189 replies to this topic

[RushmoreAnts]

I just like Tapinoma for some reason........ not really sure what it is. 

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

lol

[RushmoreAnts]

Perhaps it’s their hyperpolygyne, but other than that they’re pretty much the Lasius of Dolichoderinae, although I still like Lasius, lol.

[Mettcollsuss]

I never seem to have great luck with Lasius, but maybe these guys will do better.

[RushmoreAnts]

Hopefully.

[Mettcollsuss]

Tapinoma sessile

When I first collected them, I just threw them into the first empty outworld I had available. I have since successfully moved them to a better setup. Using their collective intelligence, they have decided that the best place to relocate to from their dry, uninhabitable collection vial was not, in fact, the fresh, damp test tube I had given them but rather under an equally dry and devoid of anything life-sustaining fake leaf. I made a cover for the test tube to keep it darker to see if that helps convince them to move somewhere they can survive. Also they can walk across the talcum powder barrier, and I don't have any fluon, so if anyone has a suggestion for a stronger barrier besides that, I'm all ears.

 

Camponotus pennsylvanicus

Took 'em out of hibernation, finally. Woke up surprisingly fast. Offered them some Sunburst, though the first worker was still so drowsy that she just stood in the middle of the puddle. Somehow a large crack developed down the middle of the Talus while they were in there. Luckily it doesn't seem large enough for any escapes, but I covered the area around it in barrier just to be safe. Going to reattach the rest of their setup shortly, once I see more foragers out and about looking for their early spring meals.

 

Formica neorufibarbis

One worker death. The rest are doing fine. First large meal of the year: a cricket leg plus some bonus meat that came with it when I tore it off. No brood yet but hopefully soon.

 

Formica subsericea

Large colony: The number of dead ants in the trash pile is growing, likely just age getting to one of the older batches from last year. Luckily, brood production is starting to really ramp up. The floor of both water towers is already covered in small to mid size larvae and I see a couple workers carrying more clutches of eggs. I gave them my signature ant treat: a frozen and then thawed dubia roach (I prefer freezing so it's "completely" dead and not still twitching plus they can be preserved for a long time) injected with bit of Sunburst. I've compared it and my ants react to their dubias better when served this way. Plus, I'm not gonna lie, it is a little fun to do. This was also their first time eating a dubia plus its one of their first few meals of the year so I started them on a mid-size nymph rather than full adult. It was too large to fit into their nest like they usually do with prey so they had to dismember it outside the nest, which is something I don't usually get to watch very clearly. Last I checked on them they had dragged it right next to the entrance and almost gotten the head off.

Small colony: Nothing new.

 

Tetramorium immigrans

No lasting negative side effects from their escapade a couple nights ago that I can see. They do seem more energized than usual, though. There are more workers than usual chewing at the cotton outworld plug. I can only assume the queen didn't get out, since it's too crowded to see her in there. But the gap they were getting out through was small enough that I would be surprised if she could fit through, and they way they were running around didn't seem like the type of organized colony movement they would bring the queen out for. Gave them one of my signature adult dubias to keep them distracted for a little while. Getting ready to give them an additional outworld.

[RushmoreAnts]

Tapinoma sessile

When I first collected them, I just threw them into the first empty outworld I had available. I have since successfully moved them to a better setup. Using their collective intelligence, they have decided that the best place to relocate to from their dry, uninhabitable collection vial was not, in fact, the fresh, damp test tube I had given them but rather under an equally dry and devoid of anything life-sustaining fake leaf. 

Literally the same thing happened to me with one of my past Solenopsis molesta colonies! I wanted to move them into a test tube for better visibility, so I dried out their dirt filled tube and waited. The ants, of course, were stubborn, and refused to budge. Since it was a dirt nest, light would be ineffective, so I dumped them into the test tube's outworld. And, as the days went on, they hung around the dry clumps of dirt with their queens and brood exposed, instead of moving into a perfectly dark, moist test tube...... I got so worried they would die of dehydration that I ended up having to forcibly move them into the new test tube. A few chunks of dirt went with them, to prevent injury of direct handling, so visibility wasn't perfect, but better.......... the colony ended up dying in hibernation, though. 

