
 



Camponotus suffusus bendigensis 17mm queen 2
20mm Test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
1 nanitic, 4 cocoons, 8 larvae - raw honey dish
 
When I checked on her, the nanitic was already dark, so probably eclosed a couple of days ago!
Pinched 2 cocoons and a larvae that happen to be stuck to one... targeted the dark looking cocoon, which has a worker near eclosing.
Dropped in a raw honey dish as the queen was moving to the exit to check on things and forgot about it all after she tasted the honey

That is a pretty big nanitic



Nanitic has a much hairier gold bum than I recall regular C.suffusus workers having.

[CoolColJ]

Summer 22nd December 2018

 

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

 

3 cocoons now! And I see a large larvae cocooning, they surrounded it with red dirt substrate.

Brood speed seems to be picking up!

Certainly way faster than the other colony/species I have

 

The oldest worker looks to be on her death bed though. She's been hanging out towards the front part of the nest, and never moves much...

Well she stayed alive long enough to get the queen going into her second and third generation of brood

Edited by CoolColJ, December 21 2018 - 3:56 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Pheidole antipodum 14-15mm queens x 10
in styrofoam and heat cable incubator

All setups have a styro foam double chamber entrance

1) Triple queen - red dirt - cleared all the red dirt and heaped up it into a low wall at the middle of the test tube
huge single stack of eggs
2) Triple queen - cardboard insert and aquarium filter wool water dam
stack of eggs
3) queen with coco coir - moved all the coco coir against the cotton dam, wicking the water into it
big stack of eggs
4) Queen with red dirt - moved the red dirt to block up the double chamber entrance
small clump of 15+ eggs
6) Queen - bare test tube
medium clump of eggs
7) Queen - bare test tube, former partner of queen 6
big stack of eggs

RIP, one of the queens in quad queen setup 1, has died....I was planning on moving one out to a separate setup, now no need...
At least she would have laid some eggs.
She is just lying her on back in the inner chamber, the other queens did not eat her.
This one measures 13.5mm one of the smaller ones

Queen 6+7 have a lot more eggs, especially queen 7, went from 3eggs to a big stack!
Queen 3 seems to have more eggs than than the 3/4 queen setups!

Edited by CoolColJ, December 22 2018 - 3:58 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Colony update - Summer 23rd December 2018

Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant) 10mm queen
Atom C nest inside circular outworld - tip ofheat cable pressed against side of nest
33 workers, 18 cocoons, 16+ larvae, 20+ eggs

Another worker eclosed this week. I see another cocoon that looks orange so that should eclose soon.
Holy crap 18 cocoons?! And 16 larvae... easily over 50 workers before winter!

click to enlarge




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

Still waiting on that first cocoon to eclose 4 months on!
But things are are happening - I see 4 cocoons now, 1 large, 2 medium and 1 small. 9 eggs, so queen has laid a new batch and 4 large larvae.
17 total brood




Melophorus sp.- black orange 7-8mm queen
Acrylic founding nest - heatcable
1 worker. 4 cocoons, 3 eggs

RIP, that last nanitic, I think has finally passed away, leaving the lone recent new worker.
But there are 4 cocoons now, and I can see 3 eggs. Not sure what happened to some smaller larvae though

You can see the dead worker's body on the left, the worker dragged her there.
She died where she was hnaging out the last 2 days, towards the front in the foraging area of the nest.



Polyrhachis rufifemur 9mm queen
16mm test tube - heat cable
1 nanitic, 1 large, 1 medium, 2 small larvae, 5 eggs

9 total brood now, so the queen layed 2 more eggs.
It's be slow going, no cocoon yet for that large larvae.
 



Pheidole Colony G - 2x Phediole sp. red head/black body 8-9mm queens
16mm test tube - heat cable
50 workers, 1 major - second major pupa, 2 major larvae lots of brood

colony is growing fast.
I saw a worker drag the major to the chamber entrance, for sentry duty. I guess she has already graduated




Pheidole Colony H - Pheidole sp, light red head, dark red body, 6-7mm
16mm test tube, styro foam chamber entrance - heatcable
6 nanitics, small clump of brood

5 pupa looking about to eclose.
Getting back on track after the flooding incident.




