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ANTdrew's Formica subsericea Journal - FormicaFarm Setup

Started By ANTdrew , Mar 2 2020 11:11 AM

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212 replies to this topic

#201 Offline ANTdrew - Posted August 7 2021 - 2:48 AM

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How’s this colony doing? Also love the set up. I have a few dirt box’s form Drew and they are incredible!

The colony is doing great, but the queen is done laying for the year. I keep feeding them a lot, though. Sadly, I found no new Formica all summer, despite putting in hours of effort searching.
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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#202 Offline TennesseeAnts - Posted August 7 2021 - 6:25 AM

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How’s this colony doing? Also love the set up. I have a few dirt box’s form Drew and they are incredible!

The colony is doing great, but the queen is done laying for the year. I keep feeding them a lot, though. Sadly, I found no new Formica all summer, despite putting in hours of effort searching.

 

Weird, I found tons. They're also still flying in large enough numbers here.


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#203 Offline futurebird - Posted August 7 2021 - 6:32 AM

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Are your formica subsericea ants really sensitive to vibrations and movement? Mine go into a full out "boiling ants" style panic when I open their outworld to feel them... and I'm so careful when doing it. But they still all panic. 

 

They are doing OK ... I think they might need a bigger outworld, but I dread messing with them because I always feel like I'm scaring them to death. 


Starting this July I'm posting videos of my ants every week on youTube.

I like to make relaxing videos that capture the joy of watching ants.

If that sounds like your kind of thing... follow me >here<. 

#204 Offline TennesseeAnts - Posted March 22 2022 - 5:33 AM

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Have you taken them out of diapause yet? Mine have been out for 3 weeks or so and have gotten their first few cocoons.
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#205 Offline ANTdrew - Posted March 22 2022 - 5:52 AM

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Something went wrong with this colony. I can't see any workers in the tunnels anymore. The queen is still there, but I think the colony is in a bad way. I'm not going to mess around with dirt setups anymore.


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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#206 Offline TennesseeAnts - Posted March 22 2022 - 6:15 AM

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Something went wrong with this colony. I can't see any workers in the tunnels anymore. The queen is still there, but I think the colony is in a bad way. I'm not going to mess around with dirt setups anymore.

Are they still in diapause? These gals love to pile onto each other and condense to as small as they possibly can during the winter. Maybe they're just hiding?

Worst case, it is spring time and colonies will be keeping their queens and brood fairly shallow. You could always place a flat stone over a mound, wait a week and flip it to collect a queen and a few dozen to a hundred workers. Not an ideal situation, but it'll do til flights arrive in July.

Edited by TennesseeAnts, March 22 2022 - 6:19 AM.

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#207 Offline ANTdrew - Posted March 22 2022 - 7:11 AM

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They all disappeared before diapause, so I just left them at room temp all winter. I think they’re done for.
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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#208 Offline TennesseeAnts - Posted March 22 2022 - 10:31 AM

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Ah, man. That sucks! You could try a polygyne setting this season if you catch multiple queens.


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#209 Offline ANTdrew - Posted March 22 2022 - 11:10 AM

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Ah, man. That sucks! You could try a polygyne setting this season if you catch multiple queens.

You know my track record finding these F’ng things right? Zero chance of finding multiple.
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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#210 Offline AntBoi3030 - Posted March 22 2022 - 2:38 PM

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Maybe you could try to keep Formica pallidefulva  :) . I find them to be fun, energetic, and kind of strange/interesting ants to keep. Also they usually fly sooner than Formica sub.


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My favorite queens/colony’s:
Pheidole Tysoni, Selonopis Molesta, Brachymyrmex Depilis, Tetramorium Immagrians, Prenolepis Imparis, Pheidole Bicirinata 

#211 Offline ANTdrew - Posted March 22 2022 - 3:48 PM

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Maybe you could try to keep Formica pallidefulva :) . I find them to be fun, energetic, and kind of strange/interesting ants to keep. Also they usually fly sooner than Formica sub.

Read the earlier posts in this journal. I had some.
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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#212 Offline RushmoreAnts - Posted March 26 2022 - 1:24 PM

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Ah, man. That sucks! You could try a polygyne setting this season if you catch multiple queens.

You know my track record finding these F’ng things right? Zero chance of finding multiple.

 

How about about buying some from AnthonyP?

https://www.statesid...mica-subsericea


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"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds (including ants). And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version

 

Keeping:

Tetramorium immigrans

Formica cf. pallidefulva, cf. incerta, cf. argentea

Formica cf. aserva, cf. subintegra

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Pheidole bicarinata

Myrmica sp.

Lasius neoniger, brevicornis

#213 Offline ANTdrew - Posted March 27 2022 - 3:42 AM

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I’ll consider that.
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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.
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