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

Tapinoma sessile

When I first collected them, I just threw them into the first empty outworld I had available. I have since successfully moved them to a better setup. Using their collective intelligence, they have decided that the best place to relocate to from their dry, uninhabitable collection vial was not, in fact, the fresh, damp test tube I had given them but rather under an equally dry and devoid of anything life-sustaining fake leaf. I made a cover for the test tube to keep it darker to see if that helps convince them to move somewhere they can survive. Also they can walk across the talcum powder barrier, and I don't have any fluon, so if anyone has a suggestion for a stronger barrier besides that, I'm all ears.

 

Camponotus pennsylvanicus

Took 'em out of hibernation, finally. Woke up surprisingly fast. Offered them some Sunburst, though the first worker was still so drowsy that she just stood in the middle of the puddle. Somehow a large crack developed down the middle of the Talus while they were in there. Luckily it doesn't seem large enough for any escapes, but I covered the area around it in barrier just to be safe. Going to reattach the rest of their setup shortly, once I see more foragers out and about looking for their early spring meals.

 

Formica neorufibarbis

One worker death. The rest are doing fine. First large meal of the year: a cricket leg plus some bonus meat that came with it when I tore it off. No brood yet but hopefully soon.

 

Formica subsericea

Large colony: The number of dead ants in the trash pile is growing, likely just age getting to one of the older batches from last year. Luckily, brood production is starting to really ramp up. The floor of both water towers is already covered in small to mid size larvae and I see a couple workers carrying more clutches of eggs. I gave them my signature ant treat: a frozen and then thawed dubia roach (I prefer freezing so it's "completely" dead and not still twitching plus they can be preserved for a long time) injected with bit of Sunburst. I've compared it and my ants react to their dubias better when served this way. Plus, I'm not gonna lie, it is a little fun to do. This was also their first time eating a dubia plus its one of their first few meals of the year so I started them on a mid-size nymph rather than full adult. It was too large to fit into their nest like they usually do with prey so they had to dismember it outside the nest, which is something I don't usually get to watch very clearly. Last I checked on them they had dragged it right next to the entrance and almost gotten the head off.

Small colony: Nothing new.

 

Tetramorium immigrans

No lasting negative side effects from their escapade a couple nights ago that I can see. They do seem more energized than usual, though. There are more workers than usual chewing at the cotton outworld plug. I can only assume the queen didn't get out, since it's too crowded to see her in there. But the gap they were getting out through was small enough that I would be surprised if she could fit through, and they way they were running around didn't seem like the type of organized colony movement they would bring the queen out for. Gave them one of my signature adult dubias to keep them distracted for a little while. Getting ready to give them an additional outworld.

My first colony woke up in 2 days (not the current Camponotus colony I house), but they later died that year so I mark it up to putting them in too small of a setup and not hibernating them well enough to be their downfall

[ForestDragon]

I LOVE TAPINOMA but I have horrible luck with them, I caught a colony with 19 queens and once all the larvae turned into pupa and then into workers they died, they had CRAPTONS OF EGGS though like filed 3 chambers of a Casita (tha) and the eggs never developed, i should probably heat them next time

[RushmoreAnts]

Ants_Dakota caught a two queened colony once, but the workers died. 

[Mettcollsuss]

Tapinoma sessile

These guys have to to have the fastest developing and most explosive brood of any ants I have ever kept. They had no brood that I could see when I collected them and now their test tube (which they finally moved into) is already on its way to filling up with eggs. It's ridiculous how fast their brood production is. And these eggs, which couldn't have been laid more than 4 days ago are already larvae. And I don't mean just small larvae. The colony somehow already has mid-size larvae, after just 4-5 days. It's just... ridiculous. But it gives me a lot of excitement for the colony's future. In other news, I'm still trying to find a solution to the barrier problem before they get too big.