Meat ant queen - Iridomyrmex purpureus 14mm queen
16mm test tube - heat cable
2 nanitics, 5 pupa, 9 larvae, 10+ eggs

2  nanitics now, another eclosed today, not moving much.
3 pupa looking ready to eclose soon.
 
I took them out of the incubator and place them outside on the heat cable.
They follow the heat cable where ever it is... don't seem to care much for humidity.... they were right against the exit cotton in the incubator, because the heat cable ran 1cm away from the exit cotton.
When I took them out, the light didn't bother them , and they moved all the brood back to the centre where I placed the heat cable
 
The oldest worker is so hyper and fast! The queen as well
I moved in a raw honey dish and the older worker sucked on it while the queen freaked and stressed a bit.
But she eventually came to the honey and sucked it all dry!
Dropped in a piece of cooked pork, and they took to it... most other ants wouldn't take it at this stage, but they are called meat ants for a reason
 
first nanitic has darkened a bit but still not that red yet.


 
 
Camponotus suffusus bendigensis 17mm queen 2
20mm Test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
1 nanitic, 4 cocoons, 8 larvae - raw honey dish
 


Rhytidoponera cf aspera queen 8-9mm queen
16mm Test tube - in small outworld - heatcable
1 worker, 1 larvae

One of the workers that had just eclosed last week died...

Had to move them to a new test tube, as the old one was leaky, and I saw a garbage eating mite walking around, which may have come from the brood boost cocoons from the Gamer gate colony that I released.
They had the same mites hanging around the larvae...
I tried doing the usual techniques, but in the end I had to force move them.
And I somehow lost 3 larvae
Oh well.. and I'm about to sell them as well...


Camponotus suffusus bendigensis 17-18mm queen1
20mm Test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
1 nanitic, 1 brood boost cocoon and 1 medium larvae, 4 small larvae, 1 egg - raw honey dish

Woah one of the brood boost cocoons eclosed!
So I need to promote her to colony status
They moved all their brood to the front of test tube closer to where the heat cable is in the incubator, even though the heat cable does not touch the test tube

Edited by CoolColJ, December 23 2018 - 9:55 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Summer 23rd December 2018 - Queen update


Myrmecia fulvipes, bull ant, 17-18mm queen
20mm test tube - in small outworld
1 medium sized larvae
 
Her larvae is getting bigger every time I look, but she does not seem to be feeding it.
And I see no dark food spot inside it..
At least not with the insect bits I give her.. maybe just honey...
 

Pheidole antipodum 14-15mm queens x 10
in styrofoam and heat cable incubator

All setups have a styro foam double chamber entrance

1) Triple queen - red dirt - cleared all the red dirt and heaped up it into a low wall at the middle of the test tube
huge single stack of eggs
2) Triple queen - cardboard insert and aquarium filter wool water dam
stack of eggs
3) queen with coco coir - moved all the coco coir against the cotton dam, wicking the water into it
big stack of eggs
4) Queen with red dirt - moved the red dirt to block up the double chamber entrance
small clump of 15+ eggs
5) Queen - bare test tube
medium clump of eggs
6) Queen - bare test tube, former partner of queen 6
big stack of eggs
 
still thinking of splitting the third queen from setup 1.
This queen does not seem to be in with the stack of brood, unlike the other 2.


Iridomyrmex species - dark red head/throax, iridescent bronze gaster, 10-11 queen
16mm test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
30 brood

Plenty of medium and large larvae now!
 
 
Camponotus cf nigriceps 19mm queen 1
20mm test tube, in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
8 eggs
 
she laid 3 more eggs
 
Camponotus cf nigriceps 18mm queen 2
20mm test tube, in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
no eggs
still no eggs

 
Camponotus aeneopilosus aka golden tail sugar ant - 12mm queen
16mm test tube - styrofoam double chamber setup - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
12 small larve

Moved her into my incubator

Edited by CoolColJ, December 23 2018 - 9:54 PM.

