680 replies to this topic

[ANTdrew]

Update 5-11-2021

 

I had quite the surprise last night when I spotted Sigyn's first queen larvae! The thing is massive! I know FeedTheAnts got his colony to this stage, but I don't know if anyone has gotten beyond it. I hope to keep pumping them full of protein to find out what the future holds. This colony is off the chain, so to speak.

 

You should be able to spot the chubby thing in this mass:

 

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Edited by ANTdrew, May 11 2021 - 4:42 AM.

[ZTYguy]

oh wow. Awesome!

[TennesseeAnts]

Congrats! I think you're the first person on this forum to get C. cerasi to alates!

[ANTdrew]

I believe so!

[Lillyrose]

Way to go divas!

That's really exciting... good eye spotting it .. once I saw it .. it is obviously much larger .. but I don't know if I would have seen it on my own.

Congrats!

[ANTdrew]

I just counted six queen larvae. Holy crap!

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[Croux]

Wow! Congrats!

[Canadant]

Congratulations! You are now of Royal blood!

[PetsNotPests]

Wow, that's awesome! The're clearly doing well! Keep up the great work!

[ANTdrew]

Update 5-24-2021

 

Sigyn's royal brood are growing up fast! I unplugged their heat mat since my house got quite hot last week, so they brought the brood back down into the actual nest (imagine that). I was able to catch this cool view of a queen pupa. She already sporting the stacked gaster we all know and love.

 

 

I also spotted a fully eclosed male in the nest.

 

[Antkeeper01]

long live the QUEEN!

[Antkeeper01]

ANTdrew:

 

I recently got a colony of Cremas and need tips for keeping them and names for the Queen and colony.

[ANTdrew]

Name her Skuld, one of the three Norns that weave the fates of men. You can call the colony the Cardiacs.
As for tips: lots of heat, lots of food, and lots and lots of outworld space. Use fluon and well ventilated lids.

[ANTdrew]

Name her Skuld, one of the three Norns that weave the fates of men. You can call the colony the Cardiacs.
As for tips: lots of heat, lots of food, and lots and lots of outworld space. Use fluon and well ventilated lids.

[Antkeeper01]

ok thanks alot i was having trouble coming up with names

Edited by Antkeeper01, May 30 2021 - 5:30 AM.

[ANTdrew]

Update 6-3-2021

 

It is amazing to think that this colony is very nearly at reproductive maturity. Most of the queen larvae are pupating now, so I should see some new queens very soon. I'm already seeing some eclosed males inside the Nucleus. It will be interesting to see how that plays out as the summer progresses. I keep feeding these a lot (the excess Brood X cicadas are helping with that), and I've had no escapes.

 

Both outworlds are totally full at all times:

 

One interesting thing I observed is the colony building walls with chewed up carton. I had put an extra large test tube up in one of their outworlds for some more nesting space for them, and I covered it with a thick bamboo stem I had sawed in half. The ants must have chewed up bamboo pulp and plastered it in the opening of the tube to seal it off. I know certain tropical Crematogaster take this skill to impressive heights, but it's really cool to see it in my local species. I've learned to never underestimate the ingenuity of these ants.

 

Under the bamboo, you can see the carton they built to plug it:

 

Only downside is that the bamboo is basically glued to the tube now, so I can't lift it to see what they're up to under there.

[Lillyrose]

Oh wow!

🥰

That's amazing lol .. they are going to be hard to hibernate this year.

[antgallery]

Cool!

[ANTdrew]

Update 6-17-2021

 

Sigyn's first batch of queen alates is now eclosing. I'd wager she has about 20 in the Nucleus at this point. Here is a picture of a callow queen:

 

 

The fluon failed in one of their big outworlds, so I had to renew it on Monday. That was quite an ordeal, but at least it's holding for now. I may even try the baby powder thing, but I've always been kind of skeptical about that. 

Even after all these years, this colony continues to blow my mind.

[ANTdrew]

Update 7-26-2021

 

These ants are in a weird kind of plateau at the moment. The colony isn't really growing anymore, which isn't really a bad thing given that they are already huge. They have about 30 queen alates and a few males here and there now. There is very little worker brood at the moment, though, which has me puzzled. I am still feeding these a handful of feeder insects almost every day, and they are eating with gusto. They are very warm and nothing else really has changed. I was worried something had happened to the queen, so I did a diligent search and managed to find her along with several big egg piles, so she is alive and well. I have a few theories about what may be going on. I wonder if more knowledgeable people want to chime in here:

 

Theories:

1) The queen herself took a break from laying after raising the big generation of alates

2) Workers signaled to the queen to stop laying, so they would have enough resources to feed the massive queen larvae

3) Workers were feeding queens eggs to fatten them up, which caused a gap in worker production

4) Most of the food is going to the new queens, so worker brood is being neglected

5) This is just some natural plateau for this species. Perhaps they bloom with reproductives then start petering out?

 

As long as this is something natural going on, I'm actually kind of happy to see this colony taking a break from expanding across my living room. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens with the big egg piles in the queen's chamber. Stay tuned.

 

I get great views of the queen alates when they come up to wander in the Nucleus outworld.