680 replies to this topic

[Ernteameise]

Really cool colony.

But I would be a bit intimidated by the growth rate!

[AntsCali098]

Just wondering, what is crematogaster divas referring to? I don't think that's a species? It's not on antwiki.

[Ernteameise]

Just wondering, what is crematogaster divas referring to? I don't think that's a species? It's not on antwiki.

I understood it as a joke- as in very demanding higher class females "Divas".

But not sure what the misidentified species is and why it is a disappointment, since this colony is so cool.

[ANTdrew]

Just wondering, what is crematogaster divas referring to? I don't think that's a species? It's not on antwiki.

I understood it as a joke- as in very demanding higher class females "Divas".
But not sure what the misidentified species is and why it is a disappointment, since this colony is so cool.

You’re exactly right, these are high class, demanding females that demand all my attention and devotion.

[Ernteameise]

 

 

Just wondering, what is crematogaster divas referring to? I don't think that's a species? It's not on antwiki.

I understood it as a joke- as in very demanding higher class females "Divas".
But not sure what the misidentified species is and why it is a disappointment, since this colony is so cool.

You’re exactly right, these are high class, demanding females that demand all my attention and devotion.

 

As it should be!

[ANTdrew]

Update 7-10-2023

 

I was out of the country for almost two weeks visiting Guatemala. While I was away, my brother helped take care of all of my various arthropods. I may have been on vacation, but Queen Della sure was not since the colony basically tripled in my absence! They are clearly liking the various nooks and crannies of their Antpartment. I'm also glad that the ants have plenty of space in the nest, so crowding in their outworld has been minimal. 

[ANTdrew]

Update 9-7-2023

 

 My Crematogaster colony continues to do amazingly well, and I've had no major escapes yet. They have almost completely filled their Antpartment^tm nest, so I created an extension satellite nest for them in a kind of old school all in one setup. I attached this satellite with long tubing to give the ants a better sense of distance to satisfy their drive to roam. Of course hundreds of ants have decided to just nest in the tube, and they've even moved in some brood. This colony has easily surpassed the 1,000 worker mark, but honestly there is no way of even counting them anymore. 

 

 New satellite:

 

Nesting in the tube, why not?

 

Full Antpartment^tm

[bmb1bee]

Dear god, this is by far the largest Crematogaster colony I've seen so far. 4-digit numbers for sure. Good luck sustaining these Divas. 

[antsriondel]

Wow, just wow.   

[ANTdrew]

Not sure if anyone noticed, but the bottom three chambers in the Crematogaster satellite are unoccupied because I forgot to drill access holes to them. A dumb move on my part that I don’t know how to rectify without all holy heck breaking out. D’oh!


In better news, I finally spotted Queen Della herself last night in the Antpartment for the first time since Memorial Day.

[100lols]

Learning lesson for us all to double check our work, even when it’s as stunning as your all-in-one!

Edited by 100lols, September 9 2023 - 8:14 AM.

[ANTdrew]

Update 11-14-2023

 

This colony is doing very well, but they have slowed down quite a bit now that my house is very cool. I will take them over to my parents' basement as soon as I work up the nerve to deal with all the ants loafing in the long tubing connecting their setup. Another development is that I finally tried talc and alcohol as a barrier due to the fact that fall's high humidity had wrecked their fluon. I'm happy to say that it works like a charm with these ants! Here are some photos:

 

[ANTdrew]

Update 12-5-2023

 

I was able to get all the loafer ants out of the tubing and condense the setup to fit on a baking tray, so I could drive them over to my parents' unheated basement for diapause. I think this colony grew more in a single year than any other colony or species I've kept. Truly remarkable. The best part was I was able to keep them from staging any big jailbreaks.  Next year will be wild, but I have a few months to prepare! 

Edited by ANTdrew, December 5 2023 - 7:24 AM.

[ANTdrew]

Here is a photo of the “condensed” setup.

[Ernteameise]

Even in a condensed version, this is a lot of ants.

[michiganantsinmyyard]

What would you say is the maximum size for a colony? I'm thinking of giving these ants a more arboreal wooden style nest when they reach high numbers.

[ANTdrew]

I think they can get well over 10,000 workers.

[BleepingBleepers]

Holy crap that's quite the colony you got there ANTdrew, wow!

 

In some of the pictures above, it almost looked like the ants are underwater.

 

Very sweet journal, loving them pictures!

[JesseTheAntKid]

While they're in diapause, drill the access holes.

[ANTdrew]

Update 4-6-24

Welcome to the sixth year of this journal (though it is now following a second colony)! I brought Queen Della and her minions out of hibernation on March 13th. They did fine during their diapause time and bounced back to frenetic activity very quickly. I upgraded their setup at the end of March by adding a new CrematoProof mega-outworld I had made for them along with the UtahAnts Nucleus replica that my original colony used to live in. I had to disconnect the mega-outworld, though, due to a problem with the escape barrier. I had experimented with putting talc and alcohol instead of fluon on the anti-escape rim at the top, but because the rim was made of a flexible plastic, too much talc dust fell down every time I bumped the box at all. The poor ants got dusted by walking around and literally couldn't climb anything! I didn't want the outworld to become a death trap, so I broke it down and will need to redo later with fluon. 

 

Here are the ants the day I brought them home into my warm kitchen.

 

Here is the expanded setup before I removed the mega-outworld. 

 

I love keeping Crematogaster this time of year since they become so ravenous and active. I plan to devote almost all of my energy to this colony this year. No other ant species can even hold a candle to Crematogaster in my opinion.