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ANTdrew's Crematogaster Divas Journal -Reboot!

Started By ANTdrew , Oct 20 2018 5:49 PM
antdrew crematogaster journal divas

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680 replies to this topic

#421 Offline Kaelwizard - Posted October 8 2020 - 2:39 PM

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Wow just wow. My trio escaped through a hole smaller than them and my single queen died.

#422 Offline TennesseeAnts - Posted October 8 2020 - 2:50 PM

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Yeah, C. lineolata have really small colonies when kept monogyne.


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#423 Offline ANTdrew - Posted October 8 2020 - 4:04 PM

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Wow just wow. My trio escaped through a hole smaller than them and my single queen died.

What!?!?!
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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#424 Offline Kaelwizard - Posted October 9 2020 - 11:05 AM

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Wow just wow. My trio escaped through a hole smaller than them and my single queen died.

What!?!?!
Hopefully they turn up. I’d rather not have 3 loose queens in my room that could survive and invade my other pets enclosures.

#425 Offline ANTdrew - Posted October 11 2020 - 5:15 AM

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Yesterday I found several myrmecophile crickets living with Tapinoma sessile in my wood pile. I managed to catch one, and decided to try introducing it to my mega-colony. I chilled the cricket with some workers in my fridge overnight, then dumped them in the foraging area this morning. The ants got pretty aggressive, so I don’t know if they’ll accept the poor critter.
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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#426 Offline ANTdrew - Posted October 11 2020 - 5:11 PM

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I think the cricket ended up as lunch. I can’t see it anymore in ant case.
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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#427 Offline ANTdrew - Posted October 24 2020 - 7:37 AM

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Update 10-24-2020

 This journal recently hit the two-year mark. I hope to keep it running many more years, God willing. Sigyn's colony has grown tremendously in the past two months, perhaps at a quicker rate than ever before. I can hardly keep up with their nectar consumption. The largest size byFormica mega-feeders get emptied in four days. I figured it's time now to take them off heat and start preparing them for diapause. It will be really nice having a break from these girls for a few months, but I think next season will bring awesome things for this colony. The sky is the limit at this point.

 

A photo and a GIF depicting how full their massive outworld is. They go all Braveheart whenever I lift the lid and stream up the sides: "FREEDOM!"

 
 
I put my new queens in the fridge last week wrapped up in a towel. For whatever reason, seeing big fat Crematogaster queens makes me happier than any other species.

 

 

 

 


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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#428 Offline Spazmops - Posted October 24 2020 - 7:56 AM

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The GIFs really show the constant activity of this colony, much better than a still image could.


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Co-owner and founder of Mountain Myrmeculture and The Menagerie Discord Server. 

Ants I have:

1 Formica fusca group- 0 workers

1 Tetramorium immigrans colony-20 workers

1 Dorymyrmex insanus- 1 queen, used to have workers

 

1 large P. occidentalis colony- around 50 workers, plenty of brood

 

 

#429 Offline Kaelwizard - Posted October 28 2020 - 8:07 AM

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:o


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#430 Offline ANTdrew - Posted November 24 2020 - 7:03 AM

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Update 11-24-2020

 

 Sigyn and her Divas are finally in sleepy time, hopefully counting aphids in their dreams. You haven't lived until you've driven 3,000+ ants across town to hibernate. Honestly it was quite stressful and a bunch of water sloshed up out of their water towers during the drive (I wish I had thought to empty them beforehand). Crematogaster never freak out about anything, though, so it's all good. I'll probably be leaving them down in the cold basement until March or even later if I want more of a break. Stay tuned.

 

 Here's me driving them. I kept one hand on the Nucleus III the whole way to keep it from moving. The only thing comparable was driving my newborn human larvae home from the hospital for the first time.

 

 

Attached Images

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Edited by ANTdrew, March 2 2021 - 10:42 AM.

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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#431 Offline ANTdrew - Posted December 6 2020 - 11:16 AM

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Update 12-6-2020

 

 My Crematogaster mega-colony is happily hibernating now in my parents' unheated basement. The temperature down there should steadily drop into the mid 40s as winter progresses. I took advantage to do a deep cleaning of their foraging container. Seeing it this clean and empty is deeply satisfying. You gotta love diapause!

 

Before:

 
After:

 

 


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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#432 Offline Spazmops - Posted December 6 2020 - 1:19 PM

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I'm envious of how clean that outworld is! It must be nice to get a break from the constant escape attempts.


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Co-owner and founder of Mountain Myrmeculture and The Menagerie Discord Server. 

Ants I have:

1 Formica fusca group- 0 workers

1 Tetramorium immigrans colony-20 workers

1 Dorymyrmex insanus- 1 queen, used to have workers

 

1 large P. occidentalis colony- around 50 workers, plenty of brood

 

 

#433 Offline Ants_Dakota - Posted December 7 2020 - 7:10 AM

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crematogaster is just like my myrmica. really messy. 


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Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. -Proverbs 6: 6-8

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#434 Offline RushmoreAnts - Posted December 7 2020 - 8:08 AM

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Pogonomyrmex are actually fairly neat in terms of their outworlds.


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"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds (including ants). And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version

 

Keeping:

Tetramorium immigrans

Formica cf. pallidefulva, cf. incerta, cf. argentea

Formica cf. aserva, cf. subintegra

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Pheidole bicarinata

Myrmica sp.

Lasius neoniger, brevicornis

#435 Offline ANTdrew - Posted December 7 2020 - 8:29 AM

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Yeah, Crematogaster are total slobs.


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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#436 Offline M_Ants - Posted December 7 2020 - 1:20 PM

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Really? So far my colony is pretty clean. 


Veromessor pergandei

Veromessor andrei

Crematogaster sp. 

Pogonomyrmex cf cali and rugosus

Various Pheidole

C. yogi 

https://www.youtube....FG7utFVBA/about

#437 Offline RushmoreAnts - Posted December 7 2020 - 2:04 PM

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Really? So far my colony is pretty clean.

How large is it?

"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds (including ants). And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version

 

Keeping:

Tetramorium immigrans

Formica cf. pallidefulva, cf. incerta, cf. argentea

Formica cf. aserva, cf. subintegra

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Pheidole bicarinata

Myrmica sp.

Lasius neoniger, brevicornis

#438 Offline DDD101DDD - Posted December 7 2020 - 2:18 PM

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Here's something I heard you should try next year. When they put their trash in places you don't like, move their trash to somewhere you want them to put it and they might put their trash in the area you put their old trash if you keep on doing it.


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He travels, he seeks the p a r m e s a n.

#439 Offline ANTdrew - Posted December 7 2020 - 2:19 PM

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Really? So far my colony is pretty clean.

You have a different species, too, I believe.
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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#440 Offline M_Ants - Posted December 7 2020 - 2:26 PM

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They are fairly small right now. Maybe 20 workers or so. When they were in a test tube they made food disappear.  


Veromessor pergandei

Veromessor andrei

Crematogaster sp. 

Pogonomyrmex cf cali and rugosus

Various Pheidole

C. yogi 

https://www.youtube....FG7utFVBA/about

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