29 replies to this topic

[ctantkeeper]

Hey guys, as many of you may know, T. sessile is a nuisance pest that lives all around the united states. although I am not sure whether or not they stage nuptial flights or reproduce by fission, I would like to raise a colony. my mom's boyfriends house has a colony that possibly consists of 1 million workers and several queens. if possible, can you answer a few of the questions below?

 

1) do you raise a colony of these yourself, if so, please post a photo

2) how do they reproduce? if they reproduce via nuptial flights or some other method, what time of year do they do so?

3) what are there humidity / temp. requirements? will they benefit from heating?

4) what foods do they prefer? will they accept formula blue?

5) are they prone to escaping? / do they require multiple satellite nests?

[AntTeen804]

All I know is they do have nuptial flights and they love the heat.

[Ants4fun]

1. I didn't raise my colony, but I did find one. (don't have a pic right now)

 

2. nuptial flights, and reproduction within the colony (not sure when, refer to the mating chart)

 

3. nothing special, though they like heat..

 

4. they like insects a lot, also they will accept green 600, but not aqua 300. Haven't tried blue 100 yet...

 

5. they are prone to escaping so have a good barrier. In the wild they have may satellite nest, so I guess you could if you wanted too, but it isn't required.

[Foogoo]

I think I caught a colony a week ago:

http://www.formicult...ia-ca-4-3-2015/

 

I'm still trying to figure out what they eat, they seem to be very picky and yes, they love heat.

[ctantkeeper]

thanks everyone for all your help, however I am wondering whether or not to start from scratch or to try to corral queens, workers and brood from a nest relocation trail. although I am not a fan of collecting fully grown colonies, I might due this if the option ever opens up.

Edited by ctantkeeper, April 12 2015 - 6:20 PM.

[ctantkeeper]

will they preform well in acrylic setups (like the Omni nest)?

[ctantkeeper]

after doing some reading on mercutia's journal, I learned that the queens may only live for a few years!!!! is this true???

[Myrmicinae]

1) Yes.  Here is a link to my journal:

 

http://www.formicult...essile-journal/

 

2) Reproductives likely mate both within the nest and during nuptial flights.  New colonies can be formed both through budding and independently by single queens.  Individual colonies may utilize all of these strategies or combinations thereof.  All of this seems to depend on the variant, as T. sessile is probably comprised of multiple distinct (undescribed) species (i.e., a species complex).

 

3) As mentioned above, T. sessile is extraordinarily variable, so this probably differs greatly over different regions.

 

4) Same as above.  However, in my experience, they tend to reject solid foods and prefer liquids.

 

5) Yes.  They are small and fast.  As far as I know, they do not require multiple nests, but I'm sure larger colonies would benefit from this.

 

I actually conducted a study on queen number and plesiobiosis in this species last year (now under review).

Edited by Myrmicinae, April 12 2015 - 7:26 PM.

[ctantkeeper]

thanks Myrmicinae, but do you know the life expectancy of a gravid queen of this species? I have heard that they only live for a few years, is this true?

[Myrmicinae]

No thorough research has been done on this, at least that I have been able to find.  T. sessile is surprisingly understudied overall.  A paper in 1928 reported that queens only survived for a few months in the lab.  However, the author admitted that the colonies were maintained in far from ideal conditions.

 

I would expect the monogynous variants to have longer-lived queens, but that is about all I can say.

[ctantkeeper]

mmm. I guess I have some investigating to do lol

[drtrmiller]

They are very similar in care to Argentine ants, Linepithema humile.  Any articles you see on one, are likely applicable to the other.

 

Collect as many queens and workers as you can.  A small colony will likely not survive in captivity very long.

[ctantkeeper]

thankyou terry, since you have raised argentine ants (as seen on youtube), can you tell me about your experiences with this species (care, feeding, hydration, etc.)

[drtrmiller]

I'd say what everyone else has said.  They require constant warm temperatures and high humidity.  

 

Throw every food you can think of at them, especially very small arthropods such as D. melanogaster (fruit flies) and Collembola (springtails)—they can only exist with an abundance of microfauna as are found in their native habitats of leaf litter.  Provide several different concentrations of liquid Green 600 as a sugar source to see which they most prefer (use plain white sugar and water, if Green 600 is unavailable), and continue to feed sugar water ad libitum once a preferred concentration has been established.  

 

A large foraging area is required for a captive colony to thrive.

 

They are not an easy species to keep, and you may have difficulty keeping them in captivity for very long.

Edited by drtrmiller, April 12 2015 - 8:53 PM.

[dspdrew]

It seems many polygyne species have queens that don't live very long, so I wouldn't be surprised if T. sessile queens don't live very long.

[ctantkeeper]

while were on the topic of difficulty in terms of raising tapinoma in captivity, what species would you recommend for a beginner (besides Tetramorium caespitum)

[Crystals]

What is your location again?  (Might want to add it to your profile since I keep forgetting.  )

 

Quite a few species are easily to keep, although some people easily keep certain species while others seem unable to keep them at all.

 

Species I have seen in journals commonly without too many issues include Camponotus, Lasius, Veromessor, Formica, Pheidole, among quite a few others.

[ctantkeeper]

conneticut

[AntLover101]

I live pretty close to you

[Crystals]

The species you find there will be fairly similar to Pennsylvania and Ohio:

http://www.antweb.or...e&genCache=true
http://www.antweb.or...nts&images=true

 

Once you know what species are in your state, I find Missouri's page has far more information about a species habbits then any other state's page.
http://www.antweb.org/missouri.jsp

 

I would try to catch any queens you can, flights should be starting there soon.  Camponotus, Lasius, Formica, Myrmica, Pheidole, Solenopsis, Tapinoma, and Tetramorium would be good starters.  You can definitely try other species if you find them.