7 replies to this topic

[Chickalo]

Hello once again, good people of Formiculture.

 

A few days ago I was chilling at a beach club in my area.  Suddenly, a small movement caught my eye.  Looking down, oh gosh that's a queen.  Definitely Tetramorium.  I've only ever seen the queens in photos, never new they were that beautiful.  Well RIP they're invasive but you know what I mean.

Well my luck pushed harder (please don't dm me jokes about that sentence on discord) because ANOTHER queen whilst eating dinner!  This time she was caught, and I gave her two days and she layed a small batch of eggs!  I'll try to get photos soon, no promises though.

I was thinking for names for the queen, possible name Athena?  She was the Greek goddess of architecture which kind of makes sense since they're known as pavement ants, but also war, and we all know how much Tetramorium likes to war.  What's great is that I don't have to figure out names for 10+ queens this time.

 

Until next time,

Chickalo

 

[Bugging3out]

Cool queen I have 2. 1 has lots of larvae. The other one still has eggs. I had this species multiple times they grow in numbers super quick. So don’t keep multiple colonies of this species they can be a lot of work.

[Chickalo]

Cool queen I have 2. 1 has lots of larvae. The other one still has eggs. I had this species multiple times they grow in numbers super quick. So don’t keep multiple colonies of this species they can be a lot of work.

I also have heard that.  I would've sold any other colonies for cheap (not sure of any ant keepers in my area who'd want them though...  Could always use them for food experiments lol).  From what I've heard after about 1k workers or so they're a pain to continue feeding, so I'll probably try to limit food and keep their numbers down, however huge colonies do seem appealing...  They are escape artists though so if 1k+ stinging ants escaped into my bedroom...  Lets just say I'd probably be disowned in about 12 hours tops

[Chickalo]

Only go two photos didn’t want to disturb her too much... She already has small larvae! Upside to invasives I guess.

[AntBoi3030]

Good! I thought my queen had burst open from parasites (that happens once it was gross) but she actually just had a ton of larvae

[Kaelwizard]

Tetras suck at climbing compared to other species in my experience so I wouldn’t really be too worried.

[Chickalo]

Many medium sized larvae now!  For some reason she laid two eggs, wouldn't be surprised if she eats them.  Expecting pupae this week!

[Chickalo]

We got workers!  At the moment she only has two, two more expected to come.  The first one is now hardened, and because its a nanitic very small.  Despite its size she is very energtic, often pacing around the cotton and runnig to and fro to the different larvae.  The second one recently eclosed so is a weird yellowish colour and doesn't move as much.

 

This is when she had her larvae:

 

This is her with her workers:

Edited by Chickalo, August 5 2021 - 3:00 PM.