115 replies to this topic

[SYUTEO]

UPDATE
Pheidole cf. comata, Solenopsis geminata and Iridomyrmex anceps are doing very well! I am passing my Solenopsis geminata colony to my neighbor soon so I'll have to say goodbye...
Odontomachus has no brood I hope she can restart
Meanwhile the old colonies are doing very well! I don't even have to update on any of them as they have been the same for very long now.
Oecophylla queen is fine. She is alive but no brood. Hoping to find more!
Pseudolasius is alive and might get larvae soon!!
Dinomyrmex gigas and Ghost ants sadly passed away...
And lastly, a new addition! Monomorium floricola! This is a very interesting species as they are commonly found nesting in tree branches and collect nectar from flowers as sustenance. So far they take the honey and mealworm I have provided so I'm hoping this goes well!

That's unfortunate. D. gigas are rather sensitive and next time only check her once every two or three weeks or with a flashlight attached to some red film, make sure the light is also red and you don't want it too bright.

[ANTS_KL]

New addition again! Tis isn't an update but more so a notification.
I found a small Proatta butteli colony! I managed to obtain 1 queen lots of brood and 40-50 workers! This species is carnivorous and eats many insects. Hope this works out!

[ANTS_KL]

Update!
Everything is the same as last update, but the Proatta and Monomorium floricola have new brood and are doing great! And I was given a Prionopelta sp. queen and I'm unsure how to care for her. Antwiki says they like campodeids but I do not think I can find any. Any suggestions for food?

[SYUTEO]

Springtails or fruit flies seem to be the only logical prey items other than centipedes. If she rejects both, then I guess you will have to feed her centipedes. Also your Pheidole cf comata might also be Pheidole noda.

[ANTS_KL]

Springtails or fruit flies seem to be the only logical prey items other than centipedes. If she rejects both, then I guess you will have to feed her centipedes. Also your Pheidole cf comata might also be Pheidole noda.

Pheidole noda seem like a possibility, and at this point all I can say is black Pheidole. There are too many black Pheidole in Malaysia  I have given her springtails but they may be too large for her so I will try smaller ones. And I don't have access to a steady supply of geophiliomorph centipedes because I'm not at my grandmas house   I will also try crushed springtails and maybe a crushed cricket hatchling too!

[SYUTEO]

 

Springtails or fruit flies seem to be the only logical prey items other than centipedes. If she rejects both, then I guess you will have to feed her centipedes. Also your Pheidole cf comata might also be Pheidole noda.

Pheidole noda seem like a possibility, and at this point all I can say is black Pheidole. There are too many black Pheidole in Malaysia  I have given her springtails but they may be too large for her so I will try smaller ones. And I don't have access to a steady supply of geophiliomorph centipedes because I'm not at my grandmas house   I will also try crushed springtails and maybe a crushed cricket hatchling too!

 

I've been trying to find Amblyoponinaes for so long but they are so rare in Malaysia. Also, all you need to find centipedes is to flip rocks or dig somewhere and get lucky.

[ANTS_KL]

Springtails or fruit flies seem to be the only logical prey items other than centipedes. If she rejects both, then I guess you will have to feed her centipedes. Also your Pheidole cf comata might also be Pheidole noda.

Pheidole noda seem like a possibility, and at this point all I can say is black Pheidole. There are too many black Pheidole in Malaysia I have given her springtails but they may be too large for her so I will try smaller ones. And I don't have access to a steady supply of geophiliomorph centipedes because I'm not at my grandmas house I will also try crushed springtails and maybe a crushed cricket hatchling too!

I've been trying to find Amblyoponinaes for so long but they are so rare in Malaysia. Also, all you need to find centipedes is to flip rocks or dig somewhere and get lucky.

This queen was found under a brick in an urban area

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk

[SYUTEO]

Springtails or fruit flies seem to be the only logical prey items other than centipedes. If she rejects both, then I guess you will have to feed her centipedes. Also your Pheidole cf comata might also be Pheidole noda.

Pheidole noda seem like a possibility, and at this point all I can say is black Pheidole. There are too many black Pheidole in Malaysia I have given her springtails but they may be too large for her so I will try smaller ones. And I don't have access to a steady supply of geophiliomorph centipedes because I'm not at my grandmas house I will also try crushed springtails and maybe a crushed cricket hatchling too!

