76 replies to this topic

[Leptomyrmx]

Today I felt like it was time to make a journal for all of my species.

 

I may as well tell you the current state of all my colonies.

Colonies

Opisthopsis rufithorax: Still hanging at 3 workers and not eating. :\

Aphaenogaster longiceps: Still in their test tube going well. Moving into Ytong nest soon.

Pheidole sp: Going great, loads of larvae.

All Nylanderia: Going fine, gave one colony to my sister.

Rhytidoponera victorae: Moving into plaster nest soon.

Iridomyrmex sp, 2 queen: In their new outworld, workers exploring. All going well.

Solenopsis: Moving into into a jar filled with burrowing substrate meant for spiders.

Brachyponera lutea: Moving into Ytong nest soon.

 

Queens

Iridomyrmex purpureus: Big chubby larvae.

Colobopsis sp. One egg.

Technomyrmex sp: Nice egg pile.

Tetramorium sp. Still no eggs.

 

I'll try to update frequently and actually bother to take photos. Definitely no promises on that second one.

Edited by Leptomyrmx, June 7 2022 - 5:14 PM.

[Leptomyrmx]

A few little updates today.

Solenopsis and Aphaenogaster moved into dirt nests, they're doing very well and both dug chambers.

Solenopsis have a very small chamber, right up against the glass.

And the funnel ants made... well, a funnel.

The Meat Ant queen also has pupae now! Very excited. So surprised they grew so fast. Once there's workers I'll move them into a High Tech Ants nest.

[JCRHJM]

what species of solenopsis do you have?

[Leptomyrmx]

what species of solenopsis do you have?

I think it's fusciventris, because that's the only Solenopsis species native to NSW.

[Leptomyrmx]

Can't find my makeshift macro lens, no photos sorry.

Pheidole have another major!!! There's a huge brood-mountain, the queen likes to just sit on it.

Brachyponera moved into an Ants Aus Ytong nest and started digging in the outworld. Not the best visibility, but I don't mind.

[Leptomyrmx]

Meat ants have workers! Trying to move them into a nest, they're still quite shy.

Aphaenogaster have some mould in their dirt setup, building up the courage to take it out.

Camponotus humilior have a second worker, they aren't progressing much however since I think they're not going into the outworld. I'll try to get them up to maybe 10 workers in their test tube so I can try again.

Also, I ordered a Polyrhachis australis queen! Can't wait till she arrives.

And I found my makeshift macro lens. Still no photos cos I can't be bothered.

[PaigeX]

Meat ants have workers! Trying to move them into a nest, they're still quite shy.

Aphaenogaster have some mould in their dirt setup, building up the courage to take it out.

Camponotus humilior have a second worker, they aren't progressing much however since I think they're not going into the outworld. I'll try to get them up to maybe 10 workers in their test tube so I can try again.

Also, I ordered a Polyrhachis australis queen! Can't wait till she arrives.

And I found my makeshift macro lens. Still no photos cos I can't be bothered.

I'm still amazed you were even able to find an ant shop online that sold Polyrhachis australis.

[Leptomyrmx]

 

Meat ants have workers! Trying to move them into a nest, they're still quite shy.

Aphaenogaster have some mould in their dirt setup, building up the courage to take it out.

Camponotus humilior have a second worker, they aren't progressing much however since I think they're not going into the outworld. I'll try to get them up to maybe 10 workers in their test tube so I can try again.

Also, I ordered a Polyrhachis australis queen! Can't wait till she arrives.

And I found my makeshift macro lens. Still no photos cos I can't be bothered.

I'm still amazed you were even able to find an ant shop online that sold Polyrhachis australis.

 

Very new one, The Ant Lab. I'm hoping it's not a scam or anything, she hasn't been shipped yet and I ordered her on the 26th. They some other species I'd never seen being sold before as well, like Rhytidoponera confusa.

[PaigeX]

 

 

Meat ants have workers! Trying to move them into a nest, they're still quite shy.

Aphaenogaster have some mould in their dirt setup, building up the courage to take it out.

Camponotus humilior have a second worker, they aren't progressing much however since I think they're not going into the outworld. I'll try to get them up to maybe 10 workers in their test tube so I can try again.

Also, I ordered a Polyrhachis australis queen! Can't wait till she arrives.

And I found my makeshift macro lens. Still no photos cos I can't be bothered.

I'm still amazed you were even able to find an ant shop online that sold Polyrhachis australis.

 

Very new one, The Ant Lab. I'm hoping it's not a scam or anything, she hasn't been shipped yet and I ordered her on the 26th. They some other species I'd never seen being sold before as well, like Rhytidoponera confusa.

 

oh wow. very interesting! Also they have a Polyrhachis Vermiculosa for sale that is a Polyrhachis Aurea.
They also have a great deal on mass buying test tubes.
I brought a Rhyidoponera Victoriae and some test tube clips. lets see how it goes xD
Oh and.. I've seen queenofnats sell Rhytidoponera confusa a few months back.

Edited by PaigeX, January 31 2022 - 12:57 PM.

[PurdueEntomology]

How have you been keeping your Technomyrmex? I have two separate colonies going right now.  

