680 replies to this topic

[Canadant]

Ugh... queen moving back up tube. Sigh.

Cremas hate moving. And feel free to post what you want; I’m always glad if anybody reads my rants. You should make a journal for your colony. I’d read it.

It's funny how little things like that can make someone feel terrible. My apologies and Thanks. Lol. Not my intention, just compelled by excitement. I knew others were in here sharing. Yup. I gotta get on a journal too. It's still amazing to me how we can jump start a colony like that. She took them all and started laying. Normally I believe they don't start laying until the following spring.

Thanks

Canadant

[ANTdrew]

Dude, post away!
Your queen will start laying like crazy in spring, I bet. In ideal conditions, Cremas can even outpace Tetramorium in growth and voracity. Plan your containment strategy now!!!

[ANTdrew]

Update 9-27-2019

 

 This colony continues to do great. They are growing a lot, and every time I lift up the covers of their test tubes I'm surprised by how many more ants I see. I've been feeding them lots of pre-frozen crickets from my yard along with mealworms. They like the crickets much more than the mealworms.

 

Tons of eggs and larvae!

 

More workers are starting to hang out in the bead container nest, which is kind of annoying because I'll have to hibernate the whole set up or else figure out some way to evict these.

 

I'm kind of feeling like making a big natural set up for these next year with a cool piece of driftwood or something. It would be easy to hydrate by just sprinkling water on the wood. Do any of ya'll CrematoMasters have experience with natural nests for arboreal species?

 

 

 

[RushmoreAnts]

 

 

More workers are starting to hang out in the bead container nest, which is kind of annoying because I'll have to hibernate the whole set up or else figure out some way to evict these.

 

 

 

 

They're ants... what do you expect? 

[ANTdrew]

Update 10-1-2019

 These ants continue to do well. Last night, I traded two of my new 2019 queens to a long time ant-keeper in exchange for a Formica queen. He has a microscope and much more ant ID knowledge than I do, so I can finally say what species the Divas are:

 

Crematogaster cerasi

 

I guess that's not surprising, but it's a relief to finally know for certain. Part of me was always wishing they were lineolata just because fewer people seem to find and keep those, but I love my divas all the same.  

[Canadant]

What formica did you get? Brood?

[ANTdrew]

What formica did you get? Brood?

Formica argentea. No brood yet. I hope it was a good trade!

[ANTdrew]

Update 10-8-2019

This journal is almost a year old now. It's been a fun journey with these ants really. Some good news is that the AC outworld seems to have them fully contained. They are also still eating well and chugging lots of water. I may try to use the coming cold soon to try to move them all into the bead container nest. I'm hoping that if I run a heat cable only under the bead container, then they'll finally vacate their nasty old test tube. I'll trust their judgement in any case. I bet this colony will get really huge next year, like FeedTheAnts level huge.

 

They are so chill all the time:

 

Edited by ANTdrew, March 2 2021 - 8:56 AM.

[Roy3]

Nice read. Thanks.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[ANTdrew]

Nice read. Thanks.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Thank you! I’ll keep the updates coming.

[Canadant]

You are the crematogastor whisperer.

[ANTdrew]

You are the crematogastor whisperer.

Thank you, but I’d give that title to FeedTheAnts. He has the largest Crematogaster colony and honestly the largest colony of any species on this forum.

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

Update 9-27-2019
 
 This colony continues to do great. They are growing a lot, and every time I lift up the covers of their test tubes I'm surprised by how many more ants I see. I've been feeding them lots of pre-frozen crickets from my yard along with mealworms. They like the crickets much more than the mealworms.
 
Tons of eggs and larvae!

 
More workers are starting to hang out in the bead container nest, which is kind of annoying because I'll have to hibernate the whole set up or else figure out some way to evict these.
That bead setup actually looks really cool! How did you make it?

 
I'm kind of feeling like making a big natural set up for these next year with a cool piece of driftwood or something. It would be easy to hydrate by just sprinkling water on the wood. Do any of ya'll CrematoMasters have experience with natural nests for arboreal species?

Looks like Creamato. Is a super fun species, btw, how did you make that bead nest, it looks super cool.

[DDD101DDD]

 

Update 9-27-2019
 
 This colony continues to do great. They are growing a lot, and every time I lift up the covers of their test tubes I'm surprised by how many more ants I see. I've been feeding them lots of pre-frozen crickets from my yard along with mealworms. They like the crickets much more than the mealworms.
 
Tons of eggs and larvae!

 
More workers are starting to hang out in the bead container nest, which is kind of annoying because I'll have to hibernate the whole set up or else figure out some way to evict these.
That bead setup actually looks really cool! How did you make it?

 
I'm kind of feeling like making a big natural set up for these next year with a cool piece of driftwood or something. It would be easy to hydrate by just sprinkling water on the wood. Do any of ya'll CrematoMasters have experience with natural nests for arboreal species?

Looks like Creamato. Is a super fun species, btw, how did you make that bead nest, it looks super cool.

 

I think he got it from here http://www.formicult...icture +journey

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

Thanks!

[ANTdrew]

Update 10-28-19

 

 My large colony, Sigyn, remains active in my kitchen. The temperature has dropped down to the low 70's and has even dipped into the 60s, so they are slowing down. The AC out world they are in is kind of big to fit in my mini-fridge, so I need to figure out where exactly I'm going to have these girls pass the winter. I could either order a wine cooler or else take them to my parent's basement, but I'd prefer to keep them at my house if possible.

I tried using a heat cable under their bead nest to entice the whole colony to move in for more warmth, but it didn't really work. They won't move for all the tea in China!

My two new queens just got put in my mini-fridge wrapped in a towel. I swear one of them was carrying eggs on Saturday as I transferred her to a clean tube for hibernation. I wrapped up my new Formica queen (who never laid eggs yet)  in the same towel.

I also put my newest queen in the mini-fridge: A very late flying Lasius neoniger I found on Friday 10/25! She still has her wings, but males were everywhere, so there's a good chance she's mated. Please let me know if I ID'd her incorrectly.

I'll start a dedicated journal for her if she works out in the long run.

Attached Images

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Edited by ANTdrew, March 2 2021 - 8:57 AM.

[Kalidas]

Dang man, looking great. And that new queen just beautiful

[ANTdrew]

Update 11-23-2019

 Not much to report, but Sigyn and her divas are in hibernation now. I brought her whole set up to the unheated basement of my parent's house. Other than a few workers on the liquid feeders, they've fully shut down. My dear mother is freaking out about having several large colonies in her basement, though, so this plan may not work out long term.

Other alternatives could be my attic (I put a digital thermometer up there to track how cold it gets) or buying some big mini-fridge.

Here's a cluster of workers in the bead nest. This is more of an outpost, maybe only 10% of the colony is in the ghetto DIY nest.

 

[Boog]

Great journal, I like the DIY nest but those divas do seem picky. Hopefully they get more comfy next season!

 

The hot pepper infused olive oil barrier has been containing my one Tapinoma sessile colony so far. I haven't seen any trapped since the first two at the very beginning and I haven't needed to reapply yet. I leave the lid off for feeding, a couple hours or less and they seem okay. After more workers though, I'll need to see. The fluon barrier seems to be containing your colony so far but just a heads up from what I've observed with the barrier for my escape artists.

[ANTdrew]

Thank you very much, Boog. I’m always glad when keepers can get something out of my journals or at least enjoy a good read.

If your oil is stopping Tapinoma, then it could stop anything. I’ll have to look into it. I have these birds’ eye chili flakes, so I could make a Chernobyl heat level easily.