122 replies to this topic

[Wegmier]

Hello folks! I'm new to Formiculture.
I'm a Dutch antkeeper from the northern Netherlands.

This journal will be about my first, self-caught queen: Lasius niger. I keep this exact same blog on a different place for Dutch antkeepers, but I'd like to share my colonies' journey on Formiculture as well.
The colony is already in their third summer now, so there's over two years worth of journal updates to go through. I'm translating my old journals about the colony and posting them below - & after that I'll start posting contemporary updates every now and then!

[TechAnt]

Welcome to the forum! I hope you enjoy your here!

[Wegmier]

Update 1: The Nuptial Flight (14-07-2018) 

 

On 14 july 2018, Lasius niger had a massive nuptial flight in the Netherlands. On every square meter you'd find a dozen of these queens. These were the first ant queens I ever caught and in my over-enthusiasm I caught way too many (27 queens) of them

 

I marked some queens that (in my inexperienced eyes) looked like they had the biggest gasters. In the end I only kept two of these colonies. The main one that this journal will be about was marked as "Tuin 2" on their test tube, meaning "Garden #2" as that was the location I found her. I gave the other colonies away a year later, after their first thibernation. This blog will be about this colony ("Tuin 2") only.

Attached Images

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Edited by Wegmier, August 4 2020 - 5:23 PM.

[BlueLance213]

The image works when clicked on, but its not showing the image for me otherwise, but I am on mobile at the moment.

Also I am jealous you have a Lasius Umbratus, Its the next ant I am looking for in Scotland!

Edited by BlueLance213, August 4 2020 - 5:20 PM.

[Wegmier]

@BlueLance213 ahhh alright. I guess I'll attach images directly to the post, because the imgur links just aren't working. Just hope that the quality remains...
And yeah umbratus is an awesome species! I really hope mine makes it. My parasitic queen has been accepted by host niger workers and has been laying eggs for over a year, but there's still no parasitic workers. Just fat larvae. I suspect something is going wrong in the communication and that the niger workers aren't helping them pupate.

Update 2: Founding (20-07-2018)

 

The urge to keep checking up on your new queens can be irresistible...

 

The first few days I'd look at my niger queens at least 3 times a day, possibly disturbing them too often. I eventually placed them in a dark spot and restrained myself to only look at them once a week.

Attached Images

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Edited by Wegmier, August 4 2020 - 5:44 PM.

[Wegmier]

Update 3: Nanitics! (22-08-2018) 

 

The first workers / nanitics have emerged! I immediately gave all my colonies a few tiny drops of honey and some fruitflies which they eagerly accepted. From this point on I'm giving the ants a varied insect diet consisting mainly of fruitflies, house flies, crickets, mealworms and small spiders.

 

I probably gave my ants way more food than they actually needed. Every 2 days I'd put some feeder insects into their test tube. They always ignored most of it - but hopefully the colony is aware that there's a constant abundance of food available! The colony had 12 tiny nanitics at the time of this update.

Attached Images

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[BlueLance213]

Fingers crossed that you get some workers soon from it, and I'm looking forward to seeing how your journal goes! I only started this year and caught my first Queens in July, but I see you have multiple colonies already established so I am looking forward to it

[Wegmier]

Update 4: Growth & switching tubes (03-10-2018)

 

We've reached October. One of the biggest colonies (Tuin 2) had to be transferred to a new test tube because the water supply was running dry.

 

I attached the old test tube with tape to a new fresh tube. I placed a hot lamp on the side of the old tube and the ants quickly began relocating to the new tube. It was a bit stressful for the ants, but it gave me a good opportunity to count the entire colony.

 

I counted about 33 workers as well as a large pile of eggs, larvae and pupae

 

EDIT: I figured out how to post imgur links properly, wooo.

Edited by Wegmier, August 4 2020 - 5:39 PM.

[Wegmier]

Update 5: A productive queen (23-10-2018)

 

Approaching the end of October now. The colonies are enjoying drops of acacia honey here. I had hoped the colonies would stop making brood because we're approaching hibernation season. The queen is supposed to stop laying eggs and larvae should stop pupating in order to get the colony ready for winter... But it seems the colonies were still in full summer-mode. The queen laid yet another cluster of eggs. Maybe it's just too warm in my room (around *24-26℃*) to get them in the mood for hibernation...

 

Some colonies also seem to grow slightly faster than others, even though they all basically get the same diet. The **Tuin 2** colony (the tube on the right) is still one of the biggest colonies. I count around 53 workers in the image

[Wegmier]

Update 6: Hibernation (24-11-2018)

 

All colonies have finally been put into a mini-fridge for their winter hibernation. It took me until late November for the last colony to be fridge-ready, all because the larvae kept pupating and the queens wouldn't stop laying eggs. This was a problem as only larvae can survive hibernation. Eggs and pupae will die in hibernation and probably start rotting.

