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[ANTdrew]

Update 9-28-2021

 

I have good news and bad news to report in this update. The bad isn't all that bad, but the good news is very good indeed, so I'll start there.

 

After many months, Sigyn finally has a decent pile of larvae and pupae. There are also several hundred eggs. I have removed almost all of the queen alates, so I think this finally freed up enough resources for the colony to begin growing again. After observing them for several years now, it also seems that this species takes a midsummer break in colony growth. This was exacerbated this year by having tons of gluttonous queen alates scarfing down eggs all the time. In any case, I'm very relieved.

 

The flip side of this is that the colony staged another big jailbreak a few weeks ago. It seems that silicone should also be added to the list of materials these Houdinis can chew through. It took them a year and a half, though. I plugged the hole with a thick bead of new silicone, and aspirated up as many escapees as I could. I plan to swap out their old glass while they are hibernating this year and put down a new, thick layer of silicone just to be safe. If I'm really bold, I may try to evict them from the faulty Nucleus once and for all.

 

Some more bad news is that I failed to find a single new Crematogaster queen this season. Oh well...

[That_one_ant_guy]

Update?

[ANTdrew]

I’ll put one together.

[ANTdrew]

Update 10-13-2021

 

Change is in the air for the Divas. They continue to chew small holes in the silicone sealing the gap in their Nucleus. Saturday morning was the latest breach, but I was able to contain it relatively easily. Nevertheless, I'm all the way done with this faulty nest, so I will be moving them ASAP. To this end, I've recruited AntsUtah to fashion me a nest slightly larger than a Nucleus. We've been in touch, and it sounds like he completed the project and will be shipping soon.

 

Kicking the Divas out of the Nucleus will be a real ordeal. I envision removing the glass and trying to swish out as many as I can with a feather. I'll probably need to recruit my brother to help with this. Once they are out, I may be able to finally repair the gap with two part epoxy, but what's to say they can't chew through that given enough time?

 

Their brood pile continues to grow nicely again, but they are still kind of in a funk. Hopefully they will snap out of it next spring.

 

 

[ANTdrew]

Update 11-23-2021

 

I have some tough news to report. This colony continued to escape from the their Nucleus III; this time, it was a big crack that started forming under the water tower of the nest. The ants were freely slipping out, so I had to urgently move them into something secure. I had a lovely new Nucleus replica ready for them that AntsUtah made for me, so I bit the bullet and tried to evict them from the old, flawed nest last night. Well, it turns out you can't just dump Crematogaster from a Nucleus. It took me a harrowing two hours to try brushing the ants out all the while trying to find the queen. I had to literally break apart the Nucleus to get all the ants out and into a Fluon lined tub. In the end I saw lots of brood, a few of the new queen alates, thousands of workers, but I could not find the original queen. I'm fearing the worst, but I guess there is hope she was up in the dog pile of ants somehow. If not, an important part of me just died.

[Antkeeper01]

Update 11-23-2021

 

I have some tough news to report. This colony continued to escape from the their Nucleus III; this time, it was a big crack that started forming under the water tower of the nest. The ants were freely slipping out, so I had to urgently move them into something secure. I had a lovely new Nucleus replica ready for them that AntsUtah made for me, so I bit the bullet and tried to evict them from the old, flawed nest last night. Well, it turns out you can't just dump Crematogaster from a Nucleus. It took me a harrowing two hours to try brushing the ants out all the while trying to find the queen. I had to literally break apart the Nucleus to get all the ants out and into a Fluon lined tub. In the end I saw lots of brood, a few of the new queen alates, thousands of workers, but I could not find the original queen. I'm fearing the worst, but I guess there is hope she was up in the dog pile of ants somehow. If not, an important part of me just died.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Edited by Antkeeper01, November 23 2021 - 1:13 PM.

[m99]

I bet she was right there in the densest cluster of workers doing their best to turn her into a hamster ball. So sorry it turned into a disaster, hopefully you'll know soon!

[ANTdrew]

Update 1-22-2022

 

Well, it's pretty safe by now to say that my beloved Sigyn is gone for good. I never found her again after the November disaster. I decided to just keep this colony at room temp (mid 60s) instead of bothering with hibernation. They still have at least three queen alates left, though, so my plan is to keep them going until they can at least try to stage another flight and perpetuate the genes into eternity.

