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FeedTheAnts' Colonies - 2020

Started By FeedTheAnts , Mar 31 2020 8:20 AM
crematogaster camponotus big colony formica

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#41 Offline Antkid12 - Posted June 24 2020 - 1:20 PM

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Wow....hopefully the Valentines will recover soon.


Edited by Antkid12, June 24 2020 - 1:20 PM.

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Ants I have: Tapinoma sessile(2 queen colony). RED MORPH Camponotus neacticus(now has pupae!), Tetramorium immigrans (x3), Aphaenogaster sp, Temnothorax sp, Brachymyrmex sp.   possibly infertile   :(,  Ponera pennsylvanica, and Pheidole morrisi!  :yahoo: 

 

Other insects: Polistes sp. Queen

                    

Ants I need: Pheidole sp., Trachymyrmex sp., Crematogaster cerasi , Dorymyrmex sp. Most wanted: Pheidole morrisii

 

                    

                   

 

 

#42 Offline ANTdrew - Posted June 24 2020 - 1:28 PM

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Dang, man! I’m really sorry to hear that news. Crematogaster are the hardest ants to move in my experience. I really, really hope they can recover.
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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.

#43 Offline FeedTheAnts - Posted June 25 2020 - 1:34 PM

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and here we go

 

Upon checking them again it turns out only one has shed her wings, don't know why I thought otherwise. No eggs yet

IMG 5223
 
Nylanderia queen
IMG 5222
 
Tetramorium queen. 6 eggs barely visible behind the queen
IMG 5219
 
Formica pallidefulva colony
IMG 5212

 

All three views of The Valentines' current nesting situation. I've been vacuuming all the dead ants that I could out of their new outworld, and they just keep coming. Good news though, somehow the colony's brood survived. I completely expected it to have browned and shriveled by today, but it doesn't seem to have been affected.
IMG 5207
IMG 5206
IMG 5205

 


Edited by FeedTheAnts, June 25 2020 - 1:35 PM.

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I accidentally froze all my ants 

#44 Offline ANTdrew - Posted June 25 2020 - 1:50 PM

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Hey, that’s still a lot of ants. I’m sure the Valentines will rebound.
Cool that we both are starting Nylanderia and Pheidole.
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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.

#45 Offline FeedTheAnts - Posted June 25 2020 - 1:54 PM

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Hey, that’s still a lot of ants. I’m sure the Valentines will rebound.
Cool that we both are starting Nylanderia and Pheidole.

Ya, I'm not too worried about them now that I know the brood made it through. The next generation of workers is all that counts anyways. I'm not sure how long workers live, but destroying an entire wave of developing brood can be deadly for more short lived ants.


I accidentally froze all my ants 

#46 Offline ANTdrew - Posted June 25 2020 - 2:10 PM

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

#47 Offline FeedTheAnts - Posted June 30 2020 - 8:30 AM

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I had a good night of blacklighting last night and ended up with three dealate Colobopsis (impressa?) queens, and four Solenopsis (texana?) queens. Not much more to be said, except that both species have been grouped together to form polygynous colonies. I'm really hoping to catch some more Solenopsis queens tonight, to bring up the number of possible fertilized queens. They didn't appear at the blacklight past 9:00 PM though, so I assume they fly in the mid afternoon, not night. The Colobopsis queens are rivaling Formica in their irritability. I can't so much as look at them without them having a total meltdown. After the photo was taken then I shoved a roll of cotton in their tube to remove space. From what I've heard they seem to prefer being crammed. The Tetramorium queen has a buttload of eggs btw. It's no wonder they grow so quickly. Nothing has changed with the Pheidole, except that there is a small pile of eggs. I got rid of the Nylianderia queen. I also want to take this time to show how I heat my ants. I won't go into written detail, as I feel the pictures are pretty self explanatory.

 

IMG 5868
IMG 5873
IMG 5874
IMG 5877
IMG 5879
IMG 5878
IMG 5880
IMG 5862

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I accidentally froze all my ants 

#48 Offline CatsnAnts - Posted June 30 2020 - 8:39 AM

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Can I ask how you blacklight? (Like where do you go: Porch, field, lake, etc?) And when did you find your Colobopsis queens (late or early/ morning or night)? I’ve found them on occasion, but haven’t had a reliable way of finding them.

