37 replies to this topic

[Antennal_Scrobe]

About a year ago, I caught a Tetramorium immigrans queen and raised her in a THA Mini Hearth. Her colony is growing steadily with about 15 workers and a sizable brood pile. I expect to move them into an AntsCanada Hybrid Nest later this summer. 

[rbarreto]

That's some pretty slow growth for tetramorium, something might be wrong.

Edited by rbarreto, June 23 2019 - 5:05 PM.

[ANTdrew]

My year old colony has like 1500 workers.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

Yeah, I think they might not have gotten enough food last summer, but now they are getting and taking a variety of food items (mealworms, fish food, scrambled eggs, raw honey), and new workers are eclosing all the time. This colony (My first one) did get off to a rough start, but I think they will turn out OK.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

But then again, I once saw an incipient colony that couldn't have been younger than mine under a rock, and it had about the same amount of workers. So maybe it's just Wisconsin. 

[ANTdrew]

That sounds good. I just dump a limitless amount of protein for mine. They eat everything I throw at them!

[Antennal_Scrobe]

Yep. That sounds like my Tetramorium. I so far have not seen them refuse a food item. Do you think they would like to eat alate larvae pillaged from wild colonies? I saw a worker dragging one through my garden once, so I bet they will. I always try to steal brood from the nests in my yard, but only find alate brood. Maybe now it's good for something.

[ANTdrew]

They would love that. Just give then any insect protein, cooked meats or egg yolks. Mine love hemp seeds, too.

Edited by ANTdrew, June 24 2019 - 9:45 AM.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

I came back from vacation today only to be pleasantly surprised by the lack of any major ant catastrophe. This colony seems busier than before.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

I counted the workers and there seem to be about 18 right now, maybe a little more. This is encouraging because about 4 ants died just before I left, meaning that several workers would need to have eclosed for there to be more than before the die off.

[Will230145]

My tetra queen has over 100 eggs. What happened to them? She has about 20 pupae about to eclose in about a week. You should have several hundred or a thousand ants by now.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

I think because I live so far north, ants grow more slowly. A colony I saw under a rock in May had about the same amount of workers, and so does the one listed on the GAN project for my area. 

[Mdrogun]

I think because I live so far north, ants grow more slowly. A colony I saw under a rock in May had about the same amount of workers, and so does the one listed on the GAN project for my area. 

I'm in Northern IL. Have family in Milwaukee. You could definitely of hit at least 200 workers in the first year. Often times I will find people are like "my ants are growing so slow hurr durr" and they're keeping them at room temp and feeding them once a week. If that's how you want to keep your ants, go for it my dude. It's not going to get good growth results. The Tetramorium immigrans I caught this year are being kept at 85F and their brood piles are growing quite quickly. I feed my ants daily, or every other day. Keep em warm, keep em fed. Don't stop feeding until they stop accepting food. Your growth in captivity should be wayyyy better than what wild colonies experience. Wild colonies are not living in "ideal conditions." Captive ants should have unlimited access to every resource they need.

 

I've never taken raising Tetramorium immigrans very seriously because they are so common. But I've for certain gotten well over 200 workers in the first year.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

The room my ants are in is usually pretty hot, so I guess I should start feeding them more. I think the main problem is that last summer, I really was not very good at keeping ants, and ended up not feeding them all they needed. this year though, I think they are growing pretty quickly. Thanks for the help.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

Yesterday, two ants eclosed. This tells me the brood pile extends beyond what I can see, as I was pretty sure there weren't any pupae, let alone any ready to hatch ones.

[ANTdrew]

Yeah, you honestly can’t feed Tetramorium enough. Max them out!!!

[Antennal_Scrobe]

The workers have dragged one of the mealworms into the nest entrance. This surprises me, because I assumed I needed to add new ones in today, since they are getting quite crusty and old. My pavement ants eat fish food though, so a crusty larva is not off the menu I suppose. How long should I leave insects in there before I replace them?

[ANTdrew]

I give my Tetra colonies several new insects every day. I alternate some meats and seeds, too. They never refuse food, so I just keep throwing it at them.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

How long can a food item stay in the outworld before they can no longer eat it?

[ANTdrew]

They don’t show interest in foods that have dried out. How long that takes will depend on the food item.