5 replies to this topic

[aeipathyx]

Background: My dad is a mechanic and wanted to fix up a small old motorbike we had in the backyard. I have been keeping inverts in general for 2 years and got into antkeeping just this year but I know a decent amount due to hanging around invert discords where people keep ants. One last note, I live in Texas where we have extremely mild winters with highs of 75°F / 23°C and lows of 40°F / 4°C.
 

I started collecting the colony with advice and care tips from some friends who keep ants but was encouraged to post about this colony here because it has turned out to be a little weird. A friend ID'd them as Camponotus Decipiens.

Here's a picture of the bike with the tubes they were nesting in circled in red and the nest entrances circled in yellow. I retrieved most of the colony by drilling a couple holes and blowing them out with an air compressor (weak blasts of air just to get them moving). 
 

Living in metal tubes isn't the weird part, I've seen ants nest in weirder. The weird part is almost every single female alate I retrieved either didn't have wings or promptly shed them after retrieval. I am talking like 8 different alates without wings/shed their wings vs about 4 who kept their wings. I both witnessed an alate shedding her wings and found multiple pairs in the container I have them in. Here's a picture of some bark I used to block the entrance of the test tubes to make them more comfortable. As you can see there's uh multiple wingless alates.
 

count the alates

Due to this I have no idea if I collected the fertile queen and my friend is as confused about the wingless alates as I am. If anyone has an explanation for this and tips for figuring out which one is the fertile queen during a time when they should be hibernating let me know as I'd greatly appreciate it.

Finally, here's a few pics of the 3 test tubes I have provided them, there is still a decent amount left to collect, I believe I have around 120? I'm bad at estimating so take that with a grain of salt.

Edited by aeipathyx, November 13 2020 - 12:56 AM.

[KitsAntVa]

About 50-70 workers looks like camponotus decipens, cool species they really are, basically all small Camponotus are. If they live in the environment you say they do then hibernation isn't the least of their concerns but it is needed. I would say get yourself a nest plop them in let them settle down, feed them a little then stick them in the fridge and go on your way. I would keep these because ya know cool species! These are polygynous so seeing like 8 queens isn't exactly rare more of which its common.

[ANTdrew]

That's a confusing situation, I'll say - "Where's Waldo" with six legs on steroids. All you can hope for is that brood will start showing up again at some point.

[aeipathyx]

About 50-70 workers looks like camponotus decipens, cool species they really are, basically all small Camponotus are. If they live in the environment you say they do then hibernation isn't the least of their concerns but it is needed. I would say get yourself a nest plop them in let them settle down, feed them a little then stick them in the fridge and go on your way. I would keep these because ya know cool species! These are polygynous so seeing like 8 queens isn't exactly rare more of which its common.

I'm working on getting them a nest, there's more workers than pictured since they hangout on the outside and underneath the test tubes and obviously wander the enclosure. About the queens I was told they might be polygynous but that doesn't explain why I watched them rip their wings off after being moved. Unless they inbred in the nest, I just have a bunch of random infertile alates. As a test I have separated one of the wingless alates with a couple workers to see what happens.

[ZTYguy]

I have no idea. I geuss just plop them into a formicarium like Antdrew said.

 

-ZTY

[Ants_Dakota]

really cool shiny species!