84 replies to this topic

[DJoseph98]

Update 9/21/19
Sorry this post is late just forgot to post it. Will post a more relevant post by tonight or tomorrow.
So my dead Camponotus chromaiodes queen that I kept for observation has not shown anything that would indicate a cause of death (ie no fungus or rapid bacterial breakdown of the body). Body is safely disposed of.
On a brighter note, I found two more Formica subsericea queens the same way and place as the first. They ate quite a bit of honey.
Crematogaster spp.
So had a bit of a scare with this colony. Somehow the cotton plug got loosened on their tube so about fourteen workers were wandering around the shelf I was keeping them on. Gathering them back up was pretty easy and I dropped them in a cup with a bit of honey in the bottom. They were so interested in the honey they didn’t even bother trying to climb out. It made placing them back in the tube pretty easy. Overall I think they have around seventeen workers now.
Monomorium minimum
I haven’t even bothered trying to count how many workers this colony has, they are so small and run around so frantically. They actually impressed me quite a bit yesterday. I had chilled maybe seven fruit flies to feed them and I thought they had completely died. So I dropped them into the Monomorium tube and everything was good for a second until they all just sprang up and started running around. It didn’t take more than a minute before the workers had subdued each one using just their stingers. Their venom must be significantly potent because it only took one or two stings to kill the much larger fruit fly. It was never my intention to do a live feeding but it certainly produced interesting results. I always figured Monomorium were more of a scavenger species. When their colony continues to grow, I will have to be extra careful, due to the possible presence of alkaloids in their venom.
Forelius cf. pruinosis
I love this colony. I can literally leave the tubing from their test tube open wen I’m feeding them because they never walk past honey. They never waste time collecting food either, it’s nice to see such a good natured colony. They seem to be somewhat easily disturbed if only by just light or air. Overall, I think they have close to around twenty workers but it’s hard to get a count since they are so pale and move so fast.
Pheidole dentata
Two of the three queens I added to a dirt tube have made burrows and seem to be doing well. The third, however, is cotton pulling and doesn’t seem to like the situation. Out of the two without any dirt, one queen has actually laid a few eggs (which is one of the physogastric ones). I feel confident this one will develop well. I have not bothered them or checked for about five days and will continue to ignore them so as to provide optimum chances of success.
Solenopsis molesta
So, I checked on this queen and all of her brood were gone and there was green mold near the cotton. I’m guessing her brood were either devoured by her or the mold. Another possibility is that this queen had not successfully mated and her brood were doomed from the start. Either way, I moved her into a new tube with damp substrate (damp so that tunnel collapse would be less likely). I guess I have to wait another month if there will be any success at all.
Formica subsericea
So I found that there was too much loose substrate with my original queen. Every time the tube shifted so did most of the substrate and she lost footing. No eggs yet, so I removed her and dumped some substrate out until it wouldn’t come out easily (which still left plenty). Initially, I also had added the two new queens with her but I think a single tube is too much for three queens of this size. I moved the two new queens to a new test tube with some damp substrate against the cotton. I will check on all these groups in two or three days. I keep seeing conflicting sources on whether this species is polygynous or monogynous and none of the sources cite any research articles, studies, or peer reviewed journals so, as far as I’m concerned, the matter has not been truly explored thoroughly enough. This is why I have a dual queen colony and a single. Hopefully, the results will help whoever comes across this journal in search of similar info. The circumstances I found these queens would indicate a polygynous behavior at least with daughter queens, and when they were together there was no sort of aggression of worry. Just touching and antennae stroking. I have found out to my dismay that this is not an indicator of polygynous behavior since the incident I have with my original Pheidole dentata founding groups.
If the dual queen group fails to lay eggs before three days have past that the single queen has laid eggs, I will separate them and see if this alters anything.
Myrmica spp.
I have never seen anything as savage as this queen. I tend to leave her outworld alone for at least a week at a time only changing the honey and dumping maybe twelve live fruit flies to last her. A fruit fly will wander into her covered tube, and sprint straight back out and she’ll immediately take that one down, and pursue all the other until she is convinced there are none left alive. This queen’s gaster has grown considerably larger and every fruit fly I remove seems to have been sucked dry of their fluids. I feel like my keeping this queen will be very successful. She dumped out most of the substrate I put in her tube though, so I am unsure if there is something about that bother her or if she just prefers to have a large chamber and then a secluded chamber (which is what her tube now looks like the way she manipulated the cotton and substrate). This has to be one of the most entertaining founding queens I have ever kept and I’ve been greatly impressed by her hunting abilities. If this queen is successful, I will have to give her colony a true terrarium. I feel that watching the colony hunt in the outworld will be much more interesting than watching their underground activities; besides, that’s what my other colonies are for.

