29 replies to this topic

[Crystals]

I found a Lasius queen inside of a wet rotten log in early June of 2013.  She had 5 eggs with her, which I collected.

I put her in a test tube with her eggs.  After not seeing another queen for 2 weeks, I went and raided a wild Lasius nest for pupae.  I got about 20 in that little scoop of dirt I stole.

I thought I had pictures of her at this time, but I don't see them. 

 

After about half of the pupae eclosed I moved them to a formicarium.  The move occurred on August 3, they found the new nest and happily moved.

 

A few days later I found a massive wild Lasius nest, probably numbering in the thousands.  I stole a scoop of pupae.  I thought that the pupae might have been stacked 2-4 deep.  I was wrong, it was stacked a half inch deep.  It took those 12-17 workers probably 5 hours to move all of the pupae into the formicarium.  My queen was very happy with the new addition and laid a batch of eggs in anticipation of keeping her new work force busy.

 

Two of the pupae turned out to be male alates.  The workers killed them within 48 hours.

 

August 30: Most of the pupae have eclosed.

 

They don't seem to be really fond of heat, they move within about a 2" range of the cable.  They try to keep the larvae a bit closer to it though.

 

They seem to have scattered to the four corners.  I have 2 different types of Lasius workers, the original 20 are a small very dark species, and the others from the mass brood boost are a light yellowish brown. All of the eggs that the queen has laid are still in the larvae stage.

 

The larvae (there are about 50-80).  Not bad for her first year.

 

The crazy lady is still laying eggs.  Silly goose, they are going into hibernation shortly....

 

This is about all I ever see of the queen these days.  A sheen from the abdomen.

 

 

All of the eggs that the queen has laid are still in the larvae stage, so none of the workers are hers which makes IDing this queen a bit hard.  Since I found her in early June, she probably overwintered.  If she flew late in the fall it does narrow it down.

So that leaves Lasius nearcticus, Lasius neoniger, or Lasius flavus.   I am pretty sure she isn't pallitarsis (I think my other queen may be though).  I guess when her workers eclose we will know.

[dspdrew]

Do you keep these in the light?

[Crystals]

All of my colonies are exposed to light.  They don't get direct light, but I don't cover them.

I find it stresses them out more to have a cover suddenly removed than to leave them uncovered 24/7.

[dspdrew]

Yeah, I think I'm going to start leaving mine in the light too now. Using differences in light to get them to move has never really been affective for me anyways, so I don't think I'm losing anything by doing this, and instead, I'll actually benefit by decreasing the stress on the colonies.

[Crystals]

One thing I forgot to mention about this colony, is that they willingly dump all garbage in an empty pill container for easy removal.

I wish all of my ants would do this.

 

They made that corner their rubbish pile and I used a paint brush to remove most of it, but scooped a little bit into the pill bottle which I left in that corner.  They have used it ever since.

[Anhzor]

nice formicarium!

 

I keep my P. californicus in direct lights too and they're not too bother.  Although the same can't be said about my formica and camponotus

Edited by Anhzor, September 27 2013 - 6:32 PM.

[Crystals]

Thanks!

Strange, my Camponotus herculeanus are the ones who care about the light the least.  Nothing gets them ruffled, unless supper wasn't quite dead and kicks itself into the tunnels. 

The Formica just don't like shadows passing over them or vibrations.  I changed the angle of my lamp and since my shadow doesn't hit them now and they don't care.

Edited by Crystals, September 27 2013 - 6:48 PM.

[Crystals]

I put these ladies into hibernation in early October as that was when we had our first frost.

They are residing in a cooler with a thermometer gauge on it.  I use a bucket of frozen water to lower/maintain the temperature.

 

I originally had them at 8C, but considering how active they were I had to drop the temperature to 5-6C which slowed them down to a hibernation state. 

This species up here often freezes solid when the colonies are young and lack deep tunnels, as long as the temperature drop is very gradual (over weeks/months) they are fine with temperatures above 0C.

