15 replies to this topic

[Kaelwizard]

Update #1, 7/18/2020

 

Hello all! While at my lake house this week, I found many colonies of Temnothorax longispinosus, but I only collected one of them. When collecting them, I really only left them a stub of a twig, so I gave them a new one and they moved in right away. Now that I am at home I moved them into a naturalistic setup by just picking up the twig and moving it. So far they have eaten some honey and have explored a little bit, mainly just around the twig. Pictures may come later or tomorrow.

Edited by Kaelwizard, September 7 2020 - 11:28 AM.

[Kaelwizard]

I forgot to mention that these guys probably have twenty or more workers and lots of larvae and I think they have some pupae also.

[Kaelwizard]

 

In the top right you can see their modified nest entrance to the twig:

 

Edited by Kaelwizard, July 19 2020 - 2:41 PM.

[Antkid12]

Nice!

[KitsAntVa]

I have these! But I have about 300 and 8 queens!

Edited by KitsAntVa, July 19 2020 - 3:48 PM.

[Kaelwizard]

I have these! But I have about 300 and 8 queens!

Cool, you should make a journal.

Edited by Kaelwizard, July 20 2020 - 7:44 AM.

[CatsnAnts]

For some reason I have never found this species around here despite it supposedly being common. Either way, I love seeing a journal on them!

[Kaelwizard]

For some reason I have never found this species around here despite it supposedly being common. Either way, I love seeing a journal on them!

After I realized what species they were, I now see them foraging everywhere. There are many twigs with old galleries in them around my lake house that they seem to love nesting in.

 

Update #2, 7/20/2020

 

I realize it hasn't been long since the last update, but I would like to say they seem to be doing great so far, but mold has started to grow on the outside of their twig nest. I don't know how they naturally deal with this in the wild, as I'm sure they do, but in case they don't do anything to hamper its growth and just leave it there, I will have to just get some springtails on my next trip up to the lake house. (They are way easier to find up there). I honestly should've gotten springtails in the first place, but I didn't think about it.

[KitsAntVa]

I’ll think about making a journal there really fun to watch at a big size to I see them all the time I might also get a pic.

[Kaelwizard]

I’ll think about making a journal there really fun to watch at a big size to I see them all the time I might also get a pic.

Yeah, mine have at least one worker foraging every day. Today they had three out at I time I usually never see them at!

 

What are yours housed in?

Edited by Kaelwizard, July 21 2020 - 7:08 AM.

[Kaelwizard]

I moved them into one of my crappy wide plastic tubes with a piece of vinyl tubing inside so that they could have a smaller nest and use the tube as an outworld. Unfortunately, they moved into the cotton next to it, where I can still see them, so I guess its fine, but I wanted to see what the inside of a twig housing them would look like, if you know what I mean. They also produced male alates, so that's pretty cool. The queen is also pretty fat. Also, the reason I moved them is so I could confirm whether the queen was still alive, and because their setup practically became mold.

Edited by Kaelwizard, September 7 2020 - 11:22 AM.

[Kaelwizard]

Unfortunately I was continually stupid and never brought these or my Tetras with me to my lake house, so inevitably these and my Tetras both died.

[KitsAntVa]

Dang sorry to hear that but at leas you have a more fun species than both of those in my opinion even though they grow slow the seasons not over yet so you can easily catch more queens if you tried. Maybe. 

[Kaelwizard]

I just double checked and I saw that the queen and two workers are still alive!

[KitsAntVa]

Wow that’s amazing as far as I know when I kept mine they are very resilient even with a die off which is uncommon in other species, I hope they do well and whatever you do don’t underfed them. Lol

[Kaelwizard]

It looks like the queen has a bunch of small and medium sized larvae outside of where they nested. It looks like there is only one living worker and it is just sitting in where nested before and dying. I’m hoping she can make a comeback.