115 replies to this topic

[Kaelwizard]

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.

They won't die because they don't have hosts necessarily. Parasitic queens are often malnourished so it is normally starvation I'm pretty sure.

[Chickalo]

 

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.

They won't die because they don't have hosts necessarily. Parasitic queens are often malnourished so it is normally starvation I'm pretty sure.

 

So what you're telling me is theoretically I could give, say, a Lasius latipes queen a feast (for an ant at least) and she will have enough energy to lay eggs with no hosts?

[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.

They won't die because they don't have hosts necessarily. Parasitic queens are often malnourished so it is normally starvation I'm pretty sure.

 

So what you're telling me is theoretically I could give, say, a Lasius latipes queen a feast (for an ant at least) and she will have enough energy to lay eggs with no hosts?

 

No. It doesn't work like that. The queen can't care for herself since she will produce so much brood and, Acanthomyops nest underground for their whole lives and only come to the surface for flights and then they hide again. 

[NicholasP]

So any interjectus queen or acanthomyops queen without hosts will die since the hosts need to get her food for all the brood. Basically the queens are lazy and do nothing. Take a look at CheetoLord02's Lasius Interjectus journal because he has experience with them.

[PurdueEntomology]

Also, I think the Tapinoma Sessile queen that you found was out because they were moving from nests because their nest was possibly invaded by another ant species!

Research has shown that T. sessile on average move nest locations about every 21 days irrespective of any disturbance (Smallwood, J., and D. C. Culver. (1979) Colony movements of some North American ants. J. Anim. Ecol. 48: 373-382)

Edited by PurdueEntomology, June 8 2021 - 6:57 AM.

[AntBoi3030]

Also, I think the Tapinoma Sessile queen that you found was out because they were moving from nests because their nest was possibly invaded by another ant species!

Research has shown that T. sessile on average move nest locations about every 21 days irrespective of any disturbance (Smallwood, J., and D. C. Culver. (1979) Colony movements of some North American ants. J. Anim. Ecol. 48: 373-382)[/size]

I second that because my colony enjoys moving there queens and brood around every month or so

[Lillyrose]

Today I was working in my room when I hear a bit of noise in the hall.. a coworker pops her head in and says they're calling for Mrs. Lillyrose.

I go down into the hall and see a teacher waving me over and a student. It's raining hard and they're waiting for it to calm down so the cold can go home and they saw an ant coming in from the rain.

The teacher felt this ant was massive and maybe special . The kinda special Mrs lillyrose talks about ... so she had them call for me.

So that's how I now have another Camponotus cast queen, this time no wings, fat and ready to lay. I just got her home safely but I am beyond amused that my coworkers know me well enough to get me.

[ANTdrew]

Good coworkers! That dealate will definitely do well.

[NicholasP]

bruh. I'm so jealous. There's still nothing flying in Tucson.

[Lillyrose]

I laid out my queens and put a heading cable so they could choose to get heat. Sadly, the towel I used to keep them in the dark trapped the heat. I fell asleep and it stayed on all night. In the morning it had reached 100 degrees. I turned it off and took a short time before I could check the queens.

My heart is heavy as I realize I've killed 5 queens including my aphaenogaster with her brood and my subb with her one missing leg and antenna and her brood. I was excited for them both.

I don't know if I'll ever try the heating cable again. I feel so bad.

[ANTdrew]

Damn! Heating cables should not be used to heat test tubes directly. I do that by putting the cable under an opposite side of a box to heat up the whole box. Sorry.

[TennesseeAnts]

Sorry to hear that! I suggest using ANTdrew's idea. I do the same thing and it works perfectly.

[Lillyrose]

It's my own fault .. I've probably read that before but I forgot. I just feel bad.. that's a bad way to die.

[azzaaazzzz00]

Well, I guess mistakes were made, all ant keepers eventually go through some sort of queens death like yours.

[Lillyrose]

I think my termites may be getting kind of old so I decided to give the ants the rest of the last batch. I was curious about watching them so I decided to split them between the Tetramorium and the Crematogaster. I poured half in one lid and half in the other and now I'm going to see the difference in how they approach this.



The Crematogaster are being a bit cautious though it may have been the night without heat. I just gave them their heating pad back after accidently cooking a bunch of queens. But they have one or two watching the entrance, they seem to know something is out there. One or two keeps running back deeper into the tube and out again. Setting up a scouting party.





Meanwhile the Tetramorium started scouting right away. Having a larger amount of workers means that someone went back to tell everyone else but some workers started scouting right away.



The Crematogaster are moving brood around and have guards posted. It's funny because they're been ignoring fruit flies but seem to love termites, so I expected them to be all over this.




Meanwhile tetra is quickly taking the termites out of the dirt. They don't seem to mind how cold they are.



The Tetramorium has much higher numbers and doesn't need all its energy on collecting. Half the worker have no idea what's going on outside the tube.



There is a few outside who seem to be doing all the work.



The Crematogaster are just now sending someone out to check on the new addition. They have less workers so they have to make sure the brood is alright before they can go off to forage or explore.

The energy in the Crematogaster tube is rising as they realize the heat is back on. They don't care about those termites right now, they just want the heat. They are gathering and stacking brood as quickly as they can. They don't have the numbers that tetra does so they can't get the food and take care of the brood at the same time.




I'm leaving the heat off the Tetramorium because they're growing so fast lol.

Speaking of which, in the last several minutes they went ahead and created a line.

[Lillyrose]

Mama Crematogaster watching over her babies .. and the guards at the door

http://imgur.com/a/kHvYJbH


Tetramorium showing how efficient they are bringing in snacks for mama and the babies.

http://imgur.com/a/0haGeeH

[Lillyrose]

I went out hunting last night (my husband laughs himself silly when I call it hunting) for some ants last night. My blacklight doesn't seem to work too well for ants, but it may be the sheer number of insects that's keeping me from spotting them.

There are gnats and beetles, earwigs and mosquitos, drone bees and moths, just a smorgasbord of bugs.

I went down to the tennis court. It's pretty close to the woods, surrounded by trees, and has massive lights. Walking around here has given me more queens than the hours I spent tearing into logs.

I found one t. Sessile queen. I started with these girls and I made every single mistake I could. I don't know if I really wanna try them again lol... they're probably not that bad but I was doing everything wrong. I tried so hard lol ..

Anyway

I also found another 3 or 4 tetra queens.. Tetramorium immigrans I think.

I used to LOVE watching these girls .. they are fun but I have a good colony of them and I don't see myself raising more of them lol. I might need to look into joining the GAN project or something, teachers should always have a summer job lol. My dreams of actually using this as a way to make money have stalled as out of 8 cast queens only one has laid eggs so far lol...

My Crematogaster and tetra are doing well. I made them little plates and they love them lol ...

The camponotus chrom queen and her workers are very shy. They do not come out unless they need sugar water. They look like long legged gazelles after watching the tetra. They move so much more intentionally, and I don't need a camera to see close up. The queen always has her back to me with her face in the cotton, and her workers stand guard on either side.

They did pull a fruit fly in at one point, but have refused additional flies or termites. They may not have any larvae to feed at the moment as they are my slowest growing ones.

[ANTdrew]

The Tapinoma could be Nylanderia if you found her at night. Check if she has a reddish thorax.

[Lillyrose]

The Tapinoma could be Nylanderia if you found her at night. Check if she has a reddish thorax.

I'll check but I had two of those little red and black nylanderia queens . They were lost in the great overheat of 2021

[AntBoi3030]

One thing to consider with tapinoma is a simple setup so there are less areas of possible escape so a all in one setup would be preferable.