14 replies to this topic

[Ants4fun]

I found this colony less than a week ago under a large piece of bark. A got around 7 queens, a few hundred workers, and well over a hundred larvae. Since then they have laid hundreds of eggs.
Despite what I here many people say, they (so far) have been really responsive to food. They love mealworms and suger water the best though.

I heard that they breed within the next, so I am hoping for some queens this year!

The colony



The brood


Them eating

Edited by Ants4fun, July 12 2015 - 12:28 PM.

[Myrmicinae]

Good luck!  Keep us updated.

[Ants4fun]

I found two other colonies warming under rocks. One with about 4 queens, and the other with only one. I tried to see if they would be friendly, so I introduced a worker into my main colony, but they fought. Otherwise my colony Is doing good. Although I moved them into a test tube for better viewing. I can see that they have 8 queens, and about 500 workers. The larvae are about to pupate as well. They keep on producing a ton of eggs, and I think I might get some queens this year!

Edited by Ants4fun, April 22 2015 - 5:25 AM.

[Crystals]

Nice.

Can't wait to see how they do.

[Ants4fun]

I let this colony go and kept two smaller colonies. One with eight queens, and another with just one. The 9 queen colony has around <100 workers and the 1 queen colony has around 50 workers.

The larger colony is kept in a test tube. I just fed them honey, and they loved it! Near half the colony was at droplets , and even one of the queens came in and ate some! Both colonies have a lot of eggs and a few larvae.

Edited by Ants4fun, May 15 2015 - 5:29 PM.

[William. T]

These colonies seem to do well at first, but almost all journals of this species end after six or so months. Try to heat them and provide a diverse diet. My T. Sessile loves heat and Camponotus workers..

[Ants4fun]

These ones hate the heat.  In fact I used a heating cable to move them...

[Ants4fun]

Update: Colony number 1(9 queen colony) this colony has lots of eggs, hundreds. Although they have been eggs for a while, they haven't turned into larvae. I moved them into one of Crystal's nests. So far they are huddled in the entrance. These also have a couple reproductives. Not sure if they have males, females, or both...








Colony 2: (1 queen colony) this colonies larvae turned into pupae a while ago, and are currently enclosing. They too are in one of Crystal's formicariums.






Finally, the colony I let go. I let this colony go a couple weeks ago. They had around a hundred workers, a few queens, and a large amount of pupae. Today I saw them moving into a crack in the concrete by my garage door. Since that small amount of time when I let them go, they already have lots of workers, and lots of reproductive brood.

[drtrmiller]

Cool little nest.  Is that one of Crystal's, or did you make it yourself?

[Ants4fun]

Crystal's

[drtrmiller]

I knew it looked familiar.  She makes some nice ones :~)

[William. T]

Update: Colony number 1(9 queen colony) this colony has lots of eggs, hundreds. Although they have been eggs for a while, they haven't turned into larvae. I moved them into one of Crystal's nests. So far they are huddled in the entrance. These also have a couple reproductives. Not sure if they have males, females, or both...

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Colony 2: (1 queen colony) this colonies larvae turned into pupae a while ago, and are currently enclosing. They too are in one of Crystal's formicariums.

image.jpg

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Finally, the colony I let go. I let this colony go a couple weeks ago. They had around a hundred workers, a few queens, and a large amount of pupae. Today I saw them moving into a crack in the concrete by my garage door. Since that small amount of time when I let them go, they already have lots of workers, and lots of reproductive brood.

image.jpg

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Yeah, few queen colonies are hard to sustain. Capture more queens and workers to boost the colony, as they accept many queens and workers. The queen gets done in by the stress of egg laying. The eggs of this species is huge compared the gaster of the queen. That reminds me... must raid a T. Sessile nest for queens and workers!

[Ants4fun]

My colonies don't accept any other workers/queens. I tried a couple times though.

[Ants4fun]

I let all my colonies go after the brood was not developing.

[Myrmicinae]

I let all my colonies go after the brood was not developing.

 

I can't understand how this could be so common to see for everyone keeping T. sessile, despite widely varying captive diets and conditions.  In the wild, they seem to reproduce very rapidly.  Ugh.  Confusing.  :hmm:

Edited by Myrmicinae, July 15 2015 - 12:37 PM.