37 replies to this topic

[ponerinecat]

good luck, these are some of my favorite suburban ants

[NickAnter]

Thank you!!!!  And they either have multiple eggs now, or a larva, as  I saw a queen either carrying a small cluster of eggs, or a medium sized larva.  I have found that they very rarely forage, which is odd for such skinny queens.  And the winged one has shed her wings.

[NickAnter]

I just caught about 20 queens. I will feed them tonight.

[NickAnter]

They have eggs! About ten of them!!    I really hope they are successful.

Edited by NickAnter, February 20 2020 - 4:59 PM.

[NickAnter]

20 eggs now. And......... They have a medium larva!!! This is the first time I have ever got this far with them. I think that they require a large founding group. I might add a couple more when they get workers.

[ponerinecat]

Wow. This may be a first. If I remember correctly, no one has ever raised a colony from queens alone. Or maybe it was from a single queen.

[RushmoreAnts]

Oh, really? I guess we know the secret now.

[NickAnter]

I think it was only from a single queen that was never done before, sadly. But I think that my method is uncommonly successful, most successful is worker boosting, which I don't do, as I don't find it as fulfilling, as is the process of getting natural workers.

The secret is: Try try, and try again. As well as a ton of queens. Throw as many as possible in one tube. I think 100 would be ideal. I still have no idea how alates do it in the wild.  Though, I have seen an alate, with a dealate, with a worker. So, this could mean that single queens and a worker or two bud out, and then alates join them when they fly. And, also I have made a new scientific discovery a week ago. Alates, and presumably workers will make rafts on the water. I observed roughly 30 alate queens in the pool, all in one raft. They even added an aphid to the raft. I will post the pictures of it in a bit.

Edited by NickAnter, February 28 2020 - 5:05 PM.

[NickAnter]

Here is the long awaited picture:

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

that's kinda trippy, looks like a geometric shape made out of queens.

[ForestDragon]

welp i know what to use for rafting materials if i need to cross an ocean lol

[RushmoreAnts]

Here is the long awaited picture:

This makes Egypt’s pyramids look like piles of rock. These are alive.........

[ponerinecat]

Its a triantgle

[NickAnter]

Caught 2 queens, and boosted them with 3 workers. 2 workers died, leaving them with 1. They now have 2 eggs, one of which might be a small larva. In a couple months, they will have their giant flights, and I plan to put at least 30 queens in one tube. I'm convinced the more queens, the bettter.

[M_Ants]

Will you sell extra queens?

[NickAnter]

It depends on how many queens I find, and how many do well.

[NickAnter]

OK, well, several cycles of finding queens, and failing have passed since then. They didn't have a massive singular flight this year like last year, so it has made the strategy I employed last year pretty much impossible. However, I do have a new plan, and was able to use it today. I was observing a nest of the species, when a queen just wandered by. I collected her, and put her in snap cap vial founding formicarium, with a proper chamber, and small entrance hole, as well as a hydration chamber. I then went out and collected about 10 workers to boost the queen with. Out of curiosity, I went out again in search of more queens. I was successful, and found an alate in the pool, and a dealate wandering around. Interestingly, the alate is of a different body shape than the dealate I found near the host nest. Once they are all in a better place, I will hopefully be able to take pictures and video of them side by side.

[NickAnter]

Eggses!!! We have eggses!!!

 

They have a nice little pile of eggs, and, as an added bonus, I found another queen today, tandem running with a worker, likely transferring between nests. Naturally, she was accepted with no problems. I hope to at the very least keep them alive in this way; be able to find enough queens at random so that when some inevitably die the colony doesnt die out. And pictures should come tomorrow!