24 replies to this topic

[Spazmops]

I caught this Tetramorium Immigrans queen about 6 weeks ago, and I have nanitics as of yesterday. Bear in mind this is my first colony ever, so please don’t get too harsh in the comments, I know I’m bad at this. So back to the journal: I got home from a trip to southern Colorado to find that my tetramorium’s pupae had finally eclosed. I was super excited, because the eggs took almost 2 months to mature to adult workers, most likely due to temperature. I immediately hooked up their test tube to an AC test tube portal, and put some honey water and a wet cotton ball, so they’d have food and a cleaner water source. I checked up on them about an hour later, and not one of them had moved even a millimeter. I decided the new, wide open space was stressing them out, so I removed the test tube and plugged it back up. I was worried that the queen was going to starve because the eggs took so long to mature, so I put some more honey water directly into the test tube. A nanitic slowly wandered over, and appeared to cram her entire head into the honey water. I thought she drowned, and when the queen came over and did the exact same thing, I thought I had just killed my first colony. Luckily I saw the queen’s antennae wiggling, which stopped me from hiding in a corner coming to grips with what I had just done. The queen stayed in this position, drinking honey water, for an hour and a half. She must have been extremely hungry, and I believe she napped a few times right next to the honey water pool. They’re all doing fine right now, and my current plan is to re-attach the test tube portal when I see them exploring their test tube. This seems like it may be far off, seeing as all of the workers are hiding under the queen as I write this. I know this was a very long entry and I get if you all didn’t read all of it, but I’ve left a picture down below of the queen and a worker eating. I’ll update this when something interesting happens, but peace for now, and thanks for reading. -Spazmops

Post script: I don’t know why the picture is inverted, but I’m just going to roll with it.

Edited by Spazmops, July 25 2020 - 8:31 AM.

[TechAnt]

Hey, quick tip! You can feel free to start with a little paragraph for your journal. But after each update most people provide simplified sentences on what’s going on, unless something very interesting/important happened. It makes it easier to read for viewers, I can’t really say anything really though as this is your first journal, and you can format it how you like.

Also nice queen! Best of luck with her!

Edited by TechAnt, July 25 2020 - 8:57 AM.

[ANTdrew]

Good start to the journal. There’s nothing wrong with detailed writing - you do you!
If you keep the Tetras warm, you’ll have successive waves of more and more workers and their foraging will ramp way up. Tetramorium queens never stop laying eggs. You’ll miss this timidity, believe me.

[Spazmops]

Hey, quick tip! You can feel free to start with a little paragraph for your journal. But after each update most people provide simplified sentences on what’s going on, unless something very interesting/important happened. It makes it easier to read for viewers, I can’t really say anything really though as this is your first journal, and you can format it how you like.

Also nice queen! Best of luck with her!

Thanks! I’ll try that when I have an update, which will probably be once they move into something bigger. Honestly I’m just amazed someone bothered reading this, tetramorium is a pretty common species.

[Spazmops]

Good start to the journal. There’s nothing wrong with detailed writing - you do you!
If you keep the Tetras warm, you’ll have successive waves of more and more workers and their foraging will ramp way up. Tetramorium queens never stop laying eggs. You’ll miss this timidity, believe me.

Thank you so much for reading! I’m thinking of putting a space heater on low in the room I keep my ants. I’ll probably use a heating cable once they move into something larger, like an AC mini hybrid nest or tubs & tubes.

[TechAnt]

Hey, quick tip! You can feel free to start with a little paragraph for your journal. But after each update most people provide simplified sentences on what’s going on, unless something very interesting/important happened. It makes it easier to read for viewers, I can’t really say anything really though as this is your first journal, and you can format it how you like.
Also nice queen! Best of luck with her!

Thanks! I’ll try that when I have an update, which will probably be once they move into something bigger. Honestly I’m just amazed someone bothered reading this, tetramorium is a pretty common species.

Hey, everyone loves our favorite classic invasive before the annoying Argentines and freaking Fire Ants.

