343 replies to this topic

[ponerinecat]

New globs! Dicyrtomina sp.

 

[ponerinecat]

The Brachycibe rosea have started going dormant. Estivation, perhaps? The producta haven't started yet, perhaps due to difference in habitat.

 

 

Meanwhile, I saw some Entomobrya atrocincta on my porch. Decided to do a complete scouring of my porch with my aspirator. there's a lot more springtails here than I guessed.

 

[ponerinecat]

Little update, not much new. Summers coming, so should start seeing a huge boost in variety. Need more containers though... Found another calicina, this one was found quite a ways from the original 6, in the middle of a coyote bush tunnel. Also received word of someone on the discord server finding what she describes as a metallic pink arachnid. From the blurry pics it seems to be some sort of opiliones, quite interested in seeing what it is. The E. unostrigata have bred profusely, should be able to use them as feeders soon. I'm also currently testing a liquid auto feeder for test tubes made out of a straw, it seems to be working even for my smallest ants, Monomorium ergatogyna. If this works, as long as I can find some sort of liquid protein, I should be able to raise the colony without ever having to open the tube. In general, I'm hoping to look for more soil dwelling invertebrates, and I'm developing a new found passion for opiliones and mites. Already started keeping some red mites that graze on rocks and some of the native, larger opiliones. The calicina do seem to be eating, none of them are shrinking in terms of abdomen size and the mite prey items I put in have been slowly disappearing. They also appear to maybe consume vegetable mater? The last individual found in the wild had a green tinged abdomen. I've put in a bit of moss just in case. All of this is just speculation for now, Ill need to see active feeding before I can confirm my suspicions. At the moment, this is all new to science. In ant news, the H. punctatissima do indeed seem to have a queen in there. Noticed a tiny batch of eggs, maybe 4 or so.

[Vendayn]

Wow! Never seen so many Entomobrya atrocincta in captivity before! There must be hundreds of thousands of them there! They look really cool, hope you keep doing good with them

[ponerinecat]

Wow! Never seen so many Entomobrya atrocincta in captivity before! There must be hundreds of thousands of them there! They look really cool, hope you keep doing good with them

They're quite easy to keep. If all goes well I should be able to start selling some of these...

[ponerinecat]

This... this is what I hat about keeping inverts no one else does. The trail and error, the stupefying failure. I just lost half my ligium culture and all but one pregnant female due to overheating or water fouling. If you pay attention you can see that the babies on one of the females were almost ready to hatch.

 

 

I also managed to find three pink aquatic isopods, but I can't really focus on the good right now.

 

[ponerinecat]

Ant flights have started. Took a walk around the house and nabbed 4 queens, 3 smaller bicolored tanaemyrmex and one larger black queen.

[ponerinecat]

Well it looks like I might have quericola.

[NickAnter]

Lucky!

[ponerinecat]

And vicinus.

[ponerinecat]

Another night, more ants. Another vicinus and a hyatti.

[ponerinecat]

Some more opiliones, small but not that small.

 

The Porcellionides floria had their first brood hatch.

 

 

All my isopods seem to love rehydrated sweet potato.

 

[RushmoreAnts]

Isopods seem to love a lot of things.........

[ponerinecat]

Hyatti and quericola both laid eggs.

[ANTdrew]

I do have ants, 4 colonies and 1 queen as well as a frag colony at the moment, will definitely get more soon.

Obtained a new type of springtail, very variable and get very large.

Hey, Pcat-
I have a good colony of large springtails like these thriving in my springtail culture box. I added four of them to my Formica argenteas’ dirt box today. Do you think these could survive in there, or will they just get eaten?

[ponerinecat]

 

I do have ants, 4 colonies and 1 queen as well as a frag colony at the moment, will definitely get more soon.

Obtained a new type of springtail, very variable and get very large.

Hey, Pcat-
I have a good colony of large springtails like these thriving in my springtail culture box. I added four of them to my Formica argenteas’ dirt box today. Do you think these could survive in there, or will they just get eaten?

 

Depending on the species, they could be eaten if adults get large enough but for the smaller ones will likely get ignored. Many of these also prefer to live within the soil and consume plant material and roots, so in theory most of them will be fine. Depending on the size of the ant setup I would recommend adding more than 4.

[ponerinecat]

For example, in that post I was mistaken to think that they get that large. It's in fact 2 species within one genus or maybe even one subfamily.

[ANTdrew]

These are quite large, maybe up to three milimeters. I put them in to one of Dspdrew’s small dirt box formicariums, which is really small. I’ve also put six or seven tiny silvery ones. Those probably have a higher chance of making it.

[ponerinecat]

These are quite large, maybe up to three milimeters. I put them in to one of Dspdrew’s small dirt box formicariums, which is really small. I’ve also put six or seven tiny silvery ones. Those probably have a higher chance of making it.

I see. Well like I said they'll likely burrow and be mostly subterranean, especially if its a bare surface.

[ponerinecat]

More tragedy, my polyxenids are suffering from what I suspect to be inadequate care and are physically melting into stains. Ill upgrade their setup today.