I thought this too, about the monomorium, except for Solenopsis molesta, until I got stung on the wrist when I accidentall set my arm down on a swarming nest...

Really?! I would've thought they were the run and hide type of ant too XD

[NickAnter]

Yup. I crouched down, looking at a nest right near it, and I felt some tingles on my arm. I got about twenty off, but I missed the one on my wrist. Just felt like someone barely touched me with a needle.

[DJoseph98]

Update 10-5-19 (With 10-9-19 Additions)

Hello all! I’ve been trying to get updates in every week or so, but its kinda hard with school. For better understanding, any colonies whose exact species I don’t know shall now be referred to as the genus followed by the word colony (for those who actually have workers of course).

I recently ordered and received some of the famous Sunburst Ant Nectar via Amazon and I have to say its had some good results.

Here it is!

Crematogaster Colony
They seem to be healthy and happy. They drank more of the Sunburst ant nectar than I have seen of any other fluid or sugar. I didn’t realized Crematogaster had such noticeable social stomachs until I gave them this. They couldn’t climb upside down anymore, they weighed themselves down so much. They are voracious as usual as well, though I’m not sure if they drank dry some mealworms I gave them or if they dried up. Their brood pile completely lacked eggs last I checked and only had one or two larvae and a pupae. I’m guessing they are preparing for diapause, so I’ll have to brush up on the procedure to use. I will find the lowest temp area in my apartment for these little guys so that they can best endure this time of the year.
This colony is still taking all protein; however, they don’t seem to care much for peanut butter. Since I can’t find any brood piles at all now, I’ll only focus on loading them up on food for the next two weeks while simultaneously adjusting them to lower temperatures before placing them into diapause. Right now they are at about 68 F (room temp in my apartment). Next week I’ll place them in a location I know to be closer to 60 F and then find the closest temp to 50 F (shouldn’t be too hard in directly on the floor).

Forelius Colony
They kind of fell behind the thriving Crematogaster colony. I think this mostly due to the fact that they react in a timid fearful way to disturbances, so don’t lay as much. I recently saw their brood pile which lacks every stage but has a nice pile of eggs. I think this is because their time for diapause is approaching. I will have to use the same procedure as I do with my Crematogaster (after about a month, so their eggs have a chance). Most recent checks have shown no brood whatsoever. They loaded up on the Sunburst Ant Nectar I gave them, but they won’t take any protein. I will use the same procedure as the Crematogaster, with the change in that I will only be offering sugars and peanut butter (not sure if they like peanut butter though).

Monomorium Colony
I don’t understand how they’ve thrived to such a degree under my care, but they are starting to get too big for just the test tube. They are voracious! I gave them three small mealworms pre killed and they didn’t even leave an exoskeleton behind! Today I gave them a mealworm est. 10 mm long. I am curious how much will be left after a day or two. Their brood piles are in tow major piles of larvae and just as many pupae as well as a small pile of eggs. They definitely seemed to like the sunburst ant nectar but since I had recently gave them quite a bit of honey they didn’t respond as strongly as my Crematogaster. Every time I open their tube now for a feeding or cleaning they have workers running out and attacking me because there are plenty of workers. I can’t seem to feel their bites or stings significantly, but I was quick to get them off. There have been three verified fatalities now due to attempted worker escapes. I will have to get them into a proper formicarium or use a Test Tube – Vinyl Tube networking system to make things easier. Love this colony!
My latest check has revealed a lack of eggs at present. They seem satiated on protein for now (finally). I will be offering them a tube with damp substrate to improve diapause success since it seems they may spend the winter without laying new eggs. This will also help with access to water since they seem to be having trouble getting at it through the cotton plug now. I’ve also noticed that many of their larvae have gotten pretty damn big. I don’t know if these are alates (supposedly queens only live for a year so it probably isn’t too early for that) or if they are just fattened up to survive the winter. Worker numbers are around 30 to 40 I think.

