115 replies to this topic

[Lillyrose]

I know... I keep making mistakes... but I'm getting better lol

Don't give up on me yet

[TacticalHandleGaming]

I know... I keep making mistakes... but I'm getting better lol

Don't give up on me yet

You got this.  

 

I'm just as new, if not newer at trying to keep ants. My biggest struggle is patience. I just made it a rule for myself to only check on most Queens once a week. I pay the most attention to my Lasius since they are the most established. (Waiting on my Pogonomyrmex from THA to show up.) But it helps me leave the other Queens alone so they can found their colony properly.

[ANTdrew]

I’m not giving up. That’s why I keep giving advice.

[Lillyrose]

Ant keeping is breaking my heart.

I flipped a log today and found her! The dream! My heart!



I couldn't find anyone with her so I snagged her. Yay!!!!!

Discord decided to break my heart by pointing out that she must have flown last year and failed to start her own colony. Her gaster is too skinny.



Having learned an important lesson I have her in a small container with some sunburst and a few flies. Later I'll move her to a tube and put her in the dark. I'm just giving her a snack BEFORE I do that.

See ... lessons.

Now ... I checked all three of the colonies I know about and couldn't find brood. The temps are not warm enough. I'll keep my eyes open for brood ... maybe with a little help this can be her second chance.


I have a tarheels founding discus... maybe i should start her in there. Make it easier to add brood ... but not sure if she'd like it.
https://tarheelants....=Discus&submit=

Edited by Lillyrose, May 9 2021 - 10:03 AM.

[TacticalHandleGaming]

Ant keeping is breaking my heart.

I flipped a log today and found her! The dream! My heart!

20210509_124507.jpg

I couldn't find anyone with her so I snagged her. Yay!!!!!

Discord decided to break my heart by pointing out that she must have flown last year and failed to start her own colony. Her gaster is too skinny.

20210509_133747.jpg20210509_133815.jpg

Having learned an important lesson I have her in a small container with some sunburst and a few flies. Later I'll move her to a tube and put her in the dark. I'm just giving her a snack BEFORE I do that.

See ... lessons.

Now ... I checked all three of the colonies I know about and couldn't find brood. The temps are not warm enough. I'll keep my eyes open for brood ... maybe with a little help this can be her second chance.


I have a tarheels founding discus... maybe i should start her in there. Make it easier to add brood ... but not sure if she'd like it.
https://tarheelants....=Discus&submit=

The discus would be a great space for her I think. I've been meaning to get a few myself. Along with about 3 more mini hearths.

[ANTdrew]

I think it is far more likely she flew those hot nights last week. Don’t lose hope.

[Lillyrose]

20210509_133747.jpg20210509_133815.jpg
The discus would be a great space for her I think. I've been meaning to get a few myself. Along with about 3 more mini hearths.

I ordered one of the pre-made ready to ship ones recently ... I'm told they are the best

I think it is far more likely she flew those hot nights last week. Don’t lose hope.

Yay .. I like that!

What do you think. .. tube or discus? I think discus might be easier to brood boast. . But it might be too big for her to found in.

It's called a founding discus ... not sure though lol

Edited by Lillyrose, May 9 2021 - 10:41 AM.

[ANTdrew]

Tarheel Ants is basically custom designed for Camponotus, so I think the Discus would be ideal. Be prepared for a loooooooooooooooooooong founding period.

[Lillyrose]

Tarheel Ants is basically custom designed for Camponotus, so I think the Discus would be ideal. Be prepared for a loooooooooooooooooooong founding period.

I heard they are slow lol .... I'm so happy

[ANTdrew]

They grow slower than a teacher’s bank account, which is to say, hardly at all.

[Lillyrose]

They grow slower than a teacher’s bank account, which is to say, hardly at all.

Uh oh lol ... I happen to know what that looks like...

Hopefully I can find some brood and help her out a bit

[Lillyrose]

I found a castaneus colony with alates .. which I will visit again when they go flying... lovely girls

But they also had brood! Except... geeze

Which are alate brood?
Which belongs to that colony of little black ants?

I snagged some brood. I know at least one is a good cause I kinda took it out of a castaneus workers mouth. Sorry!

I hope I did this right!

