59 replies to this topic

[rarankhan]

Hello, I just found a crematogaster cersai queen. What advice would you reccomend to achieve this type of success with her. I'm completely new to this hobby and this is the first queen I found. So just putting them in an outworld fruit flies is okay?

[Crystals]

Hello, I just found a crematogaster cersai queen. What advice would you reccomend to achieve this type of success with her. I'm completely new to this hobby and this is the first queen I found. So just putting them in an outworld fruit flies is okay?

Keep her in a test tube or other founding chamber until she gets her first workers.  I offered my queen a tiny drop of sugar water 3x a week on a piece of tin foil (it wasn't needed, but I do it for all my queens).

Once the first worker arrived I offered a freshly killed fruit fly twice a day until she had 5+ workers.  Then I connected the test tube to an outworld that had live flightless fruit flies (putting the test tube in the outworld would work as well).

I have noticed that they really like my 15 watt heat cable, and they are often clumped on top of it.  As you can see in my pictures.

 

Keep in mind all queens are different, even in the same species.  Some queens seem to produce way more brood than others.

[rarankhan]

 

Hello, I just found a crematogaster cersai queen. What advice would you reccomend to achieve this type of success with her. I'm completely new to this hobby and this is the first queen I found. So just putting them in an outworld fruit flies is okay?

Keep her in a test tube or other founding chamber until she gets her first workers.  I offered my queen a tiny drop of sugar water 3x a week on a piece of tin foil (it wasn't needed, but I do it for all my queens).

Once the first worker arrived I offered a freshly killed fruit fly twice a day until she had 5+ workers.  Then I connected the test tube to an outworld that had live flightless fruit flies (putting the test tube in the outworld would work as well).

I have noticed that they really like my 15 watt heat cable, and they are often clumped on top of it.  As you can see in my pictures.

 

Keep in mind all queens are different, even in the same species.  Some queens seem to produce way more brood than others.

 

Is a heating cable necessary? I keep her in the kitchen to provide maximum warmth, is that okay?

[Crystals]

They do fine anywhere between 20-26C (68-79F).  Part of my colonies extreme success is due to the heating cable, among other variables.  Brood developes faster at a higher temperature.

[Huch]

Do you know the average population size of this species? That colony looks healthy.

Also, do you know if that queen was caught last season? I caught about 2 dozen in August or September of last year, but they didn't lay eggs until April or May.

Edited by Huch, October 5 2015 - 6:36 PM.

[Crystals]

The queen was caught the spring of this year, late April or early May.

I am not sure of the average colony size of this species.  I have never seen them in the wild.

[Crystals]

Brood growth and production is slowing down.  Not much brood left, I think they are starting to get ready for hibernation.

 

They were starting to run out of room and overflow into the vinyl tubing and outworld.

I am trying to convince them to move into one of my grout nests.  They don't seem to be convinced.  The test tube is in the foraging area with the nest attached to the foraging area.

Most are currently in the nest, with 1/4 or 1/5 still in the test tube.

 

Despite dumping most of the stragglers out of the test and into the foraging area, then moving the test tube to a different corner of the foraging area, they find it and about 1/5 seem determined to remain there.

 

I will let them think it over.  I have never had a colony that liked glass test tubes so much.  They may prefer a different style of nest.  I will have to see how this turns out.

 

There are about 500 workers in this colony at this point.  I got a pretty good estimate when they were moving.

[LC3]

Do you think these ants might be arboreal? 

[Mdrogun]

Do you have any pictures or videos? a 500 worker Crematogaster colony would be cool to see.

[Crystals]

Do you think these ants might be arboreal? 

Not sure, but from some readings they are often found in or around forests so I am pretty sure in the wild that they are arboreal.  Or at least dependant on trees.

 

Do you have any pictures or videos? a 500 worker Crematogaster colony would be cool to see.

I am hoping that they will all move into one location so I can get a decent picture.  The hardest part is that they often ball up several layers deep, or hang from the glass, so it is quite difficult to get a good picture showing most of the ants clearly.

[AntsAreUs]

Jeez, mine hasn't laid one egg yet... hibernation is boring.

[Huch]

Jeez, mine hasn't laid one egg yet... hibernation is boring.

I caught a dozen Queens last year in July or August, and they didn't lay eggs until may. Now my largest colony probably is over 400 workers.

[Huch]

Sounds like your colony is a success. I wonder how big the colony can grow.

Edited by Huch, October 23 2015 - 4:18 PM.

[dermy]

Wow your Colony is growing quite a lot Crystals I can't wait to see how much more it will grow next Season!

[Works4TheGood]

Hey Crystals, what was the ambient temperature of the room when you took that pic of all those ants hugging the cable?

[Crystals]

A thermometer 10" away read 21.5C  (70.7F) (and has the last 2 weeks).  This room usually sits around 18C (64F) most of the year.

[Works4TheGood]

 This room usually sits around 18C (64F) most of the year.

 

According to this German vendor's website (http://www.antstore....ter-cerasi.html), Crematogaster cerasi's preferred [nest?] temp is  21- 28°C.  If that's correct, that could explain why they're hug'n the heater.  On the other hand, I wouldn't be surpised if C. cerasi colonies near you prefer things a bit cooler.

 

I seem to recall reading from at least two separate sources that C. cerasi colonies tend to be large (10,000+?).  I'd imagine that a queen of such a colony would need to be pretty prolific to maintain that size.  And just to add some irrelevant trivia, I believe I've also read somewhere that these ants tend to be squish resistant.  I'll update this post if I can locate the sources of this information.

 

I caught two C. cerasi queens on Aug 27th.  These two lone queens will both be entering hibernation here soon.  Since I'm a newbie, I'll be watching this thread with great interest!  Thanks for posting so far!

[Works4TheGood]

I found the reference that I was referring to in the previous post:  "[Crematogaster cerasi] forms enormous colonies  (10,000 or more ants) with workers that forage on long scent trails.  Collects seeds and dead insects and tends aphids".  That's from A Field Guide to the Ants of New England by Aaron M. Ellison.

 

Regarding my remark that "... these ants tend to be squish resistant."  That's from this website: http://schoolofants.org/species/1167 .  here's the quote, "“Because,” he said, and he slammed his hand down on the pipe, smashing a couple of workers. When he lifted his hand, I watched the stunned workers stumble about, smoothing their crumpled legs and antennae, gradually going back to work. “You just can’t squish the jimdurn things.”"

Edited by Works4TheGood, October 26 2015 - 6:20 AM.

[Huch]

Cool.

[Crystals]

I forgot to update this, the colony went into hibernationon Dec. 10.