Now for the founding stage queens/groups

Formica subsericea
Great news! The two queens in my double queen test tube now have eggs! I suspect that only one of them is truly laying since I only ever seen one worrying over them, but that’s okay I suppose.
The only queen is doing well but I haven’t seen her do anything yet. I think I will most likely have some overwinter without brood and one overwinter with nanitics. All groups seem to love the new Sunburst Ant Nectar.
Queen with eggs has at least 8 eggs now! I will definitely keep this queen heated until nanitics arrive and get fattened up, so est diapause will be around Nov 20th hopefully. No change with my other queens. Everyone is loaded up on Sunburst Ant Nectar and honey, so I think they will be prepared for diapause. Adjusted the single queen tube to lower temperatures along same routine previously mentioned.

Myrmica Spp.
So I moved the little piece of black construction paper on her tube in the outworld to what she had done with her little home. It seems she tossed out most of the substrate, but you won’t believe it… She has some brood I think!! I saw what appeared to be a very sizable larvae against the glass and since she has been eating so much, her gaster is swollen, and I’ve seen this, I don’t think she waiting until after winter! I may have a colony of this amazing genus before winter hits! Honestly, this is my most anticipated colony. The queens hunting behavior is nothing short of awe inspiring and I can’t wait to have a full blown colony and design a proper terrarium to allow them to thrive and hunt.
She seems to have one large egg or a small (and oddly shaped) larvae.Unsure whether I should wait for diapause like I did I will do with my Formica queen with eggs.
Pheidole dentata
No eggs with any of the queens; in fact, one queen in the dirt setup died. Due to the success in the Solenopsis molesta queen, I have decided to place all three queens together again and into a test tube full of damp substrate. They are currently digging. The thought is that with the damper substrate they risk less dehydration and improved tunnel stability. They are working together on the tunnel and so hopefully this group of P. dentata will be more successful than my last. Honestly, this is a last ditch. I am using a 16 mm test tube so that in case they overwinter they have plenty of water reservoir left.
Recent addition to the news: Anotehr queen died; however, the two living queens left have a batch of eggs already! Will wait to place into diapause.

Solenopsis molesta
This queen made a sizable chamber for herself in her damp substrate and dug quite a bit of substrate (especially considering her size). She actually has a brood pile going that I was able to see since her chamber is up against the glass of the tube.
There has been no change in this queen, so I will place this queen into diapause simultaneously as my Formica with eggs into diapause. Should this fail, I will just feed her to one of my colonies since after this long it would be indicative of infertility. Maybe just to my venus flytrap.

I want to wish everyone luck as Winter 19/20 is fast approaching and most of us are placing colonies into diapause already! Health and prosperity to you and your colonies, and let’s hope for another great anting season come Spring 2020!

[DJoseph98]

Update 2/3/2020

I hope everyone is having a good year so far! I don’t know about all of you, but I’m pretty excited for this season! In fact, I brought some of my queens/colonies out of hibernation! First however, I need to update the survival status for some of my groups.

Crematogaster Colony – Dead. Shortly after starting a temperature decrease, I checked and found the queen dead covered in white mold while all of her workers were fine. Unknown how this occurred, especially since the lowest temperature reached by the time I checked was 60F.

Solenopsis molesta – Dead. Nothing I did directly that I am aware. In light of this, I did not feed her to anything.

Everyone else is alive and well as far as I can tell!

Formica subsericea
They seem okay, I brought them out of diapause (slowly) three days ago. They seem fine and lively. I provided a new tube with some substrate, and used a very small grain of aquarium salt to provide slightly more electrolytes. I placed all three in the tube (the pair had eaten their eggs at start of diapause). The space is plenty and shouldn’t be too much of an issue since it shouldn’t be too long before they start a colony.

Forelius spp.
I took this colony out of hibernation since their tube dried up long ago. I’ve been tossing in Fluker’s Cricket Quencher to improve humidity and hydration until I thought the minimal diapause time had passed to provide a new (and larger) test tube. I had also added aquarium salt to this tube in a larger amount. I provided some honey in the their original tube which they ate quite a bit of.
Update: Provided with outworld and honey.