 

Tetramorium immigrans

Getting ready to attach a new outworld.

 

Camponotus pennsylvanicus

Making a new outworld for them and am now just waiting for it to dry. Once it's complete I'll attach it as well as a new nest since I don't trust 'em living in that cracked nest for too much longer.

 

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Colony 1: I assume they're still growing, based on the number of foragers, but they've covered the walls of the tube with dirt so I can't really verify much. Growing slowly and steadily. I still see the queen foraging occasionally and she looks healthy.

Colony 2: Nothing. No new workers. No deaths. Not much brood.

 

Formica subsericea

Still working on that roach.

[Mettcollsuss]

Prenolepis imparis flights have started in Chicago. I found her just crawling through my living room. When I went to check my usual Prenolepis spot, it was strangely devoid of all flights. Not sure if it was a small flight or just the tail end of a larger flight. Only managed to catch one today, but at least it officially marks the start of a new anting season.

[ANTdrew]

Awesome! Why no photos of your ants?

[Mettcollsuss]

Yeah, this journal is really overdue some photos. It's just that the computer that I normally used to process the photos broke and now it's a huge pain to upload them. But I'll force myself to getting around to it sometime soonish.

[Mettcollsuss]

Prenolepis imparis

The other day (7 Apr 2020) it was 70 out for the first time this year so I decided to look for the P. imparis flights that were sure to be happening. My usual spot for P. imparis is a couple blocks from my house, and I was getting ready to head over there, but ended up finding a flight right in my front yard. I went out around 1:00 pm and by the the time the flight died down at 2:30 pm I had collected 19 queens. I went back out for a second round from 3:30 pm to 4:00 pm and found that the ants had also decided to go for a second round. By the end of both these flights I had collected 26 queens. I have most of them in groups of three. I've marked each queen with a small dot on their thorax to keep track of them. Each tube has a pink queen, a green queen, and a blue queen. One tube has an additional fourth queen I marked yellow, and one tube only has two queens, but those are the only exceptions. I used the markers that beekeepers use to tag their queens, so I can only assume they're safe for ants too. I'll edit this later with the exact details.

[Mettcollsuss]

I haven't updated this journal in a while, but that's mainly because nothing really important has happened in the past two months. There have been a few small things that should probably be updated on though. One thing that has happened is that my largest colonies (the Tetras, the Camponotus, and the Formica) have been going through minor die offs. It's nothing extreme or panic-worthy. I'm just having a hard time finding feeders and had to limit their protein intake, and now they're slowing down and aren't able to produce enough new workers to replace the dying. They'll level out soon.

 

Prenolepis imparis

Nanitics arrived a few days ago. All surviving colonies w/ nanitics had their first meal today.

 

Colony 9: Had four queens. Tube was taken over by mold, all died.

Colony 8: Three queens, seven nanitics, assorted brood.

Colony 7: Two queens, one alate, four nanitics, eggs.

Colony 6: Three queens, six nanitics, assorted brood.

Colony 5: Three queens, two nanitics, assorted brood.

Colony 4: Three queens, eggs and one or two larvae.

Colony 3: Three queens, assorted brood.

Colony 2: Three queens, assorted brood.

Colony 1: One queen, one nanitic, eggs, and a callow drone.

 

The list is backwards because halfway through writing it I realized that I was going through the test tubes in the wrong direction and I wasn't going to rewrite the whole thing so I just switched the numbers. Anyways, I'm especially interested in colony 1. This is the first queen I've had that's produced a male. I'm not sure if he's just gonna live there, or if he's gonna die soon, or if they're gonna eat him cause he's a drain on resources or what, but it'll be interesting to watch.

 

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Colony 1: Still doing well, still hiding in the dirt they dragged into their tube. I added two more tubes and following their wishes, filled one with substrate.