 

I was told my room was likely too hot for the ants to initiate hibernation. So I opened my windows and turned off the heating. I had to sit in the cold for a few weeks... Anything for the ants!

Gradually the last few pupae emerged and no new cocoons were spun. One by one the test tubes were put in the fridge.

 

Most colonies ended their first year with 40 to 60 workers. "Tuin 2" (the main colony) ended their first season with around ~70 workers.

Into the fridge:


Tuin 2:

[Wegmier]

Update 7: Wake up! (12-03-2019)

 

March has arrived and hibernation is over. The colonies have been in a mini-fridge for nearly four months. To avoid a temperature-shock I slowly warmed the colonies up over the course of a week. The fridge had been at 5-7℃ during their hibernation. I began by raising the temperature to 12℃. After that, I moved the colonies from my fridge into the basement (16℃) and a few days later they finally returned to my room (21℃)

 

All 27 queens have survived hibernation! I discovered two dead workers over all.

[Wegmier]

Update 8: Explosive growth? (18-04-2019)

 

Last year's hibernated larvae have already turned into workers by now. The colony has about 80-90 ants and the test tube is getting crammed.

 

Niger queens do seem to get very productive right after their hibernation. The images aren't very clear (sorry), but the queen has laid a big clutch of eggs!

The test tube:


Added two test tubes in their outworld (eitjes=eggs, poppen=pupae, larven=larvae)

[Wegmier]

Update 8: "Farewells" & "Boost" (22-05-2019)

 

A month later, the Tuin 2 colony is growing nicely. I'm still taking care of 26 other niger colonies at this point

 

An accident occurred with two of those colonies. When trying to move them into fresh test tubes, the adhesive tape between the tubes had come loose. Most of their workers vanished. These two colonies were left with their queens and only a handful of workers & their brood. I decided to dispose of these two colonies and gave their remaining brood to my main colony. They received about 40 larvae and pupae from this. It was no significant broodboost, (though in hindsight) it most definitely increased the snowball effect of colony growth

 

23 of the other Lasius niger colonies were given to fellow Dutch antkeepers.

From now on this blog will only be about the main colony.

[Wegmier]

Update 9: From test tube to nest (09-06-2019)

 

It's time for a proper little formicarium. I bought a 3D-printed nest from a well known Dutch antkeeper.

 

I placed the colony's 3 tubes into the new outworld and connected it to the nest. A hot lamp was put on the outworld to encourage the ants to move. An hour they had all moved there!

The nest and outworld:


Moving day:

[Wegmier]

Update 10: Expansion (20-06-2019)

 

The ants are slowly starting to fill up their nest. As their hunger for proteins & sugars increases, I need to try and find new things to feed. I also tried experimenting with test tubes filled with sugarwater, but these always start to leak after a few days...

 

Some of the recent workers also seem slightly (but noticeably!) larger than the first generations of nanitics

[Wegmier]

Update 11: Eggpile (08-07-2019)

 

The queen is very busy as the pile of eggs grows by the day

 

I might attach a second nest soon

[Wegmier]

Update 12: New nest (25-07-2019)

 

I'm feeding the colony every day now. Mainly fruitflies, mealworms, small spiders and crickets

 

Guessing the colony might still double in size over the next few months, so I'm going ahead with the second nest

Maybe adding a second nest could also help the colony regulate moisture better. The first one often seems too wet. I'll probably hydrate one nest and keep the other dry

 

Attaching a second nest was easier said than done. Some workers escaped as I was connecting the tubes. About 5 workers died in the process

[Wegmier]

Update 13: Larvae everywhere (29-07-2019)

 

The majority of the colony has moved to the new nest! I've stopped hydrating the one nest, so the ants have one dry nest and one moist nest to choose from.

 

There's a larva explosion going on right now. Almost every room has some larvae in them! They all look healthy with full bellies. Yesterday I gave the colony 30 fruitflies and 2 crickets - they accepted all of it


 

The large egg pile now on top of the gypsum plug:

Edited by Wegmier, August 5 2020 - 2:52 AM.

[Wegmier]

Update 14: Food (13-08-2019)

 

Every room of the nest has some fat larvae nibbling on insect remains

I figured I'd make a list of the things that I feed them
 

For sugars, I give the colony:
- Sugarwater
- Honey
- Maple syrup
- Fruits (rarely, only apple slices & grapes)
- Honeydew surrogate (very rarely)
 

The protein sources I feed them:

- Mealworms
- Superworms
- Buffalo worms

- Wax moth larvae

- Crickets

- Wild locusts

- Spiders & their egg sacs

- Wasps

- House flies

- Moths

- Fruitflies (their main diet)

- Mosquitos

- Earwigs

- Dubia roaches

- Springtails

- Cooked egg (rarely)

- Pieces of ham (rarely)

- Raw chicken (rarely)

Edited by Wegmier, August 5 2020 - 6:10 AM.

[Wegmier]

Update 15: Pupae (21-08-2019)

 

Eight days later, all those larvae have turned into a huge pile of pupae!