16 replies to this topic

[Ender Ants]

May 25, 2020: First Fire Ants of the Year

 

I never made a journal about my other Solenopsis colony, but I do have a few videos about them. Long story short, they died, and grew way too much. Luckily, I caught 2 queens this year, and am updating everything on them from now on. Also going to limit their food in-take LOLOL.

 

 

 

 

[Ender Ants]

June 10, 2020: Eggs & Larvae 

Follow me on Instagram for more active updates on all my colonies: 

https://www.instagram.com/ender_ants/

 

 

I caught 2 more queens on June 2nd, and currently all 4 of these colonies have eggs. One already has a few larvae, so they'll be growing quickly in no time.

 

 

 

[TechAnt]

Those queens look amazing! Best of luck with them, I did not even know you still posted on here.

[Ender Ants]

Those queens look amazing! Best of luck with them, I did not even know you still posted on here.

Recently started to post again since its nuptial season and I have more time Lots of updates coming soon

[CatsnAnts]

Nice! Can’t wait to see how these colonies turn out.

[Ender Ants]

June 28, 2020: The First Nanitics

This queen has 5 workers, and 3 about to eclose. Expecting more workers, and probably a move soon once they all start biting at the cotton. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Another Death:

Unfortunately another queen has died. The tip of her gaster has some mold, which spread to some of the larvae. When I moved the test tube, she was attached to the cotton, maybe she got stuck? There's also some colored liquid that seeped into the cotton from her jaws. Will have to keep an eye on the other colonies more often to see if they die randomly. Now we're down to 2 queens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Second Queen:

This queen looks to be doing fine right now. She has some brood, but I still have some waiting until the pupae get ready to eclose. 

 

[TechAnt]

Congrats! Can’t wait to see them grow more.

And RIP that other queen.

Edited by TechAnt, June 28 2020 - 5:25 PM.

[FSTP]

Nice job! these are interesting ants that grow fast if given lots of food. I just posted a short clip of my colony on my instagram account. once they get going it seems you can't feed them to much they just keep eating.

 

Also don't forget to give them seeds. The queens really like munching and crunching seeds when the colony has yet to produce majors. I give mine poppy seeds and various grass seeds. They will make little piles of them in their test tube and slowly munch and crunch on them through out the day. Its really fun to watch the tiny queen wrestle a poppy seed while she tries to munch crunch it. Once the colony is large enough when you put a small pile of seeds in the out world they will go nutso pututso trying to gather them up as fast as possible. Its really fun to watch.

Edited by FSTP, June 28 2020 - 5:33 PM.

[Ender Ants]

Nice job! these are interesting ants that grow fast if given lots of food. I just posted a short clip of my colony on my instagram account. once they get going it seems you can't feed them to much they just keep eating.

 

Also don't forget to give them seeds. The queens really like munching and crunching seeds when the colony has yet to produce majors. I give mine poppy seeds and various grass seeds. They will make little piles of them in their test tube and slowly munch and crunch on them through out the day. Its really fun to watch the tiny queen wrestle a poppy seed while she tries to munch crunch it. Once the colony is large enough when you put a small pile of seeds in the out world they will go nutso pututso trying to gather them up as fast as possible. Its really fun to watch.

Thank you for the suggestion! I've never fed any of my ants seeds, so I will try this out.

[RushmoreAnts]

Nice! I love native Solenopsis. Around here it's mostly molesta, and they're everywhere.

[Ender Ants]

July 7, 2020: More Workers

Now both Fire ant queens have workers. Going to feed them soon!

 

 

Caught May 25: This queen has 15 workers now, tripled since June 28

 

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Caught June 10: This queen has 17 workers, even though she was caught later than the other one, she has progressed quicker. 

 

I feel like moving them into a Cubes and Tubes setup like I did with my late colony. I want to save my formicariums for my other colonies that I know won't leave a lot of waste. 

[Antkid12]

Nice! 

