110 replies to this topic

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

Must be REALLY FUN to keep in captivity. I literally cannot stress enough that I would never wish what the owners of those types of ants have to go through regularly 

[gcsnelling]

Slave raiding?

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

I don't know where you got a 3-6 month life span, but that is certainly not correct.

That's like a baby living for 72 hours and then dying...It's just not right the 3-6 month life span estimate 

Slave raiding?

not slave raiding, they do raid colonies in the wild however. I made a typo  

[Nare]

Hate to be pessimistic, but I'll bet my Pogonomyrmex colony that these guys will be dead within a year. Last time someone tried to keep them, we all thought they'd finally cracked the code, but the colony died within 3 or 4 months in captivity. I don't suppose it's too late to rethink this whole thing, is it?

[ponerinecat]

Hate to be pessimistic, but I'll bet my Pogonomyrmex colony that these guys will be dead within a year. Last time someone tried to keep them, we all thought they'd finally cracked the code, but the colony died within 3 or 4 months in captivity. I don't suppose it's too late to rethink this whole thing, is it?

Purdue actually seemed to do really well. The colony was fine and the queen spontaneously died of unknown reasons, not uncommon with more easily kept species like Camponotus sp. or Pogonomyrmex sp. On that note, I highly recommend contacting Purdue entomology about care. He may be one of the most experienced people with Neivamyrmex despite his short lived attempt, as even keeping a colony healthy for that long is impressive.

[TennesseeAnts]

Hate to be pessimistic, but I'll bet my Pogonomyrmex colony that these guys will be dead within a year. Last time someone tried to keep them, we all thought they'd finally cracked the code, but the colony died within 3 or 4 months in captivity. I don't suppose it's too late to rethink this whole thing, is it?

It is too late. I've been looking at this for about 2 years, and I believe I can keep these gals going for at least a year, if not more. Once we get these lab nests done, I am going to fill them with native soil for comfort. I feel that this will fulfil the migration need, while being easily modular and clean-able.

Hate to be pessimistic, but I'll bet my Pogonomyrmex colony that these guys will be dead within a year. Last time someone tried to keep them, we all thought they'd finally cracked the code, but the colony died within 3 or 4 months in captivity. I don't suppose it's too late to rethink this whole thing, is it?

Purdue actually seemed to do really well. The colony was fine and the queen spontaneously died of unknown reasons, not uncommon with more easily kept species like Camponotus sp. or Pogonomyrmex sp. On that note, I highly recommend contacting Purdue entomology about care. He may be one of the most experienced people with Neivamyrmex despite his short lived attempt, as even keeping a colony healthy for that long is impressive.

Already have.

[ponerinecat]

great!

[ponerinecat]

Personally I like the small, cryptic ants with small colonies but these are making me a little jealous...

[Nare]

 

Hate to be pessimistic, but I'll bet my Pogonomyrmex colony that these guys will be dead within a year. Last time someone tried to keep them, we all thought they'd finally cracked the code, but the colony died within 3 or 4 months in captivity. I don't suppose it's too late to rethink this whole thing, is it?

Purdue actually seemed to do really well. The colony was fine and the queen spontaneously died of unknown reasons, not uncommon with more easily kept species like Camponotus sp. or Pogonomyrmex sp. On that note, I highly recommend contacting Purdue entomology about care. He may be one of the most experienced people with Neivamyrmex despite his short lived attempt, as even keeping a colony healthy for that long is impressive.

 

You don't think the death of the queen was related to the colony being kept in captivity?

[ponerinecat]

No, I don't.

[PurdueEntomology]

No, I don't.

I personally have given much thought on the colony.  There are many unknowns about this genus regarding their behavior despite the number of researchers who have to various degrees and various perspectives done work on them.  Longevity of gynes is an unknown to my knowledge. Definitely a challenge genus but I am not too unsure of its impossibility.  Let's see. 

