279 replies to this topic

[TennesseeAnts]

Why do you get all the cool ants....

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

So you would have to get cooler ants so your little game of the Cloud vs. the Dude would continue e

[RushmoreAnts]

I can’t wait to brag about my hundred queened Solenopsis molesta colony I will collect later this year........

[TennesseeAnts]

So you would have to get cooler ants so your little game of the Cloud vs. the Dude would continue e

I mean, I do know where 3 colonies of Stigmatomma live, and I have Proceratium on the way...

[RushmoreAnts]

I once caught Stigmatomma..........

[ponerinecat]

Why do you get all the cool ants....

Look who's talking

 

So you would have to get cooler ants so your little game of the Cloud vs. the Dude would continue e

I mean, I do know where 3 colonies of Stigmatomma live, and I have Proceratium on the way...

 

Mhm, mhm, yes you have no cool ants

[Ferox_Formicae]

 

Why do you get all the cool ants....

Look who's talking

 

So you would have to get cooler ants so your little game of the Cloud vs. the Dude would continue e

I mean, I do know where 3 colonies of Stigmatomma live, and I have Proceratium on the way...

 

Mhm, mhm, yes you have no cool ants

 

He's just salty that his Trachymyrmex died...

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

I would be too

[Ferox_Formicae]

Trachymyrmex septentrionalis Colony A

 

Eggs!!! Eggs have appeared!!! The fungus has been growing quite a bit, and is now about triple the size it was when I gave it to them, though it's a bit hard to tell as the fungus is still pretty fragmented and they've yet to put the few pieces together, but they will once the pieces get large enough. Also, apparently Trachymyrmex love oranges! Or rather their fungus loves oranges. In fact, most of the substrate they bring into the nest consists of oranges, though they've finally begun to take to rose petals as well. They really only ever take oranges now though. It's not too surprising though, as other Attines, including Atta and Acromyrmex are known to feed on orange slices. I've tried to offer them caterpillar frass as well, but they don't seem to notice it now that oranges are in the picture! As the orange slice I left in their outworld begins to dry out a bit though, a few of the workers have reverted to taking more classic Trachymyrmex "food", such as rose petals and cereal crumbs.

 

Pseudomyrmex leptosus

 

The rarest ant in the state is back! Lately, I've been collecting lots of Pseudomyrmex ejectus colonies to sell and to search for P. leptosus queens in, and a few days ago, I went up into a Water Oak in my yard to retrieve a few colonies. It was only last night when I decided to extract the colonies. One colony only contained a single, lone worker, which was certainly odd. The other one contained a fairly large colony, but I could not, for the life of me, find the queen(s). However, while extracting workers from the last fragment, I saw a smaller, yellow ant retreat back into the twig, and I instantly knew that I had once again found the rarest ant in the state, Pseudomyrmex leptosus! I spent all night trying to come up with an adequate formicarium design, and I eventually landed on a petri dish nest with a halved pencil glued to the top for viewing. Some twigs have been laid throughout the nest as well. The ants have yet to move into the nest, however, though I hope they will move in soon so I can observe the species's behavior and hopefully manage to discover some new things about this rare species.

 

Camponotus castaneus Colony A

 

The hatched eggs are already L3's!

 

Camponotus castaneus Colony C

 

Not only have 6 new workers eclosed within these past few days, but the queen has actually laid a large batch of around 20 or so eggs.

 

Aphaenogaster miamiana

 

I think I'm just going to release these, as their nest is absolutely filthy, they've had another die-off, and frankly, I have no reason to keep them. It was certainly interesting watching a queenless colony prosper though (if you can even call it that).

 

Camponotus snellingi Queens

 

I finally managed to successfully capture two queens of this seemingly elusive species, and they're gorgeous! The queens have high amounts of yellow, and their gasters are actually moderately striped. The queens have yet to produce anything, however.

 

Camponotus nearcticus Queen

 

She has died. I didn't really expect her to last long though, as she was already injured and seemed to be on her way out. However, I still have the colony to get into a nest, and flights of this species are far from over, as they fly well into June.

Edited by Ferox_Formicae, April 1 2020 - 8:39 PM.

[madbiologist]

Trachymyrmex septentrionalis Colony A

Eggs!!! Eggs have appeared!!! The fungus has been growing quite a bit, and is now about triple the size it was when I gave it to them, though it's a bit hard to tell as the fungus is still pretty fragmented and they've yet to put the few pieces together, but they will once the pieces get large enough. Also, apparently Trachymyrmex love oranges! Or rather their fungus loves oranges. In fact, most of the substrate they bring into the nest consists of oranges, though they've finally begun to take to rose petals as well. They really only ever take oranges now though. It's not too surprising though, as other Attines, including Atta and Acromyrmex are known to feed on orange slices. I've tried to offer them caterpillar frass as well, but they don't seem to notice it now that oranges are in the picture! As the orange slice I left in their outworld begins to dry out a bit though, a few of the workers have reverted to taking more classic Trachymyrmex "food", such as rose petals and cereal crumbs.