[Ender Ants]

June 15, 2023: The Pool Incident

 

So there I was, celebrating Father's Day weekend at the pool. "The weather's pretty humid, wish I could look for queen ants right now" I thought as I looked at my trusty weather app while walking to the chlorine filled waters. I hadn't stepped foot into a swimming pool in about 4 years. I don't think I remember how to swim either. As I lay floating there on my floatie, I see a small speck in the rippling waters. I could've sworn it was a queen ant, so I did everything in my power to cup it in my hands random people were passing by. My eyes didn't lie, a Solenopsis xyloni alate. 

 

She looked like she was a goner, but I had hope and knew it would be best to keep her because I've caught ants before in the pool that looked dead but revive later on. Also knowing ants don't have lungs, if it was recent, it should still be alive. And right I was. My family and I had continued to catch these fire ant queens in the water, to the point where my hand was covered with what looked like dead ants. Such a funny and fun experience. 

 

 

All of them were caught with wings, but as of now, all but 3-4 still have them.

 

 

 

June 21, 2023: Most have laid their first batch and 2 have died randomly since then.

 

 

 

June 26, 2023: Their egg piles have also grown even more.

 

 

 

Last time I had kept fire ants, they had grown really fast and were overwhelming to care for at the time. One time they had escaped and were all over my desk, so I'm going to be more careful this time around. 

Edited by Ender Ants, July 2 2023 - 2:40 AM.

[AntsCali098]

You better be ready! If I kept fire ants it would be xyloni though since they are native.

[antsriondel]

You better be ready! If I kept fire ants it would be xyloni though since they are native.

And they only grow to a few thousand. 

[Ender Ants]

Unfortunately the previous queen died randomly, and since she was the last Fire ant queen I kept, I had to wait another year to find one again    Unlike last time though, I only found two queens, with one of them being infertile. This time around I'm going to grow these ants as much as I can, and here is where our story begins once more.

 

July 5, 2024: A Returning Colony.. once more

Of the two queens caught this year, this queen was the only one to make it past founding. Here she is with her small batch of eggs. I remember keeping this species for the first time and not being prepared for their growth. Hopefully now I'll be able to contain them properly and let them expand into an enormous colony.

 

 

 

 

July 19, 2024: First Generation of Eggs

The first batch of eggs have now developed into larvae, and the queen's gaster has reduced in size.

 

 

 

 

July 30, 2024: Temporary Setup [2 workers]

Preparing them for my trip away from home with extra space for test tubes. Once they fill up at least two test tubes, I can decide on either a formicarium or a naturalistic ant tank. Only downside of the latter is that they can escape if I don't manage their barrier. Perhaps a formicarium first, then ant tank?

 

 

 

 

 

August 4, 2024: Nanitics [8-10 workers]

Almost all of the eggs from the first batch have now hatched into workers. 

 

 

 

 

August 19, 2024: A Surprise Batch [~10 workers]

Left this colony alone for a few weeks and there is a whole new batch. This is the last time I'll see them before I come back, so I'm expecting a huge boom. I left them a couple bloodworms and cricket for the time being.

 

 

 

 

September 26, 2024: Double Digits [40-50 workers]

Lots and lots of brood still on the way. Been experimenting with fish food, and they absolutely love it.

 

 

 

October 14, 2024: One Test Tube Down [~100 workers]

I have now lost count of how many workers are in here. I can't even tell how many are in the main tube. Now that they're in the triple digits, we're halfway there from upgrading their setup. 

 

 

 

 

The cricket is now skeletonized.

 

 

 

Closing Thoughts:

At the time of writing this (November 12) they are still in this setup and I'm most likely going to move them into an ant tank. I could suspend the tank on a water tray as a backup barrier, and if I wanted to be extra, extra cautious, put that tray on another tray with an alcohol x baby powder barrier. Whatever the case may be, stay tuned for the next update!

[ANTdrew]

Buy a big poster frame. Use the flexible plastic that comes with it to cut out a rim that you can glue to the top of the tank with silicone. Line the bottom of the rim with talcahol or fluon.