[FSTP]

I'm calling it. This journal has some of the best ant photography on the entire site.

[CoolColJ]

I'm calling it. This journal has some of the best ant photography on the entire site.

 

 

Thanks

 

 

Summer 24th December 2018

 

 

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

 

I just noticed a 5th cocoon this morning!

A small one

They haven't been eating much at all, so maybe some of these are nanitics again...

[CoolColJ]

Meat ant queen - Iridomyrmex purpureus 14mm queen
16mm test tube - heat cable
3 nanitics, 5 pupa, 8 larvae, 10+ eggs

The third nanitic worker has just woken up.
The 2 other workers are busy cleaning off the stringy bits off her
Worker 4 and 5 not far off

My queen is sitting on the raw honey dish 24-7. She will take a sip for a minute and then rest for a bit - repeat

Edited by CoolColJ, December 23 2018 - 6:27 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Camponotus suffusus bendigensis 17mm queen 2
20mm Test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
1 nanitic, 5 cocoons, 5 large larvae, 1 small - raw honey dish

Another cocoon spun.
I fed them their first protein meal, poached wood roach bit - and queen and nanitic gorged on it, forgetting about the light exposure and all the commotion

quick video
https://photos.app.g...3UmyHVfH6bJpPv8


Camponotus suffusus bendigensis 17-18mm queen1
20mm Test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
1 nanitic, 1 brood boost cocoon and 1 large larvae, 4 small larvae, 1 egg - raw honey dish

That larvae I pinched from the queen above, has grown a lot since a couple of days agi, it looks large now and ready to cocoon!
Also fed them some poached wood roach for the first time, but them more hesitant to approach it...

Edited by CoolColJ, December 23 2018 - 10:20 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Fed all my ants today, one large near fully molted roach poached in hot water, chopped up into 10 bits


Noticed my Strobe ants are no longer timid now, and swarmed on the wood roach bit

Now > 30 population they have changed in character

 

click to enlarge

Edited by CoolColJ, December 24 2018 - 12:13 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Summer 25th December 2018

 

Moved both my Polyrhachis rufifemur and Aphaenogaster longiceps into my incubator, to get some faster development.

Meat ant queen - Iridomyrmex purpureus 14mm queen
16mm test tube - heat cable
5 nanitics, 5 pupa, 8 larvae, 10+ eggs

Two more eclosed last night, 5 nanitics total!

These ants are pretty big, and yet grow as fast as the smaller Iridomyrmex and Pheidole.

 

Dropped in a live female termite, which the queen murdered before the workers did

 

 

Pheidole Colony G - 2x Phediole sp. red head/black body 8-9mm queens
16mm test tube - heat cable
50 workers, 1 major - second major pupa, 2 major larvae lots of brood

 

Second major pupa is starting to yellow. Should eclose in a week's time

 

 

Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen
refillable gypsum plugged test tube connected to outworld - heatcable
1 minor worker -  1 large, 2 medium, 2 small cocoons, 1 large larvae,  2 medium, 1 small, 8 eggs.

 

Noticed a nice pile of eggs sitting on the heat cable next to the cocoons.

Counted 11 eggs, up 2.

 

 

Pheidole Colony H - Pheidole sp, light red head, dark red body, 6-7mm
16mm test tube, styro foam chamber entrance - heatcable
7 workers, small clump of brood

 

Another worker eclosed.

3 more dark pupa to eclose soon. Noticed a clump of new eggs

 

I setup this new test tube pretty dry on the water cotton side, just barely damp.

And I noticed this colony has put all the brood on the test tube surface instead of on the cotton unlike this species normally does.

 

 

Rhytidoponera cf aspera queen 8-9mm queen
16mm Test tube - in small outworld - heatcable
1 worker, 1 larvae

 

I also setup their test tube water cotton pretty dry as well.

