37 replies to this topic

[TacticalHandleGaming]

So on the 31st of march I caught 5 Prenolepis imparis Queens, 4 of which had no wings.

 

On April 15th I caught another Queen with no wings.

 

This will be an ongoing log with their progress.

 

Today (4/30) I checked on the Queens. Currently I know for sure 2 have small piles of eggs.

 

[Otrebor707]

How long took for them to lay eggs. What temp you have ?

[TacticalHandleGaming]

How long took for them to lay eggs. What temp you have ?

I noticed a few eggs about a week or so ago. I have them in an air conditioned room at about 70*F.

[TacticalHandleGaming]

It's hard to tell, but we do in fact have brood. All five of the wingless Queens do in fact. Sadly the winged Queen does seem to be infertile.

 

Edited by TacticalHandleGaming, May 7 2021 - 6:17 PM.

[TacticalHandleGaming]

Due to a sudden outburst of mold last weekend, I moved one of the test tube Queens in with the other one in the mini hearth. I was able to save the brood as well. They seem very happy together.

 

 

 

 

 

The Queen from April 15th also a decent amount of brood. Nothing else major to report.

Edited by TacticalHandleGaming, May 14 2021 - 10:02 PM.

[Antcatcherpro3]

In a week or so you will see small larvae.

[Kaelwizard]

In a week or so you will see small larvae.

Mine still have eggs and they’ve had them since April 15th, so I doubt they will. Mine are kept around the same temperature too.

Edited by Kaelwizard, May 15 2021 - 6:21 AM.

[TacticalHandleGaming]

 

In a week or so you will see small larvae.

Mine still have eggs and they’ve had them since April 15th, so I doubt they will. Mine are kept around the same temperature too.

 

I think maybe one of the Queens in a test tube has Larve, it's hard to tell when they are so small without my microscope. When I check on them next Friday I'll bust out the microscope!

[TacticalHandleGaming]

Okay, so the dual queens in the mini hearth have a decent looking brood pile, and maybe a smaller egg pile near the plug hole on the right?

 

 

 

 

 

The AC test tube Queen. (I forgot to bust out the microscope. )

 

 

 

 

 

The two Queens in the larger test tubes don't seem to have any major differences. Both seem to have larger piles of brood than last week.

Edited by TacticalHandleGaming, May 21 2021 - 5:45 PM.

[TacticalHandleGaming]

Ended up selling the queen in the AC test tube to a buddy. He hadn't had any luck this year finding queens. (Also gave him one of my C. modoc queens.)

 

Mini hearth queens have quite a few larvae, and are body blocking the eggs.

 

 

 

The two test tube queens are doing well still.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I plan to move both the test tube queens into a mini hearth together as well.

[TacticalHandleGaming]

Hoping to catch more of these soon. I gave them away to a more experienced friend last year. Now I think I'm ready to keep them properly. 

[TacticalHandleGaming]

Caught a flight today. Managed to get 14 queens before I ran out of containers. I setup three colonies. 5, 5, and 4. First colony is in a mini hearth. (5 queens) Other two colonies are in test tube setups until my bifurcated mini hearths arrive.

 

 

 

[AntBoi3030]

14! That's awesome, good luck. The flights went on when I was in school in late February. I wasn't expecting for them to fly that early so I was totally unprepared. Thank goodness for my teacher they gave me a container and I managed to catch 3!

[TacticalHandleGaming]

I'm super excited to keep them this year. I have more general knowledge than last year. I'm hoping that will help.

[DRpepper]

Caught a flight today. Managed to get 14 queens before I ran out of containers. I setup three colonies. 5, 5, and 4. First colony is in a mini hearth. (5 queens) Other two colonies are in test tube setups until my bifurcated mini hearths arrive.

 

 

 

bro you really sent this to flex on me . I am happy for you though I hope your colonies do really well!!! good luck on em!

I'm thinking my colonies will fly in a week or two. We got another patch of cold weather moving through. Never mind i just looked and its gonna be a high of 60 for the next 10 days! I'm about to cry. well anyway what's good though is they well definitely 100 percent fly next few warm days, but those days look far away. 

Edited by DRpepper, March 23 2022 - 5:52 AM.

[TacticalHandleGaming]

Smaller flight today in the same area. 61*F outside. Got another 4 queens setup in another test tube. Drones were so desperate for queens they were mating with dead ones.

 

 

[azzaaazzzz00]

I once saw two males trying to mate with each other...I had no Idea males were so dumb

[TacticalHandleGaming]

The four queen colony from 3/23/2022 has eggs. Not sure about the others.

 

[DRpepper]

The four queen colony from 3/23/2022 has eggs. Not sure about the others.

 

looking amazing! wondering why 2 of the four queens don't appear to be active in egg laying as the other two (enlarged gasters )

[TacticalHandleGaming]

Not really sure, all the queens I caught were mating and had 5+ drones on them when caught. Most were caught with drones and kept mating in the collection containers. 

 

The two colonies in THA test tube inserts all have shed their wings/have enlarged gasters. Just hard to photograph.