 

They are still active enough to occasionally raid the nectar waterer. I had to refill their nectar jar as they emptied it. Didn't anyone tell them that they are supposed to be sleeping? 

 

I will leave them in hibernation until after the Christmas rush is over.

I read a couple of articles about ant hibernation recently (of course, I forget where I saw them).  It seems that 3-4 months of good hibernation is sufficient for the majority of ant species in North America.

[Crystals]

I took this colony out of hibernation on Jan. 1.  It has been in hibernation for 3 months. 

This colony was definitely the most active in hibernation. Slow, but definitely active. I refilled their nectar not once, but twice.  The once I put a piece of meal worm in and they ate it in hours.

 

I have seen many posts that Lasius overwinter their brood, but for some reason, there is less than 1/4 of the original brood in the nest.

The other day I saw 3-4 eggs being carried by a worker.  I kept the nest pretty damp in hibernation and there is still a fair bit of condensation on the glass so I don't have any really good pictures.

 

 

While in hibernation they decided that the queen should live under the pill bottle in the outworld.  Once warmed up, they promptly moved back into the formicarium.  They have decided that their food dish is now their garbage dump...  I hope they move their garbage pile back to the pill bottle.  I may have to encourage them.

[dspdrew]

They have decided that their food dish is now their garbage dump...

Looks like an easy way to clean up their garbage.

[Crystals]

The Lasius are most cooperative when it comes to cleaning their outworld.

Last year they piled it all in the pill bottle.  I will put some of the garbage back in the pill bottle and then clean their dish thoroughly.  Hopefully they will go back to using the pill bottle as a garbage - which is very useful when they start tossing out those light pupae cocoons.  It is almost impossible to clean up the empty cocoons as they fly everywhere with the lightest bit of airflow.

[Crystals]

The larvae have all pupated and most of the condensation has gone.

 

Pupae:

 

Lots of eggs coming, the queen really started laying about a week ago.  The Lasius have a bad habit of walking upside down on the glass, leaving little footprints and just blocking my photo efforts in general.

[Anthony]

Very cool

[Crystals]

Most of the eggs are now larvae, with quite a size variety.  I am guessing at least 300 larvae.

 

 

 Here a closeup of some of the larvae.

[dspdrew]

Is that a crack in the glass?

[Matt]

I wouldn't have thought the queen would lay as many eggs while she's so young. Do you have any idea of the species?

[Crystals]

Yes that is a crack in the glass.  The glass somehow got a tiny chip on the edge when I put them into hibernation, and then the crack appeared and expanded once I took the nest out of hibernation.

 

This species is an odd yellowy brown color.  I think they may be Lasius crypticus, but I would need better closeup pictures of the queen.  I rarely get more than the barest glimpse or her, usually just the shine from the gaster peeking past her workers.

The Lasius up here are one of the faster growing species - but even I was quite surprised at how many eggs she has laid.  She seems to think as long as her workers are bringing enough food that she can keep laying eggs.

 

This colony was actually pretty hard to feed until about a month ago.  Before they would only accept tiny foods that one worker could carry into the nest (lots of fruit flies...).  About a month ago they finally figured out that they could butcher larger food items and take them into the nest in small pieces, so now I can feed them what I feed the rest of my colonies (any insects cut in half).

[dermy]

How is this colony doing now? It looks like it will get fairly large!

[Crystals]

This colony hasn't grown much.  For some reason my Lasius and Camponotus colony have started avoiding the heated areas and the brood is at a standstill.  It is like they are trying to hibernate.... 

 

They weren't doing much so I got bored and made an acrylic nest. I prefer a more natural looking nest, so I am not too sure of my thoughts on it. The Lasius don't seem to mind it, although I might make them another nest out of firebrick or grout.

 

I currently have it listed for sale, I was hoping for a yellow Lasius species when I caught this queen. 

 

 

[dermy]

Cool looking nest.