Pheidole dentata
I honestly don’t know what happened but one queen from a two queen group died, all eggs eaten. One is alive after diapause, my only one left. I provided her with a new tube. She seems very weak, and wouldn’t accept any honey. I don’t know if she will make it, but I will still try.
Update: Dead.

Monomorium minimum
This colony remained surprisingly active during temperatures at freezing. I will remove them from diapause today and expect a full and complete recovery and success for this colony. I will provide them with two novel test tubes (one with aquarium salt in the water, one without) via a tube system and allowing them to move as they see fit. According to queen lifespan, I only have a few more months with this colony.

Myrmica spp.
So right now I have three queens together in the tube + dirt outworld setup. I have no clue if they are all alive, so today I plan to remove them from diapause today and provide a new tube while simultaneously determining how many survived. I am extremely excited about having an active hunting species so I hope they all lived.
Update: All three survived, they have a new tube.

Updates will be added infrequently as things get busier through the semester.
I also received my prize Outworld from Crystals! The decorations inside broke during delivery so I will have to make new decorations but that shouldn’t be an issue. I think I will dedicate it to my Forelius colony first, since they are not as hard to contain as my Monomorium. I ordered some mesh to hopefully create more outworlds.

Plans for this season: I would like to catch one of the more beautiful Camponotus species such as Componotus americanus or Camponotus novaeboracensis… Additionally, all Pheidole welcome. I have to resist anything else, since I am already at a pretty high colony max for how little time I have free.

[ForestDragon]

don't fret about the monomorium minimum, those alates they might be producing will be mated in the nest and join the colony as egg laying queens, they are one of the few species that actually do it

[DJoseph98]

don't fret about the monomorium minimum, those alates they might be producing will be mated in the nest and join the colony as egg laying queens, they are one of the few species that actually do it

Okay now that is awesome. Do you know when they usually start producing alates? 

Update 2/19/2020

 

Formica subsericea

I’ve been loading up the queens on byFormica Nectar which they have been drinking like crazy. Their gasters have become much larger because of this; however, I have not seen any egg production as of yet. They have been receiving plenty of heat so far, so I can only assume that it is either my frequent disruption by providing nectar. I am okay with this since if they don’t have enough stores to successfully start a colony, it won’t matter whether they lay eggs now or not. Still early in the season. 

Edit (2/23/2020): One queen has a batch of eggs, maybe 4 or 5. She is the only one carrying them around, so I assume they are only from the one queen. I expect nanitics by the beginning of April if this batch survives.

 

Myrmica spp.

I have been providing about 2 to 3 fruit flies every other day for this three queen group in addition to small pieces of cotton soaked in byFormica nectar. Since this is a semi-claustral species, I provided an outworld in the form of a second tube connected with a small vinyl tube and cotton (where the “hunting tube” is uncovered, while the home tube is covered). After checking, they have a sizable pile of brood! In fact, they look like they are already larvae! They’ve been hunting quite frequently, so I have to heat my fruit fly culture a little bit to increase production.

Edit (2/23/2020): I gave them the Forelius outworld with honey an fruit flies to hunt. I expect nanitics between March 15^th and March 22^nd.

 

Monomorium minimum

This colony has had a huge appetite since I took them out of diapause. They finish off a massive mealworm in less than a day. They have quite a few new brood that I could tell and their brood that overwintered are definitely living and doing well. I am currently building a proper outworld for this colony that will be able to contain them. This meant that I had to use quite a bit of silicon sealant, as well as some pretty fine mesh. Hopefully it will turn out well.

Edit (2/23/2020): Outworld built, and they seem to be enjoying it pretty well.

 

Forelius spp.

I’m not sure what to do with this colony. They don’t seem to be eating much of anything that I can tell; however, they are so small and so few that I don’t know if I would really notice. Due to the risk of causing the colony to fail, I have limited my checking on them directly. I hope they start laying eggs soon so they can succeed after the amount of time I have kept them.

Edit (2/23/2020): I took away their outworld since they didn’t seem to forage much. I think given their small colony size it was too early.

 

 

All colonies heated to temperatures around 70F that I can accurately measure though it is probably warming them closer to 80F. I say this because the measured temperature is in a position with some airflow (unfortunately unavoidable) but the tubes have restricted airflow which would result in a higher temperature.