[Spazmops]

Update 8/21/2020

They’re not in anything larger yet, but I did feed them their first protein meal! I stomped-froze-thawed a grasshopper, and they went to town on the section I gave them. Until this point they had lived on honey. I also fed my younger tetramorium colonies, and they loved it too. 
In the picture you can even see the black grasshopper guts inside the larvae. I don’t know when I’m going to move them (I’ll release my younger colonies), but I think I’ll try AC products just to see how they compare to other brands like THA. I already basically know the answer to this, but I want to at least give them a shot. I have some empty THA minihearths, but those are for my Formica queen and anything else I catch this year.

[Scherme]

Update 8/21/2020

They’re not in anything larger yet, but I did feed them their first protein meal! I stomped-froze-thawed a grasshopper, and they went to town on the section I gave them. Until this point they had lived on honey. I also fed my younger tetramorium colonies, and they loved it too. 
In the picture you can even see the black grasshopper guts inside the larvae. I don’t know when I’m going to move them (I’ll release my younger colonies), but I think I’ll try AC products just to see how they compare to other brands like THA. I already basically know the answer to this, but I want to at least give them a shot. I have some empty THA minihearths, but those are for my Formica queen and anything else I catch this year.

You are gunna release your younger Tetra?

[Spazmops]

 

Update 8/21/2020

They’re not in anything larger yet, but I did feed them their first protein meal! I stomped-froze-thawed a grasshopper, and they went to town on the section I gave them. Until this point they had lived on honey. I also fed my younger tetramorium colonies, and they loved it too. 
In the picture you can even see the black grasshopper guts inside the larvae. I don’t know when I’m going to move them (I’ll release my younger colonies), but I think I’ll try AC products just to see how they compare to other brands like THA. I already basically know the answer to this, but I want to at least give them a shot. I have some empty THA minihearths, but those are for my Formica queen and anything else I catch this year.

You are gunna release your younger Tetra?

 

Once they outgrow their test tube, yes. They’re not the most interesting species, and I don’t have the money to buy them formicariums.

[Scherme]

 

 

Update 8/21/2020

They’re not in anything larger yet, but I did feed them their first protein meal! I stomped-froze-thawed a grasshopper, and they went to town on the section I gave them. Until this point they had lived on honey. I also fed my younger tetramorium colonies, and they loved it too. 
In the picture you can even see the black grasshopper guts inside the larvae. I don’t know when I’m going to move them (I’ll release my younger colonies), but I think I’ll try AC products just to see how they compare to other brands like THA. I already basically know the answer to this, but I want to at least give them a shot. I have some empty THA minihearths, but those are for my Formica queen and anything else I catch this year.

You are gunna release your younger Tetra?

 

Once they outgrow their test tube, yes. They’re not the most interesting species, and I don’t have the money to buy them formicariums.

 

Ok, Some people might tell you to kill them as they are considered invasive. 

[Spazmops]

 

 

 

Update 8/21/2020

They’re not in anything larger yet, but I did feed them their first protein meal! I stomped-froze-thawed a grasshopper, and they went to town on the section I gave them. Until this point they had lived on honey. I also fed my younger tetramorium colonies, and they loved it too. 
In the picture you can even see the black grasshopper guts inside the larvae. I don’t know when I’m going to move them (I’ll release my younger colonies), but I think I’ll try AC products just to see how they compare to other brands like THA. I already basically know the answer to this, but I want to at least give them a shot. I have some empty THA minihearths, but those are for my Formica queen and anything else I catch this year.

You are gunna release your younger Tetra?

 

Once they outgrow their test tube, yes. They’re not the most interesting species, and I don’t have the money to buy them formicariums.

 

Ok, Some people might tell you to kill them as they are considered invasive. 

 

They’ve found their place in the ecosystem where I live, and we mostly have large ants like Camponotus and Formica, so they are kept back in population. 