Spoiler

#49 Offline FeedTheAnts - Posted June 30 2020 - 8:43 AM

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Can I ask how you blacklight? (Like where do you go: Porch, field, lake, etc?) And when did you find your Colobopsis queens (late or early/ morning or night)? I’ve found them on occasion, but haven’t had a reliable way of finding them.

I blacklight at my back porch, facing a forest of mostly Oak and Hickory. Tonight I'll take some pics of my setup as well as the surrounding area and post them to the public blacklighting journal. The Colobopsis were coming by the tens at around 11:00 PM. They were still flying when I put everything up at midnight.


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I accidentally froze all my ants 

#50 Offline RushmoreAnts - Posted June 30 2020 - 8:45 AM

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Love polygynous colonies.
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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

#51 Offline Antkid12 - Posted June 30 2020 - 9:08 AM

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Love polygynous colonies.

Same.


Ants I have: Tapinoma sessile(2 queen colony). RED MORPH Camponotus neacticus(now has pupae!), Tetramorium immigrans (x3), Aphaenogaster sp, Temnothorax sp, Brachymyrmex sp.   possibly infertile   :(,  Ponera pennsylvanica, and Pheidole morrisi!  :yahoo: 

 

Other insects: Polistes sp. Queen

                    

Ants I need: Pheidole sp., Trachymyrmex sp., Crematogaster cerasi , Dorymyrmex sp. Most wanted: Pheidole morrisii

 

                    

                   

 

 

#52 Offline ANTdrew - Posted June 30 2020 - 9:23 AM

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The Valentines are still bigger than the Divas, but not for long. Buuuahahaha *evil villain laugh*
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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.

#53 Offline CatsnAnts - Posted June 30 2020 - 9:54 AM

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Can I ask how you blacklight? (Like where do you go: Porch, field, lake, etc?) And when did you find your Colobopsis queens (late or early/ morning or night)? I’ve found them on occasion, but haven’t had a reliable way of finding them.

I blacklight at my back porch, facing a forest of mostly Oak and Hickory. Tonight I'll take some pics of my setup as well as the surrounding area and post them to the public blacklighting journal. The Colobopsis were coming by the tens at around 11:00 PM. They were still flying when I put everything up at midnight.

Thank you! I think I might need to switch up my setup so there is less blockage, maybe I’ll try near our forest.

Spoiler

#54 Offline FeedTheAnts - Posted July 21 2020 - 9:45 AM

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Some quick updates:

The Solenopsis queens never laid brood and eventually fought. two of them were de-legged(both of the ones that had removed their wings), and the other two were trying to get out. I ditched them.

The Colobopsis queens have larvae.

The Tetramorium queen got her first worker a week ago.

The Camponotus chromaiodes colony has had a slight die off. I suspect it is because of the lack of cleanliness in one of their mini hearths. The whole setup smells of Sulphur.

The Pheidole queens got their first worker yesterday/last night.

And last but not least, I found a Camponotus subbarbatus queen in her founding chamber. She has gotten her first worker since I collected her, and she has a few larvae left from her first egg laying.

 

(Camponotus subbarbatus, not Colobopsis)

IMG 5448
InkedIMG 5474 LI

Edited by FeedTheAnts, July 21 2020 - 9:55 AM.

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I accidentally froze all my ants 

#55 Offline FeedTheAnts - Posted December 30 2020 - 9:24 AM

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Well.... all my ants are dead. Frozen to death in a freezer that sudenly started working to its full potential. My garage is pretty insulated, so the only place to hibernate my ants was in an old fridge/freezer unit. The fridge portion was broken, but the freezer portion worked horribly enough to be a fridge. I checked on the ants a week ago and everything was fine. Checked again yesterday and the freezer was... uh.... frozen :ugone2far:  :facepalm:

Call me an idiot if you want. Looks like I'll be starting from square A this year.


I accidentally froze all my ants 

#56 Offline Kaelwizard - Posted December 30 2020 - 9:39 AM

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:sorry:


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#57 Offline ANTdrew - Posted December 30 2020 - 9:43 AM

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

#58 Offline ANTdrew - Posted December 30 2020 - 9:46 AM

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Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
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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.

#59 Offline antsandmore - Posted December 30 2020 - 10:23 AM

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Sorry to hear that.


Ants I am keeping:

 none for now, planning on being more active this year

#60 Offline Kaelwizard - Posted December 30 2020 - 10:24 AM

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Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo


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