55 replies to this topic

[ANTdrew]

Congrats, brother!

There's nothing like those first nanitics. It's like discovering and containing fire to your ends.

I SO want to find this species somehow. Keep the updates coming.

[Scherme]

PAGE 2!

 

Got some ant therapy tonight. I fed some very hungry ladies.

 

I finally tried the paper plate feeding method. With a spot of honey at the end of a long strip, it easily slides in and out of the test tube.

I removed the bits of unfinished protein (slivers of high protein, high quality dog treats) before giving each tube its own bit of honey.

 

Each queen ended up making it over to find the source of sugar. 3 of them completely finished the drop and seemed to search for more.

I supplied more and they went right back to drinking up. 

 

I have 4 tubes with workers now, numbering: 11, 5, 3, 1. 

3 queens left. 

 

The queen with 1 worker is much darker and I didn't see the worker move much. I actually thought it was dead for a while.

 

The warmth of the garage seems to be doing the trick so I returned them there once I was done feeding/observing.

 

Going to be time for some pictures soon. 

[Scherme]

The past 2 month have been a blur.

 

Not really ant related:

July 16th my pregnant wife was sent to the hospital for an emergency induction. While considered "emergency" nothing was life threatening, it was just very sudden and unexpected.

She was in labor for 3 days. My wife and my son are both happy and healthy, and I couldn't be happier being a dad.
The first 2 months were rough. We are still getting into the swing of things but I am slowly able to cast small bits of attention elsewhere.

 

We spent a total of 5 days in the hospital, of which I never left. This time, and the next several weeks took a toll on my remaining ants.

They were already late out of the gate, and I felt like I was just watching them decline and could do little about it.

Populations rose and fell. Queens died leaving a dozen workers behind, while in other tubes all the workers died leaving a queen behind with no brood.

I decided anything left alive should just be let go, no matter what would become of them.

 

Starting Over

 

Then came Labor Day weekend.

I was so busy with work and the baby, I never thought I would have time for any queen collecting. And why should I? I failed every queen I collected so far.

Nothing felt worse than thinking about an upcoming nuptial flight, so I tried to put it out of my mind.

 

Friday, August 30th 2019, I ended up having a moment to myself.

I received a text from my uncle "nuptial flights going on now." 

I stepped outside and boy was he right. The grass in my yard was shimmering. Upon closer observation, colonies were spilling out of their nests

and female alates were clinging to the tips of grass blades, bobbing up and down stretching and beating there wings in preparation for an upcoming flight.

They were everywhere. It was hard to determine if the queen had just landed or if she was just emerging from the nest, so I followed a few in flight and snagged them in TTs. 

 

I really wasn't confident any of them had actually mated, so I let them go.

 

Saturday afternoon after chores, I took the dog out to let him get some energy out and to clear the yard of his .. leavings...

It was another beautiful day like Friday. I made my way to an area of my yard where we had recently spread a large pile of dirt and it turns out that is the perfect trap for Lasius queens. 

 

If you zoom in you can spot the tunnel entrances.. maybe even a queen or too, but the resolution isn't great and the queens blend in well.

 

- A short video I took of a queen doing some work.

 

There were too many to count, popping in and out of very shallow tunnels they were working on excavating. How much more confirmation of fertility did I need?

I figured, even if I took 10x my fill of queens from just the area of exposed ground, I wouldn't even put a dent in the population of queens trying to found a home there.

 

I gathered my TTs and started collecting, gathering 11 in total. Slowly throughout the night I put them all in proper setups, allowing for more water than I previously did. 

 

Having recently relocated our bedroom to be upstairs next to my sons room, we were able to turn our old room into an office. There was plenty of room for my ant shelf so

I took an afternoon and set everything up. Still not 100% yet, but I could leave it how it is for a while without issue.

I hadn't even looked at them since I first placed them into TT setups, but when I went to move them into their new home, I noticed the majority if not all had eggs already.

I have read this could happen if they flew early enough. 

Pics of the shelf and current setup to come.

 

I am more confident this time around.

I have easier access to them on the ground floor, and I learned quite a bit from my last attempt. 

Last time I had a lot of temperature issues. I wintered them too warm, and kept them too cool during their active period.

I purchased a heating pad and thermostat to keep them a constant warm temperature when needed.

I also moved my refrigerator from the garage into my basement so it can be run during the winter. 

I have plenty of space in it to dedicate to hibernating ants at the correct temperature.

 

I more than ever want to have a thriving colony to show my son once he is old enough. 

Edited by Scherme, September 23 2019 - 10:38 AM.

[Canadian anter]

If I were you, I might combine a few of the queens

[Scherme]

If I were you, I might combine a few of the queens

I have never read/heard anything about Lasius Neoniger being polygynous, 

In fact, my last venture into collecting these queens, I ran out of available tubes so I started doubling up figured I would just separate them later.

They started ripping each other apart and I had to dump them out because they were just grappling and I couldn't separate them.

 

Have you done it successfully?

 

And I am also worried, because I tried introduced multiple queens on a species known for being polygynous (Prenolepis Imparis) and they all ended up fighting and killing each other.

 

With the heat mats I can keep them to temp until November, my hope is the brood with develop before then so they can hibernate with the queen until March.

Edited by Scherme, September 23 2019 - 11:35 AM.

[Kaelwizard]

If I were you, I might combine a few of the queens

I have never read/heard anything about Lasius Neoniger being polygynous,
In fact, my last venture into collecting these queens, I ran out of available tubes so I started doubling up figured I would just separate them later.
They started ripping each other apart and I had to dump them out because they were just grappling and I couldn't separate them.

Have you done it successfully?

And I am also worried, because I tried introduced multiple queens on a species known for being polygynous (Prenolepis Imparis) and they all ended up fighting and killing each other.

With the heat mats I can keep them to temp until November, my hope is the brood with develop before then so they can hibernate with the queen until March.

They are pleometropic ( will get workers then kill each other) usually at least.

[ANTdrew]

Guess who just joined Team Neoniger?

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

Aw man, I was looking for a queen this year and I couldn't find one! Dang!

[Kaelwizard]

I found tons but I released the ones I caught. There were some in my hair when I went outside. It was crazy. This was back in late August to September though.

[DDD101DDD]

I found one Neoniger 

[camponotuskeeper]

I also got neoniger but I have 2.

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

Well, I can only hope until next year

[NickAnter]

Well, I caught (and kept) 8 Lasius cf. pallitarsis queens this summer.  Could have caught over 30 the next day under stones too.  This year my target Lasius is brevicornis.

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

I found one Neoniger 

 

I also got neoniger but I have 2.

How do you catch Lasius Neoniger this late in the season lol?

[DDD101DDD]

 

I found one Neoniger 

 

I also got neoniger but I have 2.

How do you catch Lasius Neoniger this late in the season lol?

 

I actually found mine around a month ago.

[ANTdrew]

Update????

[Scherme]

Sorry. Life got crazy. I have had 100% fatality rate. I was scrambling to figure it out. There was so much promise and I blundered it somehow. Became extremely discouraged, packed up my ant stuff until hopefully one day life will slow down for me again. 

Although, there has a been a spark. 

[ANTdrew]

Sorry, brother! This actually doesn’t seem like the easiest species. Keep your head up.

[Scherme]

My spark was a tetramorium immigrans queen that I just got an ID on. 

found her in my pool and stuffed her in a TT setup and forgot about her.

 

When I remembered her, she had ~14 workers and was very active... sooo... gunna give it a go. 

[Antkid12]

Nice.