21 replies to this topic

[BugFinder]

Today I purchased a new queen from LosAnteles.  She was collected in February in Griffith Park.  She will ship out tomorrow.  I'm very excited to be able to keep this species.

Edited by BugFinder, April 26 2020 - 8:01 PM.

[MsTesaAnt]

I'm excited for you!  Good luck.

[BugFinder]

thanks!  I'm really excited too!  I just ran into her on accident on here and stumbled across that colony and fell in love with it.  I hope I'm able to raise it to maturity!!

[BugFinder]

I was notified today that one pupae eclosed, so there should be 1 worker when she arrives.  She was mailed today, I should have her on Thursday.  As soon as my new digital microscope arrives I'll post some photos of her.

[ANTdrew]

Congrats! Good luck!

[BugFinder]

The Queen arrived today, seems healthy and happy, has larvae, pupae, and 1 worker.  She is gorgeous.  Largest queen I've ever seen, also the most colorful.  I'm really going to enjoy keeping this colony.    As soon as my new microscope arrives I'll post some pictures for you.

[ANTdrew]

Good luck!

[BugFinder]

I pulled her out to feed her and discovered a second worker has eclosed.  Judging by the way she looks, I think she just eclosed within the last few hours.  She is very new.   

 

I put a dab of honey on the cotton ball and put them away again.  When the small plastic box I purchsed to use as an outworld arrives, I will remove that cotton and put the tube in the outworld.  and give them some fresih honey in a feeding dish.  I also have ByFormica Sunburst on the way incase they don't like the honey.

Edited by BugFinder, May 2 2020 - 1:48 PM.

[BugFinder]

I checked on the ants today.  5 workers!  I can't tell if there are more pupa or not because it looks like the queen has the old pupa casts piled on top of the egg pile and she is sitting on all of that for some reason.  It looks like there is at least one pupa left that hasn't eclosed, and I saw at least one larvae, but she is so large, it's hard to see exactly what is there while she is sitting on top of all of it.   

 

I moved their tube into an outworld, and removed the cotton, and added some honey so they can eat.  They haven't explored the outworld yet.   I've seen one worker crawling on the outworld lid, but I don't think they have really explored it and found the honey yet.

 

 

 

Edited by BugFinder, May 8 2020 - 8:19 PM.

[BugFinder]

[BugFinder]

I checked on the ants today, they seem to be doing ok.  it looks like they have eaten about half of the honey I gave them.  still 5 workers, a couple pupae, and some larvae.  I suspect they need protein to continue thriving, so I smashed a cricket and put it in the outworld.  they mobbed it right away, so I'm guessing that's what they needed.  Hopefully the protein will get her laying eggs again.

[OhNoNotAgain]

Oh wow, hungry salsas!

I wish my sansabeanus would have acted so eager for protein. (I'm still not sure what I did wrong with them - maybe not cool enough diapause.)

They are such big, beautiful ants with personality (do tell us if your queen is as aggressive as mine - I love her attitude, just not her food pickiness).

Keep us posted!

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, June 3 2020 - 9:24 AM.

[BugFinder]

I checked on the colony today.  8 workers now.  the cricket I put in there has about 25% left.   They seem to be doing well, although I seemed to have panicked them when I checked on them.    They seem to panick really easily.

 

I had been worried the temps may have gotten too hot for them (it was in the 100s here for about a week) but they seem to have made it through that just fine.

[ANTdrew]

Ants drink up the juices from inside an insect. Once it’s dry, they ignore it and they leave behind most of the exoskeleton. Maybe I’m misreading, but don’t wait for the entire cricket to disappear before feeding again.

[Kaelwizard]

They seem to be doing excellently. Good luck!

[BugFinder]

Ants drink up the juices from inside an insect. Once it’s dry, they ignore it and they leave behind most of the exoskeleton. Maybe I’m misreading, but don’t wait for the entire cricket to disappear before feeding again.

 

thank you for that!

[BugFinder]

I checked on them today.  there are 9 workers today.  I removed the old cricket, and put a fresh cricket in.  they don't seeem to be eating the honey now that I'm feeding crickets so I'm thinking about removing the honey to prevent mold.  They seem to be doing well, although they panicked again when I checked on them.

[BugFinder]

Bad news.....   On 9/3 while I was at work, I got a call that my mother was being placed into hospice care.  Shocked and surprised I left work early, grabbed my family, and hit the road hoping ot make it to see her before she died.   We didn't get to see her before she died, bu we spent latbor day weekend there with family.

 

Of course while we were gone, we had an unuusally hot weekend, record setting temperatures, and when I returned home I discovered that I had lost my ant colony too.  A really bad weekend became evern worse.

 

I'm hoping to start again next spring with another one of these queens.

[Antkeeper01]

no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!                  

Edited by Antkeeper01, September 18 2020 - 12:23 PM.

[Spazmops]

Bad news.....   On 9/3 while I was at work, I got a call that my mother was being placed into hospice care.  Shocked and surprised I left work early, grabbed my family, and hit the road hoping ot make it to see her before she died.   We didn't get to see her before she died, bu we spent latbor day weekend there with family.

 

Of course while we were gone, we had an unuusally hot weekend, record setting temperatures, and when I returned home I discovered that I had lost my ant colony too.  A really bad weekend became evern worse.

 

I'm hoping to start again next spring with another one of these queens.

That’s terrible, I’m sorry for your losses