387 replies to this topic

[Antennal_Scrobe]

 

 

Awww. I miss when my colony was that cute.

They probably won't be for long, to be honest. About 20 workers from the first batch, and the second one might be 2 or 3 times that many, with how swollen the queen is (her gaster is bigger than the rest of her body!). Assuming she'll lay a third or maybe even fourth batch this year, that could mean over 100 ants by November.

Feed them every day, and you’ll certainly be above 100 workers. I don’t think these queens even really do batches; they just pump out eggs continuously as long as the protein is flowing.

 

That makes sense, they do have a bunch of larvae that weren't there a few weeks ago but also weren't part of any giant batch of eggs. 

[Antennal_Scrobe]

Why are Crematogaster flights so unpredictable? I caught mine in September, but people even in my own state have found queens anywhere from June and July all the way to October.

 

Edit: Perhaps C. cerasi is a species complex. Does anyone know if North American Crematogaster have ever been analyzed the way Aphaenogaster or Tetramorium were?

Edited by Antennal_Scrobe, June 14 2020 - 10:36 AM.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

My Tetramorium colony is still doing well. I give them a cricket or two every time I feed my ants. It's hard to report on their grow as their chambers are hidden from view, but I can tell that the colony is quite large.

Edited by Antennal_Scrobe, June 14 2020 - 10:59 AM.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

The Temnothorax queen seems promising, as she is tending to her egg or eggs very intensely.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

I think I know why I had trouble with the plaster; I used 1 part plaster to 4 parts water when the directions meant 1 part water to 4 parts plaster.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

I went anting today with AnthonyP163 and CheetoLord02. I caught a large Crematogaster cerasi colony that was nesting inside a few big hollow sticks, and a one queen, five worker Temnothorax ambiguus colony with lots of brood. We also saw some very interesting ants, including two Dolichoderus species, Formica obscuripes, Aphaenogaster rudis, and a dulotic Temnothorax species.

[TechAnt]

I went anting today with AnthonyP163 and CheetoLord02. I caught a large Crematogaster cerasi colony that was nesting inside a few big hollow sticks, and a one queen, five worker Temnothorax ambiguus colony with lots of brood. We also saw some very interesting ants, including two Dolichoderus species, Formica obscuripes, Aphaenogaster rudis, and a dulotic Temnothorax species.

Nice finds! Also, this journal is so impressively long.

[TennesseeAnts]

I went anting today with AnthonyP163 and CheetoLord02. I caught a large Crematogaster cerasi colony that was nesting inside a few big hollow sticks, and a one queen, five worker Temnothorax ambiguus colony with lots of brood. We also saw some very interesting ants, including two Dolichoderus species, Formica obscuripes, Aphaenogaster rudis, and a dulotic Temnothorax species.

Nice finds! Also, this journal is so impressively long.

Mine's bigger!

Edited by Ant_Dude2908, June 18 2020 - 7:14 PM.

[RushmoreAnts]

Mine has the potential of getting quite large, yet due to popular demand, I will be dividing it up by genus.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

I tend to post a lot, I think that's why it's so long. Anyway, I believe the new Crematogaster colony is queenless; is it possible to introduce a queen to such a colony? The Temnothorax are good, and I think they will do well once I find something for them. Sadly, Crematogaster Colony 3 has lost a worker due to entanglement in cotton. Otherwise, the Crematogaster colonies are doing well, with plenty of medium to large sized larvae.

[ANTdrew]

Most attempts I’ve read about to add Crematogaster queens to colonies fail in a grisly fashion.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

For anyone keeping P. occidentalis, I've found that they can and should be fed insects occasionally, in addition to seeds. I fed them a cricket a couple of days ago and they absolutely destroyed it; I think they might have even eaten the exoskeleton. Their larvae have now grown considerably. My M. punctiventris have been doing very well lately. The die-offs have stopped, and the larvae are pupating.

Edited by Antennal_Scrobe, June 19 2020 - 11:07 AM.

[CheetoLord02]

I tend to post a lot, I think that's why it's so long. Anyway, I believe the new Crematogaster colony is queenless; is it possible to introduce a queen to such a colony? The Temnothorax are good, and I think they will do well once I find something for them. Sadly, Crematogaster Colony 3 has lost a worker due to entanglement in cotton. Otherwise, the Crematogaster colonies are doing well, with plenty of medium to large sized larvae.

Every colony I collected was queenless as well, both crematogaster colonies and the dolichoderus. If I were you I would try to collect the brood from the crematogaster and give them to another colony of yours. That's what I did personally.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

My F. pallidefulva have gotten really skittish lately, though luckily they are mostly triggered by vibrations and not light.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

My Lasius brevicornis just got their first worker! Lasius brood takes forever to develop; I think they got their first pupae a couple of months ago.

Edited by Antennal_Scrobe, June 20 2020 - 12:22 PM.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

My ants are doing very well right now. All of the Crematogaster colonies have around 14-17 workers and plenty of brood. My Brachymyrmex depilis finally have workers, but I'm unsure what to do next. If any one has successfully kept B. depilis before, I could really use some tips. The colony has two queens, two workers, and a lot of brood (all stages). They are in a test tube, but have dug a chamber in the cotton up against the glass. This seems to give them the high humidity that they like, but I'm not sure how I would move them once the test tube dries up, or if the workers know they can leave the claustral cell to forage. The Prenolepis queen has several big larvae, though I haven't seen how big the nanitics are in P. imparis, so I don't know how much more they have to grow. The Lasius colony has a few workers now, at least 3 from what I can tell. Their tube is really messy, with cotton strewn everywhere, so I can't easily count the ants inside.

Edited by Antennal_Scrobe, June 26 2020 - 8:20 AM.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

I've never kept Solenopsis molesta before. Should I?

[RushmoreAnts]

I've never kept Solenopsis molesta before. Should I?

YES!!!

[Antennal_Scrobe]

 

I've never kept Solenopsis molesta before. Should I?

YES!!!

What's it like to keep them? What should I keep in mind? Are they best raised from queens or caught as colonies?

[ANTdrew]

I plan on trying if I find some good queens. I like me some tiny ants.