[TechAnt]

 

 

 

 

Update 8/21/2020

They’re not in anything larger yet, but I did feed them their first protein meal! I stomped-froze-thawed a grasshopper, and they went to town on the section I gave them. Until this point they had lived on honey. I also fed my younger tetramorium colonies, and they loved it too. 
In the picture you can even see the black grasshopper guts inside the larvae. I don’t know when I’m going to move them (I’ll release my younger colonies), but I think I’ll try AC products just to see how they compare to other brands like THA. I already basically know the answer to this, but I want to at least give them a shot. I have some empty THA minihearths, but those are for my Formica queen and anything else I catch this year.

You are gunna release your younger Tetra?

 

Once they outgrow their test tube, yes. They’re not the most interesting species, and I don’t have the money to buy them formicariums.

 

Ok, Some people might tell you to kill them as they are considered invasive. 

 

They’ve found their place in the ecosystem where I live, and we mostly have large ants like Camponotus and Formica, so they are kept back in population. 

 

Mhm, Tetras are ex-invasives, more known as "Naturalized Invasives," AKA, Invasives who have now been fit into the ecosystems structure and are now balanced with it. They were not as powerful as they used to be when they got into America, I doubt it would do anything to the local ecosystem based on your description.

Edited by TechAnt, August 21 2020 - 9:52 AM.

[DDD101DDD]

 

 

 

 

You are gunna release your younger Tetra?

 

Once they outgrow their test tube, yes. They’re not the most interesting species, and I don’t have the money to buy them formicariums.

 

Ok, Some people might tell you to kill them as they are considered invasive. 

 

They’ve found their place in the ecosystem where I live, and we mostly have large ants like Camponotus and Formica, so they are kept back in population. 

 

Mhm, Tetras are ex-invasives, more known as "Naturalized Invasives," AKA, Invasives who have now been fit into the ecosystems structure and are now balanced with it. They were not as powerful as they used to be when they got into America, I doubt it would do anything to the local ecosystem based on your description.

 

I sort of have a theory that tetramorium killed most of the pheidole in the north, as places without tetramorium tend to be more abundant in diversity, and pheidole are more common where the tetramorium aren't found. There's also a journal here https://www.formicul...cation-journal/about someone trying to kill the tetramorium in their yard, and it would seem that there was a greater amount of diversity after killing a lot of the tetramorium. So I would say that you are mistaken in believing that tetramorium don't do much to the ecosystem. I also have a large amount of camponotus in my area, but I've only ever seen 6 pheidole workers.

Edited by DDD101DDD, August 21 2020 - 10:28 AM.

[Spazmops]

I only ever see tiny tetramorium colonies, often being killed by larger ants. Solenopsis molesta is a larger problem where I live.

[DDD101DDD]

I only ever see tiny tetramorium colonies, often being killed by larger ants. Solenopsis molesta is a larger problem where I live.

Solenopsis molesta is actually native, so it's not really a problem. It would also appear that your ant diversity is vastly different from mine, at least 50% of colonies in my area is tetramorium.
 

[Spazmops]

S. molesta isn’t really a huge deal, they just take over entire yards and make them inhabitable to other, more uncommon species.

[Devi]

That sounds like a big deal. 

[ANTdrew]

Put the extra colonies for sale on GAN. You’ll sell them in no time. I sold a queen and nanitics for $100, no joke.

[Spazmops]

That sounds like a big deal. 

Lol well I don’t have them in my yard so...

Put the extra colonies for sale on GAN. You’ll sell them in no time. I sold a queen and nanitics for $100, no joke.

I’ll try that, but there aren’t that many ant keepers out here. The GAN page for Colorado is flooded with tetramorium colonies.

[Kaelwizard]

That sounds like a big deal.

Lol well I don’t have them in my yard so...

Put the extra colonies for sale on GAN. You’ll sell them in no time. I sold a queen and nanitics for $100, no joke.

I’ll try that, but there aren’t that many ant keepers out here. The GAN page for Colorado is flooded with tetramorium colonies.

On the old CO anting thread it seems like that’s all they ever found.