Pseudomyrmex leptosus

The rarest ant in the state is back! Lately, I've been collecting lots of Pseudomyrmex ejectus colonies to sell and to search for P. leptosus queens in, and a few days ago, I went up into a Water Oak in my yard to retrieve a few colonies. It was only last night when I decided to extract the colonies. One colony only contained a single, lone worker, which was certainly odd. The other one contained a fairly large colony, but I could not, for the life of me, find the queen(s). However, while extracting workers from the last fragment, I saw a smaller, yellow ant retreat back into the twig, and I instantly knew that I had once again found the rarest ant in the state, Pseudomyrmex leptosus! I spent all night trying to come up with an adequate formicarium design, and I eventually landed on a petri dish nest with a halved pencil glued to the top for viewing. Some twigs have been laid throughout the nest as well. The ants have yet to move into the nest, however, though I hope they will move in soon so I can observe the species's behavior and hopefully manage to discover some new things about this rare species.

Camponotus castaneus Colony A

The hatched eggs are already L3's!

Camponotus castaneus Colony C

Not only have 6 new workers eclosed within these past few days, but the queen has actually laid a large batch of around 20 or so eggs.

Aphaenogaster miamiana

I think I'm just going to release these, as their nest is absolutely filthy, they've had another die-off, and frankly, I have no reason to keep them. It was certainly interesting watching a queenless colony prosper though (if you can even call it that).

Camponotus snellingi Queens

I finally managed to successfully capture two queens of this seemingly elusive species, and they're gorgeous! The queens have high amounts of yellow, and their gasters are actually moderately striped. The queens have yet to produce anything, however.

Camponotus nearcticus Queen

She has died. I didn't really expect her to last long though, as she was already injured and seemed to be on her way out. However, I still have the colony to get into a nest, and flights of this species are far from over, as they fly well into June.

What do you mean by oranges? Do you mean slices, leaves, or peel?

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[Ferox_Formicae]

 

Trachymyrmex septentrionalis Colony A

Eggs!!! Eggs have appeared!!! The fungus has been growing quite a bit, and is now about triple the size it was when I gave it to them, though it's a bit hard to tell as the fungus is still pretty fragmented and they've yet to put the few pieces together, but they will once the pieces get large enough. Also, apparently Trachymyrmex love oranges! Or rather their fungus loves oranges. In fact, most of the substrate they bring into the nest consists of oranges, though they've finally begun to take to rose petals as well. They really only ever take oranges now though. It's not too surprising though, as other Attines, including Atta and Acromyrmex are known to feed on orange slices. I've tried to offer them caterpillar frass as well, but they don't seem to notice it now that oranges are in the picture! As the orange slice I left in their outworld begins to dry out a bit though, a few of the workers have reverted to taking more classic Trachymyrmex "food", such as rose petals and cereal crumbs.

Pseudomyrmex leptosus

The rarest ant in the state is back! Lately, I've been collecting lots of Pseudomyrmex ejectus colonies to sell and to search for P. leptosus queens in, and a few days ago, I went up into a Water Oak in my yard to retrieve a few colonies. It was only last night when I decided to extract the colonies. One colony only contained a single, lone worker, which was certainly odd. The other one contained a fairly large colony, but I could not, for the life of me, find the queen(s). However, while extracting workers from the last fragment, I saw a smaller, yellow ant retreat back into the twig, and I instantly knew that I had once again found the rarest ant in the state, Pseudomyrmex leptosus! I spent all night trying to come up with an adequate formicarium design, and I eventually landed on a petri dish nest with a halved pencil glued to the top for viewing. Some twigs have been laid throughout the nest as well. The ants have yet to move into the nest, however, though I hope they will move in soon so I can observe the species's behavior and hopefully manage to discover some new things about this rare species.

Camponotus castaneus Colony A

The hatched eggs are already L3's!

Camponotus castaneus Colony C

Not only have 6 new workers eclosed within these past few days, but the queen has actually laid a large batch of around 20 or so eggs.

Aphaenogaster miamiana

I think I'm just going to release these, as their nest is absolutely filthy, they've had another die-off, and frankly, I have no reason to keep them. It was certainly interesting watching a queenless colony prosper though (if you can even call it that).

Camponotus snellingi Queens

I finally managed to successfully capture two queens of this seemingly elusive species, and they're gorgeous! The queens have high amounts of yellow, and their gasters are actually moderately striped. The queens have yet to produce anything, however.

