59 replies to this topic

[dean_k]

In my experience with this species, 6 weeks of hibernation was enough to fool them. 8 weeks just to be safe.

[Crystals]

That would not surprise me, and I do not plan to leave them in hibernation for more than 3-4 months since they come from a warmer location than mine.

[Crystals]

I took them out of hibernation today. 

They had dog piled into one huge mass the size of a piece of popcorn during hibernation, so I have no idea if there is any brood or how the queen is doing.  I guess we will see.

 

I am making a small formicarium that should be ready in a few weeks, and we will see how they like it once the silicone has cured.

[dspdrew]

Will it be made of clay?

[Crystals]

Will it be made of clay?

Not this one.  This colony didn't think much of either firebrick or grout nests, so I am going to try a bead container style nest similar to the one my Aphaenogaster loved so much.

 

I am trying a couple of other methods for clay nests and will post the results in my How to build a formicarium out of clay thread.  My clay takes 1-4 weeks to dry so there is a considerable delay between getting an idea until the clay is ready for firing.

 

 

For the Crematogaster, at the moment they seem to be ignoring the nectar waterer and are just trying to hug the heating cable as tightly as possible.  I see next to no foraging, I may have to offer a piece of insect later, but I think they may take a day or two to wake up.

I have seen a small pile of brood, but was unable to tell what stage it was in as the workers quickly dog piled it. 

I haven't seen the queen yet, but I suspect she is somewhere under that pile of workers

[Crystals]

Well, the bead container formicarium was a hit.  That is the first time I have not had to force a move with this colony.  I just connected the nest to let them explore it and they moved right in.

 

There is a pea sized ball of brood.  It is covered in workers, I can see a few pupae, but can't make out what is all in the brood pile.  The queen is somewhere in that pile, I saw her yesterday for about 3 seconds.

 

Either I am have bee lax in cleaning their foraging area regularly, giving them smelly insects, or this colony is developing a noticeable odor.  I will keep tabs on the smell.

 

Test tube out of hibernation:  Quite the dog pile of ants - that is a 18mm wide test tube.

 

Overview of new nest: Yeah, they already drug some garbage inside.  Not too sure why.

 

Pile of brood:  One ant in the middle is holding an egg while hanging upside down.  The pile is about the size of a pea.

[dspdrew]

Nice. How many workers do you think there are?

[Crystals]

Same as before hibernation until those pupae eclose.  It is tough to count them as they create giant dog piles and hang upside down on the glass hindering the view.

I estimate it around 400-500+ workers.  When I tapped the test tube lightly, many scattered and they covered every surface in the 18x150mm test tube to the point where I could not see into the center of the test tube.

[dermy]

That colony looks crazy big especially seeing as they aren't even a full year old yet

[Crystals]

Eggs are starting to be stuck to the glass, so the queen has started laying.  About 30 eggs so far.

 

I had some extra krill from a fishing trip and dropped one in the foraging,  Within 2 minutes there were about a dozen workers on it.

They have started chewing up dried out insects into little tiny dry pieces and storing them in a dry corner of the nest.  I have seen a few of these "crumbles" being fed to larvae in the past.  Although I am not sure why they have started storing so much recently, perhaps it is because the colony is about to hit a growth spurt or the fact that their little nest has a lot more room than a test tube.

[dspdrew]

Crematogaster seem to eat like crazy. One thing I noticed about my colony, is they eat every last bit of the food I give them. Unlike most of my ants, these things will eat the entire cricket, wings and all. There is no sign of the cricket left anywhere, except the pile of cricket dust they make and store for a little while. At the moment though, my colony has hundreds of larvae--probably the reason there aren't even piles of cricket dust in there for more than a day lately.

[Crystals]

Crematogaster seem to eat like crazy. One thing I noticed about my colony, is they eat every last bit of the food I give them. Unlike most of my ants, these things will eat the entire cricket, wings and all. There is no sign of the cricket left anywhere, except the pile of cricket dust they make and store for a little while. At the moment though, my colony has hundreds of larvae--probably the reason there aren't even piles of cricket dust in there for more than a day lately.

That is neat.  Mine have not done that to such an extent.  I still remove the dried out carcasses after a day or so since they lose interest in them.

[dspdrew]

I wonder if it's just this species that I have then. I've had about five other species before too, but can't remember if they gobbled everything up like that.

[Crystals]

Looks like a population spike is in progress.

 

Here is a picture from April 6 - lots of eggs hanging from the glass (bit smaller than a pea size), a small pile of large larvae and some pupae.

 

 

Here is a picture from April 13 - that middle round chamber is half full of fat larvae and some pupae.  Less than 1/4 of eggs visible as the last picture.  There is almost 1cm between the floor and glass in those chambers and the brood is piled nearly to the top.

 

 

Quite the little escape artists lately, they exploited one little gap in the lid, which has since been taped shut.  but now they seem to realize that their world is larger and are more persistent in escape attempts.  However, they still avoid the olive oil smeared on the upside down lip.

I increased their food supply, but it isn't really slowing down their foraging, possibly because this week has seen their brood pile increase dramatically.

[dspdrew]

Looks like you got a good one.

[Crystals]

This colony almost completely filled this formicarium when I sold this colony.

I didn't want to sell them, but sometimes life throws you curve balls and all you can do is try to dodge them. I may have to try to get another queen in the future.

[Alabama Anter]

Awwwww that's to bad

[Canadian anter]

Oh I can sell crematogaster to people in Canada!

[Crystals]

Oh I can sell crematogaster to people in Canada!

Yes, those of us in Canada can ship ants anywhere within Canada. If you happen to have an extra queen, send me a PM.

[YsTheAnt]

Do you still have them?