I've been trying to find Amblyoponinaes for so long but they are so rare in Malaysia. Also, all you need to find centipedes is to flip rocks or dig somewhere and get lucky.

This queen was found under a brick in an urban area

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk

How can you find forest species in urban areas???

[Antkeeper01]

 

 

 

 

Springtails or fruit flies seem to be the only logical prey items other than centipedes. If she rejects both, then I guess you will have to feed her centipedes. Also your Pheidole cf comata might also be Pheidole noda.

Pheidole noda seem like a possibility, and at this point all I can say is black Pheidole. There are too many black Pheidole in Malaysia I have given her springtails but they may be too large for her so I will try smaller ones. And I don't have access to a steady supply of geophiliomorph centipedes because I'm not at my grandmas house I will also try crushed springtails and maybe a crushed cricket hatchling too!

I've been trying to find Amblyoponinaes for so long but they are so rare in Malaysia. Also, all you need to find centipedes is to flip rocks or dig somewhere and get lucky.

This queen was found under a brick in an urban area

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk

How can you find forest species in urban areas???

 

I found Strumigenys in my neighborhood and afaik it wasn't a sp that often nests in urban areas. So......

[SYUTEO]

I guess you're all just extremely lucky. (:

Edited by SYUTEO, December 23 2021 - 11:51 PM.

[Antkeeper01]

I guess you're all just extremely lucky. (:

well my sister lost it an hour later so not really

[ANTS_KL]

I guess you're all just extremely lucky. (:

Nah the neighbor has soil from the forest so multiple colonies might have had a nuptial flight. He works at a durian farm so there are lots of cool ants there.

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk

[SYUTEO]

 

I guess you're all just extremely lucky. (:

Nah the neighbor has soil from the forest so multiple colonies might have had a nuptial flight. He works at a durian farm so there are lots of cool ants there.

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk

 

Wow. I never found Amblyoponinaes in the plantation before.

[ANTS_KL]

quick update: every colony is fine except the Tetramorium. They passed away from old age   . I'm glad they lasted a whole year with me. And the Prionopelta queen passed away due to unknown causes. Pushing the bad news aside, the Solenopsis geminata have grown a lot! Happy New Year to everyone!

Edited by ANTS_KL, January 3 2022 - 7:44 PM.

[ANTS_KL]

I'm BACK HAHAHHA
I got lazy so I didn't update
But here I am!
My ant collection is really small right now because I'm not having any luck yet!
Proatta butteli, 3 Pheidole cf. noda and one Iridomyrmex anceps colonies are all alive!
I have 1 Colobopsis sp. queen and 2 unidentified Dolichoderine queens too! 
Everything else has died.
I don't know how long it will take before I can find more queens but I'll try to keep this journal updated and not slack off!

[SYUTEO]

Good luck with the Colobopsis!

[ANTS_KL]

Woahhhh another update! (finally using my laptop)
So this post will be more focused on the Colobopsis queen. I suspect her to be a Colobopsis vitrea queen and she has larvae (I saw one nodding its head while trying to eat a trophic egg). Her larvae are growing slowly but they have gotten bigger since the last time I checked. I do not know if I can get workers from her as she seems quite skinny. BUT I gave her some honey and she drank most of it so I guess she is okay now? The Dolichoderines on the other hand are not doing so well. They have almost no eggs so I'll get them into test tubes. That's all for now!
 

[ANTS_KL]

UPDATE
I decided to clear out my colonies for new queens. My current collection comprises of Iridomyrmex anceps (recovering from worker loss. raised one new worker alone), Odontomachus rixosus (will likely die due to lack of information on care. Watched her mate twice), Camponotus cf. arrogans (likely infertile), Paratopula sp. (likely infertile) and Solenopsis geminata.

[SYUTEO]

Is your O.rixosus queen the old one or a new one? You could try what you done before which is by introducing a wild worker to her or try to brood boost her somehow. O. rixosus is also polygynous. Here's a little information I found about their care. (Scroll down to the comment section)

[ANTS_KL]

Is your O.rixosus queen the old one or a new one? You could try what you done before which is by introducing a wild worker to her or try to brood boost her somehow. O. rixosus is also polygynous. Here's a little information I found about their care. (Scroll down to the comment section)

Thank you. This queen is a new one, caught during a nuptial flight (at least I think it was their flight. There were so many O. rixosus males). The old queen passed away due to her not laying eggs. If I can go into a forest sooner or later, I will try to dig up a bit of brood and workers.