Camponotus nearcticus Queen

She has died. I didn't really expect her to last long though, as she was already injured and seemed to be on her way out. However, I still have the colony to get into a nest, and flights of this species are far from over, as they fly well into June.

What do you mean by oranges? Do you mean slices, leaves, or peel?

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

Slices. Sorry, I should've specified that.

[Ferox_Formicae]

Trachymyrmex septentrionalis Colony A

 

Their fungus is now huge! Since I've given it to them, the fungus' size has increased tenfold, and it's ridiculous! It's to the point now that I can no longer see the queen, as she tends to duck under the whole thing nearly constantly. I suspect that within the next month or so, the fungus will take up the entire first petri dish. Also, the workers have gradually been collecting different materials for their fungus, and not just pieces of orange slices, which they now seem to hate? I've been gradually introducing the workers to more natural substrates, like pre-cut rose petals and oak leaves and catkins, and they seem to be taking to it well, and ever since they did, the fungus has exploded in size. Eventually, I will give them full leaves and petals, but I think they'll be fine with the pre-cut pieces for now, at least. Cutting up the leaf and petal pieces is honestly pretty time-consuming though, so I'm going to just go ahead and start giving them full pieces once they run out of their cut ones. Also, I find they take very well to sugar water, not only for themselves to process, but they also put cleaned droplets into the fungus.

 

Trachymyrmex septentrionalis Colony B

 

Their fungus has also been growing pretty big, though it's not as noticable, as they still have yet to put all of the pieces together, but if what's happened with Colony A says anything, it's that whenever the pieces start to grow even more and once the colony collects more and more substrate, they'll eventually merge all of the pieces together into the classic high-level Attine honeycomb-like structure I'm sure we're all familiar with.

 

Cyphomyrmex rimosus

 

While the Trachies are doing well and flourishing, the Cypho's are doing quite the opposite. While they still have a decent amount of fungus, they have no substrate to grow it on, as they refuse to take anything I give them. I've tried frass, insect exoskeletons, all sorts of stuff, and they just refuse to take it. Also, the workers have been dying pretty quickly, and around 10 have died within these past two weeks. If I keep feeding them sugar water, they should be fine, but I don't think Cyphomyrmex are really built for test tube setups, at least not sealed ones. I may move them into something that exposes them to light and lets them forage more freely, as I suspect that may be exactly what they need right now, as a dark, sealed test tube doesn't seem to suit them well at all.

 

Crematogaster ashmeadi Colony A

 

First worker, first worker! The first worker from one of my Crematogaster ashmeadi queens has finally eclosed, and within her first day of eclosing, she already almost drowned in sugar water. Thank goodness, I was able to notice her in time and free her. Three of the other queens I have are about to receive their first workers as well, and by the end of the week, I know of one queen that will certainly have her first worker, and this queen will have her second. How exciting! I'm finally founding Crematogaster again! I haven't done this in a year and a half.

 

Pheidole crassicornis

 

Jeez these things eat a lot! I mean seriously, I have never had a colony eat this much before. It's honestly pretty crazy. I fed them 5 meals in one day, and they were able to completely consume all of them. I also just caught a large female field cricket I know the colony will absolutely adore, so that'll be fun to watch. However, the colony is still very skittish when it comes to light and being disturbed, even just a little bit. There's a reason I keep these in a dark corner of my room and don't disturb them too often.

 

Camponotus decipiens

 

First eggs (only 2 so far), and dang are the red! I've seen very orange eggs before, but never red like this. I guess red eggs for a red (and black) ant?

 

Camponotus snellingi

 

One of these queens has her first egg, too, definitely not as red as the ones the decipiens queen has produced. Oddly enough, it's the younger queen that produced first, though she's only younger by a day (flight speaking).

[ANTdrew]

Congrats on your Crematogaster! Tiny nanitics do drown easily, so I recommend soaking any nectar in a bit of paper towel or cotton first. Better yet, open their tube and get them a foraging area with a nectar feeder. That’s a key to success with young Crema colonies I’ve found.

[madbiologist]

I've noticed my Crematogaster queens love to try and drown themselves.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[TennesseeAnts]

 

 

Why do you get all the cool ants....

Look who's talking

 

So you would have to get cooler ants so your little game of the Cloud vs. the Dude would continue e

I mean, I do know where 3 colonies of Stigmatomma live, and I have Proceratium on the way...

 

Mhm, mhm, yes you have no cool ants

 

He's just salty that his Trachymyrmex died...

 

Bruh! They're still alive, just slightly reduced in numbers... 

[ponerinecat]

How... I can't even find apache queens. I've sawed down all the nests except for one located in a branch 3x the size of my arm.