 

I refuse to let this be the sad end of this journal, however. I'm pursuing some ways to get a new colony from other members on here. I may even buy back one I sold last spring. That's life for you; it continually knocks you down. You need to keep getting up and trying again with your head high.

 

Stay tuned for the next chapter of this journal. It'll be a good one. I'm determined to make less mistakes this time and reach my goal of keeping a Crematogaster queen going for her full life span.

 

 

[antgallery]

This is the end, and start, of something good.

[ANTdrew]

This is the end, and start, of something good.

Well said!

[Antkeeper01]

Update 1-22-2022

 

Well, it's pretty safe by now to say that my beloved Sigyn is gone for good. I never found her again after the November disaster. I decided to just keep this colony at room temp (mid 60s) instead of bothering with hibernation. They still have at least three queen alates left, though, so my plan is to keep them going until they can at least try to stage another flight and perpetuate the genes into eternity.

 

I refuse to let this be the sad end of this journal, however. I'm pursuing some ways to get a new colony from other members on here. I may even buy back one I sold last spring. That's life for you; it continually knocks you down. You need to keep getting up and trying again with your head high.

 

Stay tuned for the next chapter of this journal. It'll be a good one. I'm determined to make less mistakes this time and reach my goal of keeping a Crematogaster queen going for her full life span.

 

if you do successfully stage another flight and get an alate to mate maybe you can grow one from her?

[AntBoi3030]

I’ve heard that Buckeye Myrmecology will be selling Crematogaster in March.

[ANTdrew]

I’ve heard that Buckeye Myrmecology will be selling Crematogaster in March.

Interesting! So I’ll get a new colony one way or another this spring.

[Antkeeper01]

*develops my plan to buy A N T S from Buckeye myrmecology again*

[brian]

With all my escapes I thought it was just when I opened the lid and they were quick. But I also have my colony in a Nucleus III and now I'm going to have to really investigate it to see maybe there as trixie as yours are.

[ANTdrew]

Update 3-28-22

 

I have a faint glimmer of hope for this orphaned colony after all. While checking them yesterday, I noticed that they have a significant amount of brood at the moment, which are eclosing into new workers. They also have lots of *possibly* new eggs. The most surprising thing is that I spotted at least two new queen larvae! This leads me to speculate on a couple of possible scenarios:

 

1) Queen Sigyn is still alive and well somewhere in the mass of ants.

2) One of the queen alates mated in the nest last season and is now producing fertilized eggs.

3) Bummer scenario: these are all just left over eggs from the old queen's last round before the nest change incident.

 

What do you all think?

 

Tons of brood:

 

Lots of eggs:

 

Poor photo of a queen larva:

[m99]

I *knew* she was alive!

 

And if she isn't actually alive and it's a new queen, I didn't know that, but still YAY!

[ColAnt735]

 

Update 3-28-22

 

I have a faint glimmer of hope for this orphaned colony after all. While checking them yesterday, I noticed that they have a significant amount of brood at the moment, which are eclosing into new workers. They also have lots of *possibly* new eggs. The most surprising thing is that I spotted at least two new queen larvae! This leads me to speculate on a couple of possible scenarios:

 

1) Queen Sigyn is still alive and well somewhere in the mass of ants.

2) One of the queen alates mated in the nest last season and is now producing fertilized eggs.

3) Bummer scenario: these are all just left over eggs from the old queen's last round before the nest change incident.

 

What do you all think?

 

Tons of brood:

 

 

Lots of eggs:

 

 

Poor photo of a queen larva:

 

I hope Sigyn is indeed alive!

[OiledOlives]

Seems like the queen is still alive due to the abundance of eggs. Alate (male?) larvae was probably laid by a worker or an alate. There is a chance that a worker or an alate laid all the new eggs, but I doubt it.

[ANTdrew]

Seems like the queen is still alive due to the abundance of eggs. Alate (male?) larvae was probably laid by a worker or an alate. There is a chance that a worker or an alate laid all the new eggs, but I doubt it.

You can’t see very well in the photo, but that larvae is 100% a queen larvae. Crematogaster male larvae are pretty small, this one is massive.