11 replies to this topic

[Lemon.Water]

Today I'm starting my first Journal which will also include all of my future Journals. Currently my oldest colony is a Crematogaster sp which includes 1 queen and around 200 workers, I caught them during the fall in 2020. Unfortunately during this winter due to my tar heel ants outworld breaking after me putting the lid on I was not able to give them the proper setup and had no adequate housing the colony numbers went from 500 to 100, due to a lack of hydration and difficulty of access and cleaning I had to the thrown together outworld. Today I gave them a good portion of the nest heated and they immediately moved lots of brood, the entire chamber was covered in around 3 minutes with pupae and larvae. I'm hoping to increase the diversity of food provided this year as I'm going to try black lighting for the first time. 

 

Pictures

 

Edited by Lemon.Water, March 14 2023 - 7:05 PM.

[Lemon.Water]

Today I will be introducing my Camponotus colony which I have had for 2 years they have grown pretty fast and are very fun to watch. Its hard to tell how many workers they have but its at least 100. I began to heat them during the beginning of February they are doing quite well and already have their first cocoons this year, as well as a voracious and aggressive feeding response to protein and especially sugars. 

 

 

 

 

 

Their outworld is a 10 gallon aquarium which has a barren sandy area for feeding divided by a piece of glass into a soil area with some plants, which they do not nest in very much unless the heat mat is near the soil. However it can be interesting to watch them dig but they never use the tunnels except for faster transportation. 

 

 

 

I have also made a cork nest I plan to introduce to them soon to allow me to take better pictures from a more above position than side ways, if they use it.

 

 

 

 

[Lemon.Water]

All of my colonies are doing very well, I ordered some ants from stateside ants since the Formica subsericea was on sale and the Camponorus pennsylvanicus well as shipping was not expensive. They all arrived well, my order from THA of Myrmecocystus navajo has had some issues that are not the fault of THA but I will be trying mimicus on this next shipping attempt. 

 

My large Camponotus Colony is doing well as usual with an absolutely massive brood pile, they keep all the brood in the mini hearth for the most part with not many workers inside due to the heat mat being there while the workers live in the test tubes or tunnels near the mini hearth. Their feeding response is always very good and a hundred or so workers stream out of the tunnels when there is food. 

 

The Crematogaster colony has also been doing very well and can eat more than 4 medium sized mealworms a day leaving the husk of their exoskeleton, they have or are almost the same size as they were before winter and could possibly fill up an entire row of their nest with brood.

 

Camponotus pennsylvanicus moved right into their nest and have eaten some honey water and seem to be doing well they have a few pupae larvae and eggs and 9 workers. 

 

Formica neorufibarbis queen laid some eggs.

 

Formica subsericea won't move into the mini hearth however they seem calm, there are 3 workers and one medium sized larvae. 

 

[Lemon.Water]

I decided to do a small update today because my Crematogaster queen has seemingly become physogastric. They tons of eggs in these large spherical clumps around the nest which look interesting. I’m going to need to upgrade them into something else soon, any suggestions would be appreciated that are affordable. So far I’m thinking about getting one of the large nests from Buckeye myrmecology however since they’re acrylic I worry their formic acid might harm them.





My larger Camponotus colony is growing as usual.

Formica subsericea have finally laid a clump of eggs and eaten a few fruit flies.

Camponotus pennsylvanicus have eaten lots of fruit flies and a few mealworms.

Edited by Lemon.Water, March 10 2022 - 7:53 AM.

[ANTdrew]

Judging from your photos above, you have plenty of room in that Nucleus. What you’ll need to do is attach a bigger outworld that is very escape proof. You can look in my Crematogaster journal to see how I did this.

[ANTdrew]

 

Here's what I hooked my Nucleus to. I get these huge display cases off Amazon.

[ANTS_KL]

 

 

 

Here's what I hooked my Nucleus to. I get these huge display cases off Amazon.

 

Setup flex!

[Lemon.Water]

Another update/addition

I’ve been looking for some outworlds from pioneer plastics (recommended by ANTdrew) and they have a lot of good selection so I will definitely be getting some once my Crematogasters get larger numbers.

The additional founding colony I am adding is a 4 queen Prenolepis colony which I caught today during their nuptial flight. It was very nice out today and I had been going to the park almost every day due to it being spring break, three of the queens landed right in front of me still mating as I caught them, while one was found scurrying through the roots. I also found lots of their nests and from one I picked up a few workers with a cotton ball and so far they’re all getting along together with the queens. Really hoping this group does well as they look really interesting.

[Lemon.Water]

The Myrmecocystus I ordered a few weeks ago has finally arrived after issues with the previous shipments. Instead of navajo, mimicus was shipped to me as it was suggested as a more hardy species that has a better chance of surviving transport. In the last day that I've had them they've eaten lots of honey water and mealworms and some of their gasters are filled up nicely. The queen has very cool colors and there are a few pupae and larvae. 

 

 

My large Camponotus colony continues to grow and has laid a pretty large group of eggs and moved all of their brood closer to the heat mat due to the temperature outside dropping again. The pictures shows half their brood possibly however its hard to tell as they have nests in a few other areas of their tank.

 

 

The Crematogasters have been doing well as usual and continue to grow with a very fat queen laying lots of eggs.

 

 

Camponotus pennsylvanicus are doing pretty well and accept protein almost daily.

 

 

Formica subsericea were not doing too good for a bit and ate their pupae and one worker however the queen has laid a batch of eggs which are now small larvae, hopefully they continue to do better. 

 

 

 

[Lemon.Water]

None of my colonies have changed drastically in the last few weeks but there has been some growth for all of them. 

 

However my Crematogaster colony chewed through the cotton plug in their outworld and a hundred or so escaped, I was able to get most back in. I sealed the plug with a piece of plastic and blutack

 

I also caught 2 more Prenolepis imparis 2 weeks ago and i put them together with the other 4 queens and workers, they have a nice batch of eggs and they have all shed their wings. 

 

Both Camponotus colonies are doing well with a few more workers eclosing and a nice batch of eggs. 

 

The Formica subsericea are finally doing well and have eclosed another worker with some larvae and more pupae.

 

The Myremecosystus mimicus have been doing great and are eating lots of protein and honey water. The queen has become huge compared to when i got her and they got their first decently sized replete a few days ago!

 

[ANTdrew]

Crematogaster will chew through blutack as well. You’ll need a better way to plug that hole.

[DRpepper]

loving this journal so far keep it up!