This has worked well - they brought up a lot of dirt and layered it against the cotton and test tube surface, and unlike my normal test tube damp setups, the soil has not gotten soaking wet.

Much better for mold reasons

Edited by CoolColJ, December 25 2018 - 2:24 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Pheidole antipodum 14-15mm queens x 10
in styrofoam and heat cable incubator

All setups have a styro foam double chamber entrance

1) Triple queen - red dirt - cleared all the red dirt and heaped up it into a low wall at the middle of the test tube
big stack of eggs and 1 large larve
2) Triple queen - cardboard insert and aquarium filter wool water dam
stack of eggs
3) queen with coco coir - dark gaster - moved all the coco coir against the cotton dam, wicking the water into it
big stack of brood and 10+ large larve
4) Queen with red dirt - moved the red dirt to block up the double chamber entrance
small clump of 15+ eggs
5) Queen - bare test tube
big stack of eggs
6) Queen - bare test tube, former partner of queen 6
big stack of eggs
 

So after about 3.5 weeks now, I checked all my setups today, with surprising results.
The former dual queen setup, 5 and 6, now split up has a big stack of eggs each, way more than queen 4, and the triple queen setup 2, and probably about equal to triple queen setup 1!
Queen 4 with the red dirt has by far the least amount of eggs, but around 20, which is not bad by most queen's standards

Setup 1 does have a large larvae, but holy crap the coco coir queen 3 has at least 10 large larvae!
Some of these are likrly small majors, since this is the only species I know of that has majors in the first batch of brood.
Not only that, but her brood pile is probably the largest of the lot... maybe coco coir does something... but then again the two bare test tube setups have big stacks of eggs too!
It does not explain why queen 3's brood is developing so much faster though, could be down to genetics.
She is the only one with a really dark gaster, with a dent in it as well

Still think about splitting one queen off the triple queen setup 1. They are under performing, and it might be due to the multi queens not meshing properly.
I did see setup 2's triple queens feed each other.

Queen 3 - I reckon there are at least 100 eggs and larvae here
click to enlarge

Edited by CoolColJ, December 25 2018 - 4:30 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Came back anting just after sunset.

 

Only found a 16-17mm Camponotus consobrinus queen, and that was after a back tracked a few metres, if I had not done that, I would have missed her

Not interested in keeping her, but what can you do?

[CoolColJ]

Summer 27th December 2018

 

Meat ant queen - Iridomyrmex purpureus 14mm queen
16mm test tube - heat cable
5 nanitics, 5 pupa, 8 larvae, 10+ eggs

 

And just like that 2 pupa have started to turn yellow and should eclose tommorrow!

I can literally seem them get darker every hour

Stinking hot 29C degree days helps.

 

Nanitics are already hyper and aggressive unlike 99% of Ant species at this stage.

Tearing up any food I give them, and carting any rubbish to the front or into the honey dish.

Also not seeing a red thorax on these, just a red head...

 

Noticed a curious behaviour where the workers will sometimes just splay out they legs and sleep on the test tube surface near the heat cable

Queen's gaster has gotten huge!

 

I might be selling these off in a few weeks time... just not enjoyng them as much as I thought I would.

 

 

Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen
refillable gypsum plugged test tube connected to outworld - heatcable
2 minor workers -  1 large, 2 medium, 1 small cocoon, 1 large larvae,  2 medium, 1 small, 8 eggs.

 

Woah, I see a new small worker! So one of the small cocoons has eclosed.

This worker is smaller than the current one by 2mm, and a lot more active

And it only took 4 months, heated!

 

Also I've noticed my queen has a broken front right leg

Not sure when that happened, I only noticed it last week.

It might explain why she bumbles around when moving fast.

It looks darker then the other legs, and she never puts weight on it, or moves it.

I wonder how she cleans her right antenna, but it doesn't seem to have hampered her any.

 

click to enlarge

You can see the queen's bum front right leg is black...

Edited by CoolColJ, December 27 2018 - 3:05 AM.