97 replies to this topic

[TennesseeAnts]

Ah, and unrelated, all of my Camponotus pennslyvanicus queens have pupae already! They were caught on or around April 5th! All other chromaiodes and americanus queens still have eggs.

[Ferox_Formicae]

Ant_Dude2908, on 07 May 2019 - 1:54 PM, said:

Founding queens only have such small brood because she has a small amount of fat stores to feed herself and her developing workers. I feed my founding queens. That is why my founding colonies have larger brood and more workers at the end of the year than a wild colony, or a queen that was just ignored.

Yeah, that makes sense, so I guess my Camponotus chromaiodes colony will prosper as long as they accept the queen. All of the brood is getting large at this point, and a lot of the larva have already pupated, so they will definitely be in need of a new queen soon. I'll introduce a new one on Sunday.

[TennesseeAnts]

Don't get discouraged if they kill the queen. Just wait a few more days.

[Ferox_Formicae]

Ant_Dude2908, on 07 May 2019 - 1:56 PM, said:

Ah, and unrelated, all of my Camponotus pennslyvanicus queens have pupae already! They were caught on or around April 5th! All other chromaiodes and americanus queens still have eggs.

Wow! I think my Camponotus chromaiodes queens should have eggs by the time I check on them next in a few days. I may actually check on them tonight, as I need to put my Solenopsis invicta queens in the dark with them, and I also should probably add more water to the plaster at the bottom of the containers, as the last time I added water was when I first put them in their founding cells nearly a month ago. They most likely need more water.

 

Ant_Dude2908, on 07 May 2019 - 1:59 PM, said:

Don't get discouraged if they kill the queen. Just wait a few more days.

Okay. I really hope they don't kill her. I will definitely have to find a way to chill them so I can introduce the queen to them while they are still slow-moving and sluggish, which will be a first for them as these ants are usually extremely active and freak out anytime I check on them.

[TennesseeAnts]

I think you use the same founding chambers I do. Is it one of those Plano boxes with grout/plaster at the bottom? I use a damp cotton ball for hydration, and the grout wicks water through out the chamber. Some of the chromaiodes queens I have in one of these setups are either polygynous, or pleometrotic, as in some chambers there are 2 queens.

[Ferox_Formicae]

Ant_Dude2908, on 07 May 2019 - 2:13 PM, said:

I think you use the same founding chambers I do. Is it one of those Plano boxes with grout/plaster at the bottom? I use a damp cotton ball for hydration, and the grout wicks water through out the chamber. Some of the chromaiodes queens I have in one of these setups are either polygynous, or pleometrotic, as in some chambers there are 2 queens.

No, my queens are kept in small, round containers with plaster at the bottom with a small amount of soil over it. One of my containers does actually have two queens in it, and they are doing very well with lots of eggs.

[TennesseeAnts]

Still, you need a Formica colony. You can capture a wild colony by placing a flat rock over the entrance of a subterranean nest. I got both my Formica dolosa colonies from this trap. They were actually one polygynous colony.

[Ferox_Formicae]

Ant_Dude2908, on 07 May 2019 - 2:23 PM, said:

Still, you need a Formica colony. You can capture a wild colony by placing a flat rock over the entrance of a subterranean nest. I got both my Formica dolosa colonies from this trap. They were actually one polygynous colony.

I don't see too many Formica nests around. There are a lot at my girlfriends house though. I think there are both Formica pallidefulva and Formica dolosa.

[TennesseeAnts]

Well, dolosa and pallidefullva are pretty hard to identify. Luckily, dolosa are in the pallidefullva complex, so it is pretty safe to say they are just pallidefullva.

[Ferox_Formicae]

Ant_Dude2908, on 07 May 2019 - 2:49 PM, said:

Well, dolosa and pallidefullva are pretty hard to identify. Luckily, dolosa are in the pallidefullva complex, so it is pretty safe to say they are just pallidefullva.

Yeah, but the two species showed a very distinct size difference. Unless Formica are polymorphic, which I think they may be.

[TennesseeAnts]

Formica are polymorphic. Not as much as Camponotus, but still polymorphic.

[Ferox_Formicae]

Ant_Dude2908, on 07 May 2019 - 2:58 PM, said:

Formica are polymorphic. Not as much as Camponotus, but still polymorphic.

Yeah, I figured.

[TennesseeAnts]

I just made a 3 queen chromaiodes tube. One queen has the rare deep red gene. She has red on her thorax, legs and abdomen.

Edited by Ant_Dude2908, May 7 2019 - 7:02 AM.

[Ferox_Formicae]

Ant_Dude2908, on 07 May 2019 - 3:00 PM, said:

I just made a 3 queen chromaiodes tube.

Nice! Hopefully they keep all of the queens.

[Ferox_Formicae]

Some of the eggs in my two queen container have finally hatched! I think they'll be the ones I move into the nest, as they are the most productive layers, and two queens will speed up growth of the colony by quite a bit.

[TennesseeAnts]

My three queen setup is going good.

[Ferox_Formicae]

A queen has been introduced, the most productive of the four, and they accepted her! They are cleaning and feeding her, overall making sure she is okay. Unfortunately though, one of my other queens has died for unknown reasons. She was one of them from the two queen setup. At least my giant colony has a queen now, although I expect there to be a drop in population until the queen starts producing more, but at least the colony on't won't die out entirely.

Edited by CloudtheDinosaurKing, May 12 2019 - 12:54 PM.

[Acutus]

Sounds like you got lucky!! that's Awesome!!

[Ferox_Formicae]

Acutus, on 13 May 2019 - 7:10 PM, said:

Sounds like you got lucky!! that's Awesome!!

Yeah! I'm really surprised! Two weeks ago, she would've been torn to shreds in seconds! 

[Ferox_Formicae]

I checked on the colony today to find the queen dead. I suspect the workers killed her. I guess there is no hope for this colony, and it will die entirely by the end of the year.