1113 replies to this topic

[TennesseeAnts]

Update: 9/18/20

 

Lasius americanus

-------------------------

 

The main duo has a pupa, 3 larvae and a new batch of eggs. I don't know why everyone else's take so long to develop. Mine only took 4 weeks for pupae, so maybe it's y 'all's heating? I have them at 84 degrees F, and they're just chugging along. I'm hoping for at least 20 workers before hibernation, which would be cool.

[ANTdrew]

I had mine at 90 degrees for almost five months and nothing hatched. She was clearly not mated.

[TennesseeAnts]

Update: 9/22/20

 

Pheidole tysoni

--------------------

This would not be a real antkeeping journal if the queen of this colony didn't die the day her first majors arrive, now would it? Yep, that happened. I woke up this morning to see a healthy first major, right next to her dead mother. The queen had somewhere around 40 workers, a good amount of brood and a single major... 

 

           R.I.P

      2020-2020

She shall be missed. 

 

Now then! On to some less depressing news!

 

Pheidole bicarinata

-------------------------

The colony has reached 50 workers, with several majors on the way! The queen has churned out a new batch of around 100 eggs, in addition to the already large brood pile of nearly 40 larvae and pupae. I have some high hopes for her.

 

Solenopsis molesta

--------------------------

All 9 queens still remain, -which is not surprising at all- with a mountain of brood, containing a baffling amount of pupae and larvae. It's hard to tell, but I am guessing they have somewhere between 600 and 700 larvae and pupae, with an un-countable amount of eggs. I think the queens have like 400-500 workers now, too. As you can imagine, this colony needs an incredible amount of food. I have been feeding them freeze-dried mealworms, honey every day and the occasional fruit flies. They have exploded in numbers, and should be at over a thousand before hibernation.

[Antkeeper01]

NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[RushmoreAnts]

Solenopsis molesta

--------------------------

All 9 queens still remain, -which is not surprising at all- with a mountain of brood, containing a baffling amount of pupae and larvae. It's hard to tell, but I am guessing they have somewhere between 600 and 700 larvae and pupae, with an un-countable amount of eggs. I think the queens have like 400-500 workers now, too. As you can imagine, this colony needs an incredible amount of food. I have been feeding them freeze-dried mealworms, honey every day and the occasional fruit flies. They have exploded in numbers, and should be at over a thousand before hibernation.

Yep - that's molesta for you (or any Solenopsis for that matter).

[ANTdrew]

Pheidole queens seem good at suddenly giving up the ghost. My P. davisi did that.

[TennesseeAnts]

 

Ph. bicarinata in a clean tube! I'll be making a video on these gals sometime tonight or tomorrow.

[TennesseeAnts]

Phatheads.

 

[TennesseeAnts]

Thieves!

[TennesseeAnts]

Viddd:

 

[TechAnt]

Nice!

[TennesseeAnts]

Nice!

Thanks!

[ANTdrew]

Fricking awesome!

[TennesseeAnts]

Fricking awesome!

Thanks!

[TennesseeAnts]

Update: 11/20/20

 

Aphaenogaster picea

-----------------------------

Okay so maybe these gals aren't dead, as I had declared them to be. I was cleaning out their terrarium and as it turns out they had actually grown in numbers.... I've got them in a test tube now, so no more false deaths. 

 

Aphaenogaster fulva

----------------------------

I collected this colony of around 200 workers today. You'll see what I've done with them later in the update. 

 

Crematogaster lineolata

--------------------------------

Well, I've done it. I collected this colony out of a log today. They were actually in the same log as the A. fulva, and I discovered these by accident. Anyway, I noticed the two colonies weren't murdering each other, so I collected them both and put them in a Mini Hearth. So far there's no aggression, but only time will tell. I really hope this works out.

 

Pheidole dentata

-----------------------

These gals are doing incredibly well. They've nearly doubled in size, and they're still growing. They're not hibernating this year, along with my Pogonomyrmex and Lasius neoniger colonies. Their favorite foods are still honey and crickets, and their larvae seem to agree. They have about 300 brood, and a good lot of that is major larvae and pupae. I'm glad to see them producing so many majors!

 

Lasius neoniger (colonies A, B, D)

----------------------------------------------

All three colonies are doing very well, and the dual queen group isn't far behind them. They have 5, 2 and 3 workers respectively. They all have very good amounts of brood, with colony A having the most, at about 30 eggs, larvae and pupae. 

 

Camponotus chromaiodes (Freya's colony)

----------------------------------------------------------

Queen Freya has gone into sleepy time, and has been for over 2 weeks now. The amount of microlarvae she has is insane. I'd estimate they went into hibernation with around 600-700 microlarvae, so that should make for an interesting 4th year... 

 

Camponotus chromaiodes (colony B [needs name @ANTdrew, hehe])

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I captured this colony around Nov. 4th, and they're the same size that Freya's colony was when I collected her. Man, that brings back memories... Anyway, she has 30 or so workers and 3 majors. They're in hibernation, and will come out in January or February.

 

Anyway that's all for this week. 

[Ants_Dakota]

awesome! a good selection of colonies you have!

[TennesseeAnts]

awesome! a good selection of colonies you have!

Thanks! I have around 60 colonies, but I only have my favorites in my journal.

[ANTdrew]

Long live Freya! Your new queen shall be Torvi.

[TechAnt]

As time goes on, I would suggest adding new mini hearths / formicariums to each side along with more outworlds on both sides so they won't be competing for nesting space and foraging areas for the A. fulva / C. lineolata combination. If we could get photos of that, it'd be incredible to see.

[madbiologist]

Agreed /\
I have heard of species which are capable of nesting together in the wild, but I have never seen it myself, and I've certainly never heard of it being done in captivity!

Edited by madbiologist, November 20 2020 - 4:57 PM.