67 replies to this topic

[FeedTheAnts]

Current colonies:

(in order of acquisition) 

Crematogaster ashmeadi (The Valentines) -- queen caught May 2017 -- 4000 workers

Camponotus chromaiodes -- colony captured (5 workers at the time) December 2017 -- 30-ish workers (mostly boosted)

Camponotus castaneus -- queen caught ~April 2019 -- 7 workers

Formica pallidefulva -- queen caught June 2019 -- 9 workers

Formica subsericea -- queen caught June 2019 -- 10 workers

 

All colonies were taken out of hibernation last in early February. No heat was added until two weeks ago. The added heat caused the Formica to immediately acquire brood, whereas up to that point they had done nothing since being removed from hibernation. The Camponotus chromaiodes colony overwintered with no brood, but now has a large pile of brood, including pupae. The Valentines once again have produced alate larvae, and I'm hoping they don't get consumed like last year's did. I've counted five in total.

 

"One of these things is not like the other"

 

Edited by FeedTheAnts, March 31 2020 - 8:23 AM.

[RushmoreAnts]

We have another CrematoMaster.........

[ANTdrew]

FTA is the OG CrematoMaster.
Great to hear the Valentines are doing well. My divas are in a Nucleus now kicking butt. I have a new C. cerasi colony coming on line with 21 workers, too.

[RushmoreAnts]

Of course.

[FeedTheAnts]

Were up to 12 alate larvae now. That's 7 more than yesterday! I assume that some of the alate larvae today were just regular larvae yesterday, but I don't even understand how they can develop so quickly. This is more alates in the works than they had last year, so maybe we'll have a different outcome. I'm not claiming anything definitively, but has anyone else noticed that mature Crematogaster nests contain more queens(alates) per males(alates) than other species? I'm hoping this will be the case with the Valentines, otherwise we may get mostly males this year, or possibly not even a single queen alate.

[RushmoreAnts]

Maybe you just didn't notice the others..........

[FeedTheAnts]

Maybe you just didn't notice the others..........

Not a chance. I searched the nest for nearly 30 minutes to make sure I got an exact count.

[RushmoreAnts]

Larvae are known to develop fast.

[ForestDragon]

man my Crematogaster queen has been out of hibernation for a month and only has a couple larvae, perhaps I check on her too much, she hasn't eaten any eggs but she is so slow to develop

[FeedTheAnts]

man my Crematogaster queen has been out of hibernation for a month and only has a couple larvae, perhaps I check on her too much, she hasn't eaten any eggs but she is so slow to develop

I'm assuming she doesn't have nanintics? Colony growth will speed up as soon as she gets her first workers, because they will be available to gather protein. 

[FeedTheAnts]

The Valentines have their first alates! I saw two males in the nest last night, but couldn't get any good pictures. There are also 4 queen pupae currently developing. A lot of the worker pupae are eclosing right now, and the colony already has grown noticeably larger.

The Camponotus chromaiodes colony moved their brood into the outworld, probably because of too much het in the nest. It was a good excuse for me to take clear pictures though.

 

Edited by FeedTheAnts, June 26 2020 - 6:08 PM.

[ANTdrew]

Wow. Just wow.
That’s one thick queen.

[FeedTheAnts]

Wow. Just wow.
That’s one thick queen.

Ya, she's incredibly distended. I watched her for a few minutes the other day, and witnessed her laying eggs! She lays them so quickly that they're usually left stuck to her gaster.

[FeedTheAnts]

I'm not very good at these updates, so I'll just show some pics I took today and give the details above.

 

The Valentines are beginning to practically live in their outworld. They've grown drastically in the past two weeks, and I really need to give them a second nest. No queen pupae have eclosed, but one is beginning to darken.

 

(Camponotus Castaneus) Two large larvae seen here. More are hiding in the hole with the queen.

 

(Camponotus chromaiodes)

 

(Formica pallidefulva) These are developing much faster than the F. subsericea are.

 

 

[RushmoreAnts]

Wow. How large do you think the Valentines are?

[RushmoreAnts]

*deleted*

Edited by AntsDakota, April 16 2020 - 1:36 PM.

[ANTdrew]

AC keeping non-natives? Hmm.......... I wonder where I’ve heard that one before............

You posted this in two threads. Lol

[FeedTheAnts]

Wow. How large do you think the Valentines are?

Definitely over 6000 now.

[RushmoreAnts]

 

AC keeping non-natives? Hmm.......... I wonder where I’ve heard that one before............

You posted this in two threads. Lol

 

Oh.......... that's where that post went. 

[ANTdrew]

6k, wow! I’m doing my best here to catch up to you. My Divas are probably where the Valentines were last year.