92 replies to this topic

[ANTdrew]

True. It’s an unfair comparison because few ants reach nanitics faster than Crematogaster cerasi. L. neoniger are probably the slowest growing of small species.

[PhasorShift]

Update 2/27/2021

Still not much development for the Lasius. Still only brood, though some piles seem like they may be smaller than they were before... Hopefully not a bad sign.
I know Lasius develop slower than the Crematogaster, but I still feel like I should be seeing larvae by now. And I mean actual larvae, not the jellybeans I kinda see here. Am I just being impatient? *worry worry*

Anyway, here's pics.









You may have noticed in that first pic, there's a mite. I asked on discord, and I guess it's kinda common on Lasius? I haven't done anything about it yet, but if you have any advice regarding it please let me know.


Anyway, that's all for now. Hopefully they start showing more development soon.

[PhasorShift]

Update 3/06/2021

Still no change, really. All the queens are still alive, they all have some amount of eggs. No clear larvae yet though. Still see that mite crawling around on the one Queen's brood.

I'm about to leave town for a week or two, so hopefully they show some development when I get back.

Edited by PhasorShift, March 6 2021 - 3:16 PM.

[ANTdrew]

Don’t hate me, but my L. neoniger has cocoons now.

[PhasorShift]

Don’t hate me, but my L. neoniger has cocoons now.

That's great! Maybe it means mine are coming soon. What is your setup like?

[ANTdrew]

It’s a clear box sitting on a loop of heat cable on one end. I put extra cable on top.

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[PhasorShift]

Test tubes inside?

[ANTdrew]

Yes. They’re wrapped in the towel inside the box.

[PhasorShift]

Update 3/15/2021(ish...)

 

I was just on the road for work, for over a week, so it's a bit longer than normal since my last check. That means that any change is easier to spot! And change there was, but still not much. Many of my queens now have large larvae! The ringed grub looking kind, that will probably be spinning cocoons soon (I think this so I does that?) Anyway, here's some pics.

 

(She still has that mite in there)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm still trying to figure out good settings and lighting for taking pictures...

 

Anyway, I'm leaving again for another week (ugh), so hopefully when I come home again, I'll have cocoons and maybe??? nanitics? Probably not but pupae at least.

[NickAnter]

The Lasius pupal stage is *extremely* lengthy, and I believe it took about 3 weeks for my queens. The larval stage is very quick however, so you might indeed see pupae.

[Dino]

I think it depends I agree the larval stage is quite quick but the pupal stage isn't all that long my own workers enclosed in about 2 weeks.

[PhasorShift]

Update 3/31/2021ish... Again...

Things are a little slow, so I'm not gonna try to post so often.

But they aren't that slow. We've got cocoons.

The first couple queens still look like they only have eggs... Unfertilized? Or just slow?





The next few have a decent number of cocoons. Very different than the Crematogaster, it's interesting.







The multi queen colonies have big egg piles, and larvae, but don't seem to have as many cocoons as the others. It'll be very interesting to see how they compare.





Here's the rack again. Most of the tubes seem to be running low on water... Not dry yet, but definitely getting there. I'm wondering what I will need to do. I'm planning on selling most of these colonies, will I need to get them into new tubes before I do? There's probably enough water for another month maybe, though I don't know if that will change once there's more ants in there.



And a close up! I'm headed out of town again for the weekend, I'm hoping there's nanitics when I return!



That's it for now, hopefully soon I'll have workers!

[ANTdrew]

Congrats. With small species like this, I fill the tubes up with water all the way up to an inch from the top.