62 replies to this topic

[ANTdrew]

They can last a long time dormant in your fridge. That’s what I do. You could also freeze a bunch for even longer term storage.

[Temperateants]

My crematogaster are moving into a new tube. I put a heating cable under the new tube, and the brood and queen have already gone to it. Their old "hunting trophies" (hollowed out shells of mealworms that they haven't discarded) are growing mold.
¨

[ANTdrew]

Good work getting them to move. Crematogaster never clean their nest like ever.

[Temperateants]

Not much has changed, but there are about 20 workers and 20 mature larvae/prepupae/pupae. A small pile ~10 eggs. I have been feeding them regularly though.

[Antkid12]

Nice! I am planning to buy/catch one of these this year.

[RushmoreAnts]

I can’t find any.

[Antkid12]

I can’t find any.

I have a ton of workers where I live, I've seen a dead queen and a few males but I have never seen and actual living queen tho.

Edited by Antkid12, May 22 2020 - 12:43 PM.

[ANTdrew]

I can’t find any.

I have a ton of workers where I live, I've seen a dead queen and a few males but I have never seen and actual living queen tho.

I gotchu, bro. They fly Labor Day around here.

[Ants_Dakota]

Today. Any tips for long term storage? I'm planning on putting some of the new mealworms in my existing farm to add new genes and add to the population. But how do I get the rest to last long for my ants?

Mealworms can love for up to 2 weeks in the fridge. I raise superworms, and prefer them, because they do not pupate when with other superworms, grow up to 2 inches long, and can live for 6-12 months with other superworms.

I can’t find any.

they would be an interesting catch. 

[Temperateants]

They hit 30 workers, and there is a new pile of new eggs. Probably going to do a video on them on my youtube channel soon, even though I haven't uploaded recently.

[Temperateants]

My crematogaster as really slowed down, unfortunately. I've been feeding them mealworms, which they have kind of lost interest in. I started feeding them biscuit beetle larvae, they really like it, hopefully they'll eat more of this and the queen will make more eggs.

[RushmoreAnts]

Mealworms can love for up to 2 weeks in the fridge.

Uhh..... You do mean 'live', don't you?! 

Edited by AntsDakota, June 26 2020 - 7:32 AM.

[antsandmore]

I started feeding my Cremas Nurbs blood soup/mush and they love it. They appreciate it way more than my other ants. So that's something to try - freeze dried/frozen bloodworms.

I'm hoping to grow my colony this season too. Got some fruit flies on the way!

Good luck.

ohhhh no wonder mine like mosquito larvae lol

[Temperateants]

I haven't posted here in so long. Time to resurrect this journal. 

Changes since last time:

The original queen of this species died of hibernation stresses. I have a new one. The colony isn't doing too great right now. Brood is well fed, but not too abundant. In my opinion, brood should usually outnumber workers. 

I'm going to do videos on my channel in parallel with this journal.

 

Immediate plans: Ease them onto a heating cable.

 

Start feeding daily protein of alternating sources.

Mealworms, Fruit flies, Maggots. Will feed them termites when the weather is warmer. 

 

Start feeding daily sugars of alternating sources.

Sugar solution, honey, and (maybe) purple sweet potato. 

 

Biggest plan:

Put them in an outworld. Relating to this, I have a strange question. How can you "track" the number of workers? These ants are escape artists, I need to know if workers have escaped or not in order to increase security of their setup. Any tips on securely containing these guys?

 

Any feedback is appreciated.

[Lemon.Water]

I don't know of any way to accurately track the exact number of workers but if you suspect some have escaped you could put honey water near the outside of their setup as when mine escaped their broken outworld they didn't go too far from the nest. Right now I'm using olive oil however others recommend against it because it can be messy and ineffective after the colony becomes larger, so for the long term Fluon is probably the best way to contain them and keep the outworld more clean with less smudges. Also having a lip before the opening of the lid can make it much more difficult for them to cross any barrier. These ants can effectively chew through lots of materials so a high quality durable nest is necessary. 

[ANTdrew]

Just glue tiny radio transmitters on all their backs.
Jokes aside, just read my journal. Everything I’ve learned is in there. Three biggest tips are 1) lots of outworld space, 2) don’t dick around with any barrier but high grade fluon, 3) make a good lid with a barrier rim glued under the lid.

[Temperateants]

In terms of heating, do you guys leave the cable on 24/7? or only turn it on for a few hours during the noon/afternoon?

[ANTdrew]

Keep it on all the time. Heat is vital for these ants.

[Lemon.Water]

They will thrive with heat on all the time, but make sure there is a gradient for temperature and humidity. 

[Temperateants]

No pictures, but after a few weeks of acclimating and feeding the colony has started to produce again. The queen laid her first 10-20 batch of eggs for the year, and last year's small larvae are starting to become pupae. They are eating the fruit flies/mealworms well, and drink a lot of sugar water (still doing that cute gaster tapping thing). I can't wait for when the weather improves and I can feed these guys some termites.

 

One interesting fact is unlike my pavement ants which digest everything in a matter of hours, these guys will slowly nibble at food, often times not touching it until several days after I gave it to them. Their appetite doesn't look that large unfortunately. 

Edited by Temperateants, April 5 2022 - 12:00 PM.