[TennesseeAnts]

4/3/20

Colony has raided several dozen brood items of Aphaenogaster sp, Tapinoma sessile, Monomorium minimum, and has collected a few dozen termites. I have hundreds of Linepithema pupae and larvae on the way, as well as some fungus for my Trachymyrmex (again).
I went back to the collection site today and collected about 200 more workers, bringing the worker count up to about 1200 in the lab style nest along with the queen and the food brood, and about 450-500 workers remaining in the terrarium that I will dump into the outworld of the lab style nest. I could not find any more workers at the site, so it seems to me that this colony may have separated from the parent colony last year, which means this is a young queen that has already mated. We already knew she was mated, though as she is becoming increasingly fat...

[TennesseeAnts]

Pics from right after collection:

Edited by Ant_Dude2908, April 3 2020 - 9:20 PM.

[Vendayn]

For anyone else, I did post it in chat for Ant_Dude2908, but may as well put it here. I don't want to encourage people to keep them, but just for the info to be out there. But, maintaining a rotating "supply" of formicariums is definitely going to be an important (and gradually harder) thing to maintain as they need to migrate to new areas. I imagine when the colony is big/huge, this will probably be the biggest challenge and probably bigger than just food would be. 

[PurdueEntomology]

4/3/20

Colony has raided several dozen brood items of Aphaenogaster sp, Tapinoma sessile, Monomorium minimum, and has collected a few dozen termites. I have hundreds of Linepithema pupae and larvae on the way, as well as some fungus for my Trachymyrmex (again).
I went back to the collection site today and collected about 200 more workers, bringing the worker count up to about 1200 in the lab style nest along with the queen and the food brood, and about 450-500 workers remaining in the terrarium that I will dump into the outworld of the lab style nest. I could not find any more workers at the site, so it seems to me that this colony may have separated from the parent colony last year, which means this is a young queen that has already mated. We already knew she was mated, though as she is becoming increasingly fat...

I would not be so certain that the gyne is young, she could be old and what you have is a declining colony.  I have learned that what one thinks something is may not be what it is, nevertheless I hope she is young, healthy and that she mated last year before winter set in.  If she is entering into a physogastric phase it will be exciting to see her egg production.  Eggs will be clustered so do try to get some volumetric measurements of the eggs then do a sub count to derive an estimate of total eggs laid.  Be mindful that if the food is not kept at right quantities the colony may consume their own brood and with the cyclic nature of egg production in this genus that could be a problem.  As noted maintaining a food source for proper colony caloric health will be a priority challenge, also due to the scant published behavioral knowledge of this genus confinement, sensitivity to frequent disturbances etc are still factors with which  you will have to contend. 

[PurdueEntomology]

What happened to the fungus for the Trachymyrmex?  Did it decline?  My colony has really taken off with giving them Old Fashioned Quaker Oats and my last remaining 2019 rose petals.  Let me know if you need a fungus boost. 

[TennesseeAnts]

What happened to the fungus for the Trachymyrmex? Did it decline? My colony has really taken off with giving them Old Fashioned Quaker Oats and my last remaining 2019 rose petals. Let me know if you need a fungus boost.

Well, they were doing really well until I accidentally let the fungus dry out. The queen is still alive with 2 workers. Either tomorrow or the day after the fungus and about 20-30 workers to boost her with will arrive.

Edited by Ant_Dude2908, April 4 2020 - 8:21 AM.

[AntsExodus]

Dude I'm so jealous... My state was tons for neivamyrmex then yours but I've never seen any before, and if you need Solenopsis Invicta brood you got me. I hate Solenopsis Invicta. They are the only ants that I kill. I can get you thousands of Solenopsis brood.

[TennesseeAnts]

Dude I'm so jealous... My state was tons for neivamyrmex then yours but I've never seen any before, and if you need Solenopsis Invicta brood you got me. I hate Solenopsis Invicta. They are the only ants that I kill. I can get you thousands of Solenopsis brood.

Why thank you, sir! I will probably take you up on that.

[Ferox_Formicae]

At the moment, the dichthadiigyne is highly physogastric to the point that she is incapable of movement. Also, the Linepithema brood has arrived, so Ant_Dude was able to feed the colony tons of larvae and pupae, which they seem to appreciate. There's not too much new with these gals, but just know that so far, they're doing great with only a few worker deaths.