Edited by PurdueEntomology, January 31 2022 - 1:15 PM.

[Leptomyrmx]

Got a shipping confirmation for Polyrhachis australis today, I can confirm it's not a scam.

Should arrive in a few days.

 

How have you been keeping your Technomyrmex? I have two separate colonies going right now.  

 

Just been waiting for the queen to get workers. She looks to be fully claustral, I've noticed the Australian and Southeast Asian Technomyrmex have very different looking queens, the Southeast Asian ones looking at lot more like the workers, probably semi-claustral (thanks SYUTEO for some of the Technomyrmex info).

Edited by Leptomyrmx, January 31 2022 - 11:30 PM.

[SYUTEO]

Got a shipping confirmation for Polyrhachis australis today, I can confirm it's not a scam.

Should arrive in a few days.

 

How have you been keeping your Technomyrmex? I have two separate colonies going right now.  

 

Just been waiting for the queen to get workers. She looks to be fully claustral, I've noticed the Australian and Southeast Asian Technomyrmex have very different looking queens, the Southeast Asian ones looking at lot more like the workers, probably semi-claustral (thanks STYUTEO for some of the Technomyrmex info).

I wonder why so many people misspell my username.

[Leptomyrmx]

 

Got a shipping confirmation for Polyrhachis australis today, I can confirm it's not a scam.

Should arrive in a few days.

 

How have you been keeping your Technomyrmex? I have two separate colonies going right now.  

 

Just been waiting for the queen to get workers. She looks to be fully claustral, I've noticed the Australian and Southeast Asian Technomyrmex have very different looking queens, the Southeast Asian ones looking at lot more like the workers, probably semi-claustral (thanks STYUTEO for some of the Technomyrmex info).

I wonder why so many people misspell my username.

 

oops-

[Leptomyrmx]

The Iridmyrmex purpureus have started exploring their nest!

Low quality footage taken on my computer.   Maybe check out some over my better videos on my channel while you're here. (I love free advertising!)

I also moved the Pheidole into a Tarheel Ants Inception Chamber, and they had a bit of a population explosion. I've counted 1 major pupa and one major larva, and so much brood, can't be bothered to count that.

I'll make a YouTube video on that soon.

Edited by Leptomyrmx, February 12 2022 - 3:47 PM.

[Leptomyrmx]

The sugar ants are down to 1 worker again

I think she died of old age. She lived a very productive life though.

I hope the colony makes it, they're just in a test tube so they'll hopefully be ok.

 

Meaties have also moved, they're going well.

 

Pheidole are flourishing, there's 5 major pupae and they got their third major.

Edited by Leptomyrmx, February 18 2022 - 6:24 PM.

[ANTS_KL]

Update??

[Leptomyrmx]

I'll update tomorrow afternoon, quite a lot has happened!

[Leptomyrmx]

^ Yeah, sorry, I lied.

 

Anyway, the Pheidole have been doing really well, I finally managed to detach the AntsCanada test tube portal that I used as their outworld. (When I got into antkeeping I was obsessed with AntsCanada...  )

But the reason I had the courage to detach it is because they were escaping out of it. The test tube portal might be useful to get a few tubes into the same place, but mark my words, do NOT use the thing as an outworld. Vinyl tubing doesn't connect to it properly, it's tiny and ants will escape left right and centre whenever you open it. I know it's only supposed to be used as an outworld for founding colonies, but since vinyl tubes don't attach properly they'll be stuck in there, therefore preventing you from feeding them as much, which slows their growth rate, and it's just a vicious cycle.

But as you've heard they EXPLODED when I moved them into the THA nest. A big outworld is key.

 

The Brachyponera lutea have also been doing quite well the queen lives in the water test tube they have now. She laid some new eggs and they're at around 8 workers. They did something really strange though, they made wick-like thing leading from their liquid feeder into their satellite nest in the sand, and when I got home there was no sugar-water in there. Interesting.

 

And some great news, Opisthopsis have 4 workers now!!! 

This is kinda a huge deal, I can confirm they take crickets now but just don't explore their outworld as much. Their setup is an Aus Ants acrylic nest in a little 'terrarium', I fish bowl with some dead plants, dirt, and rocks in it. The original plan was to have them move into the dirt because I thought a more natural environment would encourage them to be less fussy or something. And guess what they did? Stayed in their nest for days on end, and didn't eat anything. I tried nuts, mealworms, egg, termites, but nothing. And one day I gave them a cricket, that stayed in there for the nest couple of days, and then I checked on them and it was gone! I was so happy! I think they also have a pupa and some larvae as well now which is great.

 

Aw, just checked on them again, looks like they got up to 5 workers and lost one.

 

Here's some photos, very low quality and taken on my computer...

Brachyponera in the tube (not all workers are there)

 

 

Brachyponera in the outworld, the holes are nest entrances.

 

 

Pheidole 

100+ workers, just counted!

 

 

Opsithopsis (you can see the dead worker ) (also there are 4, just hard to see)

 

 

This was a big update, thanks for reading!

Edited by Leptomyrmx, March 11 2022 - 5:04 PM.

[Leptomyrmx]

 

need I say more?

[United-Ants]

What ant is that