Colony 2: Both workers have died. Either that or they're really good at hiding. Just the queen and some eggs/small larvae are left. She's acting kind of strange and panicked lately, probably from being alone. I doubt she'll be able to raise any more workers, so this colony'll probably be gone soon.

 

Formica subsericea

Nothing new with the big colony. The small colony died off. The queen just kept eating her brood and never got a second generation of workers.

 

Camponotus pennsylvanicus

Have decided that the new nest I attached is a perfect garbage dump. And since you can't reason with ants, I decided to just give in to them. I stopped watering the new nest so the garbage in there wouldn't mold and just let them use it how they want.

[Mettcollsuss]

Tetramorium immigrans

Finally found my first tetra queen of the year yesterday. It's surprisingly late in the year for that, but but with the exception of the occasional straggling male, their flights have managed to completely elude me this year. I'm sure part of it has to do with the fact that I'm staying inside so much.

 

Camponotus novaeboracensis

I found a C. novaeboracensis queen while camping the other day. This species has been one I've wanted for a while now but I could just never find. 

[Mettcollsuss]

So uh... very long overdue update.

 

Overall this hasn't been a great year for my antkeeping. I didn't catch many queens due to a mix of bad luck and being inside a lot more. Most if not all of my colonies have shrunk in size because I had a hard time finding a stable source of feeders. I also started high school which has added a new set of difficulties.

I'm also going to be narrowing down my collection to my few largest and/or favorite colonies, for a couple reasons. The most obvious one is so that I can focus on school, especially for my freshman year. I will probably bring the numbers back up a bit once I'm more settled in. The other one is that I want shift more scientific side of things. I want to spend more time observing ants in the field. I'd also like to practice pinning ants, running them them through keys, and getting more familiar with the terminology used.

 

Tetramorium immigrans

Back when I had to start reducing their feeder consumption they had a not-insignificant die-off (I'd say around 1/3 the colony), but they eventually leveled out. I finally have a stable feeder supply now and they should bounce back quickly. The other day they had a grand escape and got to adventure all over the floor of my room. The corner of the lid was open less than a millimeter right over the weakest spot in the barrier and they were able to push their way through it. I was able to aspirate most of the escapees back up. I've been wanting to move these guys to one of those bins with just a row of test tubes as I've heard is good for Tetras, but these guys have proved to be reluctant movers in the past, so we'll see.

 

Formica cf. subsericea

Once I get a chance I want to run one of these guys through a key because I find it strange that F. subsericea seems to be the default ID for anything fusca-group. Of course that would also mean that they would need to not shred every single body they put in their garbage pile. 

 

They missed their main growth period at the beginning of the year. They haven't shrunk that much during the year, so hopefully they won't lose too many in hibernation and they'll be able to hit next years growth period.

 

Camponotus pennsylvanicus

These girls had been living in a THA Talus for a while which they seemed to enjoy, but it doesn't offer great visibility. I had assumed they shrunk down to only 15-20ish workers based on the amount of foraging I saw and I couldn't get a good read in the nest. So because I thought they were too small for it and because it was getting too dirty I moved them into a test tube. Turns out there's way more of them than I thought. They've gone down a bit, but the majority is still there. they completely filled the test tube to the extent that i could barely fit a cap on. I put the tube in an outworld for now. I'm not sure what direction I want to go in terms of expansion. I might go for a more visible formicarium. I might continue with the tubs & tubes. If I continue the tubs & tubes method I'll find a way to keep the main tubes dark and maybe give them a small amount of substrate so the queen can have a better grip.

 

Aphaenogaster sp.

Need to key these ones too. Haven't grown, haven't shrunk. Not much going on.

 

Camponotus novaeboracensis

Had some eggs for a little bit and then ate them. Hasn't laid any more since. Kinda bummed about it because I pretty fond of this species. And to my knowledge they aren't one of the species that waits till after hibernation to lay, since they're a spring flyer.

[TennesseeAnts]

Finally, an update!

[ANTdrew]

Dude, I’m so glad you’re back.