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[Lillyrose]

Today I learned what an earwig looks like (ewwww)
And I found a grub large enough to attempt to bite me ... meanie ...

And a queen! I found out that not all Camponotus are big.. cause this girl isn't.

Discord says she looks skinny ... I'm starting to notice a trend lol... I'm good at finding skinny queens. I think it's cause they know I'll love them and try to help them... even if they have been kicked out or unable to start a colony on their own.

Edited by Lillyrose, May 11 2021 - 3:13 PM.

[Lillyrose]

I took a peek at my queens but no one seems interested in doing anything. The formica I left alone, the pennsylvanicus is just chillen, the castaneus removed the brood from the water tower, and the little Camponotus has just ... been sitting there.

Sad.

The nylanderia seem to be doing well, though it's still unclear I there is a queen. There are alates and that makes it hard to know. They've dug a little chamber into the cotton and seem to enjoy it.

I found what MAY be a queen .. or an alate.

I will say these girls are by far the messiest of the colonies. Their tube is full of junk that they drag in... from sand to trash bits and cotton.

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[Lillyrose]

So I discovered that the colonies I removed from the wild just didn’t interest me much .. now that I know the joy of raising a colony from the queen up I found the others a bit lacking... I'm sure there are less common kinds that would be fun to raise even as a full colony .. but the Temnothorax and nylanderia just weren't. So I released them both ..on the plus side I released the nylanderia on the day they were flying so the alates got to fly.

As a reward I ended up finding a winged nylanderia while watering my flowers. I was amused at the idea that she may be one of the ones I released. I caught her and figured I'd see if she laid eggs or not. She still has her wings but she also has eggs .. so score.



I bought a Camponotus chrom queen off AleeGuy after spending hours searching for my own. I never did find one though I thought I would ... that queen has her first two workers today. I moved her to a box set up. She's in the get used to light stage and she hates it. Her two workers hide behind her like shy children. I've mostly left the light off today so she can get used to the ambient light. I'll sneak a snack in there a little later. I'm excited for these girls as they have really beautiful colors.

I'm not sure if I'll bother giving everyone their own journal because I've discovered that at the start there is lots of exciting things to post .. but after a short while there is less lol ... so I might just keep a big journal for several rather than one for each.

For a Camponotus she lays fast. She already has more eggs.


The pennsylvanicus queen has diarrhea and has not laid. The formica queen seems to have an egg but spazzes out badly when I go near her.

The cast queen is caring for the brood I stole for her but hasn't laid her own eggs. Not a good sign. I'm hoping to catch a new one tonight. I saw hundreds of drones but no queens.



The subb queen, who is missing half an antenna and a leg, had also laid eggs.

While I seem to only catch random non flight related queens they all seem to be doing well. Even the aphaenogaster who shouldn't have flown yet laid her own eggs .. though I was splitting wood and came upon a massive amount of these girls. I stole some brood to give my queen but I learned my lesson from the cast. I gave her much much less than I did the cast. I'm super excited for them because they are so pretty .. dark red to purple.

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[Lillyrose]

I caught a Lasius interjectus... I thought I had it made as I had some of the little yellow citronella ants at home!

Wellllllll ... turns out I'm an idiot.

I managed to collect about 15 or 20 before work and figured that was enough to start (and I had to go to work) but A. Turns out they're skittish enough to move cause I messed up their area .. and B. Some tetra came through! I came back to find tetra running with little yellow bodies .. they murdered them :-(

Not sure if I'll be able to find more or not.

Now since I started introducing the workers to her I can't just use a different colony .. and even if I could I have never found them before! I've never seen any Lasius before...

So now I guess my option is to find another colony of the yellow ones and find their brood? I'm screwed :-(

I don't know what the chances of success are here ... I imagine pretty low. I don't know what my options are and I'm feeling lost.

I guess whatever happens happens.

I gave her two dead workers (that I stole from the tetra) and one living one. At first the living one was very submissive and the queen let her live. The queen tore into the dead ones and groomed .. then groomed the worker. This went back and forth a few times until I went to eat dinner.

Half an hour later I returned to find the worker dead and the queen standing at attention a bit away.