[ForestDragon]

watch the vynil tubing in the myrmica. make sure there is airflow I had an aphaenogaster colony die before because i hooked them up to a new tube and that suffocatted

[DJoseph98]

watch the vynil tubing in the myrmica. make sure there is airflow I had an aphaenogaster colony die before because i hooked them up to a new tube and that suffocatted

I hooked them up to a ventilated outworld yesterday. Before that, I had used cotton plugs with the test tubes so while it didn't have alot of airflow, it had the minimum ventilation for their success.

[DJoseph98]

Update 3/11/2020

Summary
Currently keeping Monomorium minimum, Forelius spp. (Either mccooki or pruinosis), Myrmica spp., and Formica subsericea.

Monomorium minimum
This colony seems to be doing very well and swarm food if I don't give them protein every day (about two mealworm pupae every other day to every day). They have a brood pile that numbers at least as many as double the current worker population! They seem to have lost their taste for fruit flies and don't get as excited over mealworms themselves. I also wet a cotton ball every other day with byFormica Ant Nectar. They actually stopped going to the raw honey I leave out for them since they prefer the byFormica. T

Forelius spp.
Still no brood, though colony members deaths are little to none. I think I will provide them with a new tube. It could be that I added too much aquarium salt to this one so I will provide one without any/very little.

Myrmica spp.
This three queen founding group is doing extremely well! They have a spectrum of stages in their brood piles ranging from larvae almost the same size as the queens to small eggs. I think that in all there are about fifteen larvae with five being of the larger size. They are definitely feeding the larvae the fruit flies I've been dropping in their outworld. You can clearly see their full bellies with red fruit fly juices inside. I added a cotton ball that I regularly soak with Ant Nectar into their outworld. I haven't seen the queens forage in a long time, but I am reasonably sure they are drinking some. At the very least, the live fruit flies I drop into the outworld are drinking from it so it works as a gut-loading station, a easy place for the queens to locate their prey, and a good way to make sure excess fruit flies live long enough to be hunted rather than die from hunger or thirst. I expect workers within ten days given the size of the larvae.

Formica subsericea
These queens seem okay. They ate some of the eggs I reported last update, and this last check seemed they laid some more and have at least one larvae. I have not checked on them in a week and plan to not check on them for at least another two weeks. Their water reservoir seems like it may run low, but I think it should last until they have some workers. I still think only one queen is laying eggs, though this could change when they get workers or even while I leave them to lay in peace.

I've changed my setup to allow for a constant temperature of 73F +/- 3F for all of my colonies, except for my Monomorium whose temperature range is 76F +/- 3F due to positioning of their larger outworld. I can guarantee the temperature range of my Formica and Forelius because they are sitting in a "sand-bath" that is simultaneously being heated with the air above them with the outworld of the Monomorium functioning as a lid. If I remove their makeshift "lid", I still have a constant sand temperature because as a solid it stores much more heat than the air, but does not become more than 2F hotter than the heated air due to the way I set things up. The Myrmica are placed near the heater but have a similar heating as those in the sand bath (seen through observation over a week). Honestly, this is the best thing I could have done. Even if the temperature of the air above drops to the ambient temperature of 65F in my apartment (winter weather with low power heater), the sand bath and heater keep the test tubes nice and cozy still.

Future changes that I currently planning or considering administering:
Currently, I have a set of byFormica's liquid feeders on the way since I will have to leave my ants unattended for extended periods over the summer and I wanted to make sure I had them prior. It will arrive today and I will be providing my Myrmica and Monomorium with micro towers. I also plan on giving my Myrmica a smaller out world so that I can move the entire thing into the sand bath unit.
Possible changes would be expanding the diet of my Monomorium. Currently I have an aquarium with guppies (the species-group) that recently saw an explosion in fry (baby fish) and I need to prevent an overstock of fish. I assumed they would be devoured, but there seems to be too many. You probably already guessed it, but I am considering feeding excess fry to my Monomorium. The only issue is the possibility of smell and issues arising from unfamiliar bacteria and fungi. If all goes well, this could be something I could use to vary the diet of most of ant colonies. I would of course let them die first before subjecting them to the ants. I will post this as a question to the overall community in a separate thread, but advice is also welcome here.

[DJoseph98]

Above is my current Myrmica group. They REALLY freak out if they get too much light even for a second so the picture quality isn't great.