[Ferox_Formicae]

Trachymyrmex septentrionalis Colony A

 

As per always, this colony is doing just great, their fungus constantly expanding. The fungus now takes up about half of one petri dish. I've given them another bit of fungus too, which they've moved into the other chamber. The other piece of fungus is very large too, about 20 mm in length and 5 mm in height. I also haven't seen the brood in a couple of weeks. Classic Trachymyrmex, always hiding their brood and covering it in fungus. Also, I'm having to feed them around 6-8 petals a day, as they blow through a pair of rose petals in just a few hours, completely tearing them apart and feeding them to the fungus. They're also pretty picky when it comes to fungal substrate, only taking sugar water, rose petals and oak catkins from their collection area.

 

Trachymyrmex septentrionalis Colony B

 

Nothing too new when it comes to these. There's certainly been some fungal growth though, though not as much as with Colony A, simply due to the fact that the colony is smaller with around 60 or so workers. I've also yet to see any eggs from these, though it is certainly possible eggs are present, as they're likely just hiding them under the fungus like Colony A.

 

Trachymyrmex septentrionalis Colony C

 

I decided that I wanted to collect a very large Trachymyrmex colony from the same area as Colony A, and I succeeded, kind of... Let me explain. So basically, colony excavation was going well until I broke into the chamber with the most workers and the queen. I reached into the chamber with my spoon and pulled out the queen, who was borderline dead. However, not all hope was lost, as earlier that day, I had collected a smaller colony with around 40 workers and no fungus. This was the perfect opportunity to try colony fusion. A few hours after I got back to the lab (it's not a lab), I got the ants into a container coated with talcum powder, cleansed the smaller colony of their original pheromones and introduced them to Colony C. The ants immediately approached the queen and started cleansing her thoroughly. They then took her into the tunnels they dug into their collection soil and she was fine. I actually decided to try a different formicarium for these, instead keeping them in a classic "ant farm", soil sandwiched between two panes of glass, and it looks great! It's actually a really big formicarium, too, 16x11.5x3.5. It looked really good until the glass on the backside started to slip off. I tried to glue it back on, but when I clamped the glass down, the entire pane cracked. I do not have another pane the right size, so I have two main ideas. I can either attach a piece of wood to the back, in which case I would have to remove all of the dirt from inside, in the process destroying the ant's chambers. I could also attach it to my wall, which would make it a nice display piece. I'll really have to see though.

 

Trachymyrmex septentrionalis Colony D

 

I probably won't have this colony for too long, as I'm about to sell them, but I'd might as well tell you all about this colony. This colony is small, with a single queen, around 30 workers and a small amount of fungus. I've moved them into another Attine formicarium like with Colony A and B. They've taking to it pretty well and have created a sizeable fungus ball. Oh, and also, the queen of this colony is very large. She's also pretty dusky in color, and she's probably covered in Actinomycetes for whatever reason. I'm not entirely sure why though, and I'm not even sure that her duskiness is caused by Actinomycetes, and it may be something else. Otherwise though, she seems entirely healthy.

 

Pheidole crassicornis

 

Pupa have begun to appear, just worker pupa, but still pupa nonetheless.

 

Crematogaster ashmeadi Colony A

 

The second worker has appeared and the queen has been laying more eggs.

 

Crematogaster ashmeadi Colony B

 

A worker has appeared.

 

Crematogaster ashmeadi Colony C

 

This queen too!

 

Crematogaster ashmeadi Colony D

 

I've managed to find a small founding colony with a single queen, over 25 workers and a large amount of brood. I have no clue what I'm going to do with this colony, as I already have 3 queens and 3 founding colonies, and I don't need another colony to take care of. Honestly, I just need to do a colony clean-out. I have too many... Time for a spring break sale! 25% off all products in the store till the end of the month!

 

Temnothorax schaumii

 

Jeez, have I really not said anything about this queen yet? Jeez. Anyways, I managed to collect a Temnothorax schaumii queen from my back fence, which was really neat. She's also laid a sizeable clutch of eggs, which was nice.

 

Camponotus castaneus Colony B

 

Yeah, I'm probably just going to release these...

 

Pseudomyrmex leptosus

 

So she died... It's fine though. This is why I hate keeping Pseudomyrmex, at least the smaller species. The larger species should probably be a bit easier to keep. Once this Coronavirus clears up, I'm probably going to have to head down to Charleston and collect some Pseudomyrmex gracilis.

[ANTdrew]

It’s not good to spread yourself too thin with tons of colonies.

[RushmoreAnts]

It’s not good to spread yourself too thin with tons of colonies.

I would go with only one per species myself.

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

However there is not such a thing as too many Trachys (I'm just kidding), but yes, don't keep too many ants is my favorite line to ant by.