I guess I'll give her a new one tomorrow. But even if she accepts the rest it's not enough and I have no idea how to find brood for these guys.

Ahhh well, que Sera Sera

[Chickalo]

Nice castaneus!  Smh haven't flied here, dumb Camponotus still have all their alates lol.  Good luck with her!

[AleeGuy]

So I discovered that the colonies I removed from the wild just didn’t interest me much .. now that I know the joy of raising a colony from the queen up I found the others a bit lacking... I'm sure there are less common kinds that would be fun to raise even as a full colony .. but the Temnothorax and nylanderia just weren't. So I released them both ..on the plus side I released the nylanderia on the day they were flying so the alates got to fly.

As a reward I ended up finding a winged nylanderia while watering my flowers. I was amused at the idea that she may be one of the ones I released. I caught her and figured I'd see if she laid eggs or not. She still has her wings but she also has eggs .. so score.



I bought a Camponotus chrom queen off AleeGuy after spending hours searching for my own. I never did find one though I thought I would ... that queen has her first two workers today. I moved her to a box set up. She's in the get used to light stage and she hates it. Her two workers hide behind her like shy children. I've mostly left the light off today so she can get used to the ambient light. I'll sneak a snack in there a little later. I'm excited for these girls as they have really beautiful colors.

I'm not sure if I'll bother giving everyone their own journal because I've discovered that at the start there is lots of exciting things to post .. but after a short while there is less lol ... so I might just keep a big journal for several rather than one for each.

For a Camponotus she lays fast. She already has more eggs.
VideoCapture_20210605-183226.jpg 20210523_170705.jpg

The pennsylvanicus queen has diarrhea and has not laid. The formica queen seems to have an egg but spazzes out badly when I go near her.

The cast queen is caring for the brood I stole for her but hasn't laid her own eggs. Not a good sign. I'm hoping to catch a new one tonight. I saw hundreds of drones but no queens.

20210523_172540.jpg

The subb queen, who is missing half an antenna and a leg, had also laid eggs.

While I seem to only catch random non flight related queens they all seem to be doing well. Even the aphaenogaster who shouldn't have flown yet laid her own eggs .. though I was splitting wood and came upon a massive amount of these girls. I stole some brood to give my queen but I learned my lesson from the cast. I gave her much much less than I did the cast. I'm super excited for them because they are so pretty .. dark red to purple.

Make sure to feed the brood boosted cast queen a lot since larvae are very demanding, and so they will keep demanding food from the queen more than she can rear. Usually pupal stage is the best for boosting since they won't have to be fed. Good luck! 👍

[NicholasP]

They grow slower than a teacher’s bank account, which is to say, hardly at all.

 

I caught a Lasius interjectus... I thought I had it made as I had some of the little yellow citronella ants at home!

Wellllllll ... turns out I'm an idiot.

I managed to collect about 15 or 20 before work and figured that was enough to start (and I had to go to work) but A. Turns out they're skittish enough to move cause I messed up their area .. and B. Some tetra came through! I came back to find tetra running with little yellow bodies .. they murdered them :-(

Not sure if I'll be able to find more or not.

Now since I started introducing the workers to her I can't just use a different colony .. and even if I could I have never found them before! I've never seen any Lasius before...

So now I guess my option is to find another colony of the yellow ones and find their brood? I'm screwed :-(

I don't know what the chances of success are here ... I imagine pretty low. I don't know what my options are and I'm feeling lost.

I guess whatever happens happens.

I gave her two dead workers (that I stole from the tetra) and one living one. At first the living one was very submissive and the queen let her live. The queen tore into the dead ones and groomed .. then groomed the worker. This went back and forth a few times until I went to eat dinner.

Half an hour later I returned to find the worker dead and the queen standing at attention a bit away.

I guess I'll give her a new one tomorrow. But even if she accepts the rest it's not enough and I have no idea how to find brood for these guys.

Ahhh well, que Sera Sera

The problem with Lasius Interjectus is that they're parasitic so you'd need to introduce them to Lasius hosts for them to even survive and they need like at lest 100 host workers I believe.

[NicholasP]

SO... They'll die in a day or two without the hosts since they need them instantly after flying. I believe interjectus use Lasius Americanus but I'm not sure.