53 replies to this topic

[Antkeeper014]

Sorry to hear, I was really looking forward to this journal. At least you found a way to care for them so they can be responsibly kept in the future. Just have to make it’s secure next time

[RushmoreAnts]

They are nomadic...... I suppose attempted breakouts were inevitable. 

[CheetoLord02]

WE'RE BACK!!!

While I was anting in the Chricahua mountains in Southeastern AZ, A friend of mine stumbled across a Neivamyrmex nest under a rock, and of course, quickly brought it to my attention. I figured why not, let's dig around a little and see what we can find.

A few dirt scoops later my friend, who was sifting through the excavated soil, excitedly called out that he had spotted the queen! This was awesome, as since my last colony I've tried excavating Neivamyrmex 3 or 4 times without any luck. This time it all just seemed far too easy, and well, I realized afterwards why. The night before had gotten quite cold, but the morning sun had been heating the place up extremely quickly, so when we stumbled across this colony they had likely relocated very close to the surface under a rock to get as much heat as possible.

The status of the colony is pretty interesting, too. There's no Neivamyrmex brood at all, just a few dozen pieces of Pheidole brood. There's also not nearly as many workers as would be expected of a mature Neivamyrmex colony, only a few thousand at the most. My theory is that this is possibly a newly budded colony; it's Neivamyrmex flight season after all, and I've been getting their males at my blacklight every single time I've gone out.

This would be good and bad news. The good news is a younger queen will of course live longer; the bad news is that Neivamyrmex are known to mate multiple times after budding, and I've got no idea how many times this queen has. If she's only mated once, she could run out of sperm and die sooner than an older queen would. There's also the possibility that she isn't mated at all, but that's unlikely in my opinion.

Also yeah, I'm fairly certain they're N. texanus, which is pretty cool.




Of course, the main thing for me is to just not make the same mistake as last time. Their setup will be completely escape proof this time around.
 

 

 

The only weak link is the outworld you can see in the back, but that's not here to stay, just to serve the purpose of getting the ants out of the dirt I collected them in. As soon as they're moved out, the outworld goes bye-bye. We don't need it.

[NicholasP]

I'm so happy that this journal has finally been recontinued! Long live the queen!

[LucaHakase]

Nice! Hopefully these don't escape this time. I'm very excited to see what happens, and Good Luck!

[Antkeeper01]

wow these ants are magnificent, good luck. Oh and one last thing: LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!  

[CheetoLord02]

I think I gave up on this colony a little too fast... but not to fear! We're updating with good news.

For a while this colony seemed to kinda just be a dud. As I had mentioned I wasn't sure the "status" of this queen, specifically her fertility. Still, I had been feeding the colony a good amount of brood, including Pheidole, Solenopsis validiuscula, Tetramorium, and Crematogaster. After the last feeding the colony had a surplus of prey brood in their nest, and after a few days I noticed what looked like the queen getting a bit physogastric, which was an awesome sign. I wasn't sure if it was just her getting fat from eating a ton of food or if it was actually eggs, but after the colony moved to a new nest and stopped foraging entirely I was fairly certain that a normal stationary phase had started.
 

 

 

Nearly as soon as they got settled into the new nest I noticed eggs! This was such a relief. A few days later there seems to be a decent pile of at least a few hundred eggs, and the queen is still slightly physogastric. She never fully ballooned up to max capacity, similar to my last colony, but I'd imagine it's just because of the relatively low number of workers. Still, the colony exhibiting a relatively normal stationary phase and actually laying any eggs at all is a huge relief, and has restored my hope that this colony may actually be successful. 

[NicholasP]

Awesome! I can't wait to see how this colony progresses!

[smares]

Love following your updates! This is such an interesting species!

[CheetoLord02]

Since last update the queen seems to have stopped laying and has shrunk back down to normal size. She laid a good amount, with a batch of eggs probably about the size of herself. When you consider how small the eggs are, that's pretty impressive.
 

 

 

Once these eggs all hatch, the nomadic phase will begin again. Thankfully my Camponotus atriceps have had a brood explosion ever since I decided to stop neglecting them, and I also just got my hands on some Liometopum apiculatum. With those two I really shouldn't have to worry about not having enough brood at all.

[ExponentMars]

niceeee

[CheetoLord02]

1 month! Round 2 has officially gone on longer than round 1.

A couple days after the last update, I noticed larvae starting to appear in the brood pile, and hooked their nest back up to the rest of the setup. Almost immediately they started exploring and making huge trails looking for food. I moved a few Camponotus atriceps workers and a handful of pupae into a vacant nesting space, and within only a few minutes the Neivamyrmex discovered them and completely pillaged everything. One interesting thing is that they are very proficient at unwrapping cocoons, and do so before moving the brood back to their bivouac. A few hours after raiding, the colony moved into a new chamber and all seemed to be going as normal.

One concerning thing was after the move I could no longer see their brood pile, and was extremely confused. I know these ants are good at hiding things in their giant piles of workers, but this was pretty unexpected and worrying. However, a few days later after another feeding and nest relocation, I noticed a pile of Neivamyrmex larvae. There appears to be far less larvae than expected compared to the number of eggs they left, which is weird, but as long as they have some I'd imagine they'll be fine. I really think that this colony's lack of brood when I captured them has been fairly detrimental to their health, and the colony has already shrunk in numbers significantly.  They still have enough to function properly, but I'd imagine it'll probably take a decent amount of time until they are able to grow to any significant size, which is disappointing since there's really nothing I could have done differently to change this. All I can do is keep raising them in the way I know how to and hope it works.
 

[Chasicle]

Really hoping they do well! Just read this entire journal and I’m hooked. Good luck!!!

[Antkeeper01]

Update? it's been awhile