[DJoseph98]

Above is a recent picture of my Monomorium minimum colony. It really doesn't do justice to the depth of that brood pile or the worker number since many are in the tunnels of the black substrate to the right.

[DJoseph98]

Finally, above is the current setup I have for my ants. The random test tube to the left is actually empty and dirty, I just forgot to clean it. To the right is the outworld for my Myrmica with the test tube behind it. The two jars behind that are my fruit fly cultures (The actual jar one is currently the only one since the plastic one dried out after taking this picture). The heating element is a hermit crab heating mat and the container above is my Monomorium outworld, heated by the rising air.

[DJoseph98]

Update 4/23/2020

(Written on 4/23/2020, additions made 4/26/2020)

 

Hey everyone, I hope all of you are staying healthy and promoting good health habits during this crazy time! Sorry it’s been a while since my last update, I’ve been switched to online classes which has been intense and irritating.A few things have changed since my last update. First and foremost, my Forelius are finally dead, may they rest in peace. 

 

Formica subsericea

So… I separated all three queens into separate test tubes. I theorized the lack of brood was due to all the queens freaking out in a small space when I checked on them increasing stress much more than if it was only one. I was correct. Shortly after separating the queens, each laid a few eggs. The first queen which was left with remaining brood (two larvae) has one pupae and a pupae-larvae. The second queen has a single large larvae. The really cool stuff is with the third queen. 

Edit: The first queen has her first nanitic which had to have eclosed today! Has one pupae.

 

The third queen is doing VERY well right now. I did something very risky, and caught a Formica subsericea work outside, filled it up on Sunburst ant nectar (REALLY filled it up) in a container for a few days, and released it into the test tube with her. Shorty after, the queen was distended post-trophylaxis. A few days ago, after giving the worker a very small mealworm, the queen had a batch of eggs bigger than I had ever seen with any of these queens (and the mealworm was nowhere to be seen). A few days ago, I caught two more workers following the same process and successfully grouped them together (this time not straight into the tube but into an outworld). The worker that I had given originally was dragging another small mealworm into the tube last time I checked. So far, this seems to be working great without any problems, though it is still early to tell.

 

 

Monomorium minimum

They are extremely quick to jump on protein just like in the while. I think I probably need to start providing protein more often instead of in larger quantities. I have provided them with a second tube, since they tunneled through through the water barrier to get to the drying reservoir. I am unsure I should provide a third tube so that each queen has their own tube to move to if they want. Not much has changed with this colony, which is no problem considering that they are healthy and growing currently.

 

 

Myrmica spp.

This colony has not had a single worker yet, which is very frustrating. I haven’t been able to use fruit flies since my culture dried out and the current pandemic made acquisition of quality stock more difficult. I am using small, freshly molted mealworms for now with crushed heads. Seems to be the only way they will bring it into the tube from the outworld, otherwise they ignore it. Currently, they have one or two eggs but plenty of large larvae though I can’t see larvae vs pupae without exposing them to too much light. 

Edit: They have several pupae which have turned reddish brown! They are still light transparent  with ambient light (like when she shine a flashlight through your hand), but I think they should eclose in two or three days. Just in time too, the test tube reservoir ran out weeks ago and only the wet cotton and substrate has kept it humid. I provided them recently with a byFormica feeder filled with water from my freshwater fish tank (I didn’t want to bother dechlorinating a cup of water to fill a 1 milliliter feeder). 

 

[ANTdrew]

Formica are kind of annoying. That’s all I can say.

[NickAnter]

My dream species in my area for the year is F. perpilosa. Very beautiful species. And super active.

[DJoseph98]

Formica are kind of annoying. That’s all I can say.

Annoying?? How come?

[RushmoreAnts]

 

Formica are kind of annoying. That’s all I can say.

Annoying?? How come?

 

They freak out over the smallest things, colonies grow slowly............

[TennesseeAnts]

 

 

Formica are kind of annoying. That’s all I can say.

Annoying?? How come?

 

They freak out over the smallest things, colonies grow slowly............

 

Idk what's wrong with your Formica. Mine are the opposite of everything you just typed.

Edited by Ant_Dude2908, April 30 2020 - 9:49 AM.

[RushmoreAnts]

Idk what you're doing right. 

[DJoseph98]

Honestly my queens always freaked out when they were in the same tube, but if I give them honey with a toothpick they always fight for it like tug of war.