63 replies to this topic

[OiledOlives]

Did you get a queen?

No, the colony was too large for me to feel comfortable collecting the queen.

Edited by OiledOlives, October 19 2022 - 7:05 AM.

[United-Ants]

Wow I did not think that lasius clavger where that rare

[OiledOlives]

Current boring ant list:
Crematogaster lineolata 2 queens 45 workers
Crematogaster lineolata 2 queens 30 workers

Temnothorax curvispinosus x5

Tapinoma sessile 1 queen 10 workers

Tapinoma sessile 1 queen 60 workers

Aphaenogaster fulva 1 queen 90 workers

Aphaenogaster fulva 1 queen 60 workers

Aphaenogaster N22b 1 queen 35 workers

Aphaenogaster rudis 1 queen 5 workers

Aphaenogaster rudis 1 queen 10 workers

Monomorium minimum 12 queens 400 workers

Monomorium minimum 3 queens 200 workers

Lasius aphidicola 1 queen 11 hosts

Crematogaster cerasi 1 queen 100 workers

Crematogaster lineolata 1 queen 300 workers

Monomorium minimum 8 queens 600 workers

More Vollenhovia emeryi

Camponotus chromaiodes 1 queen 1 worker x2
Camponotus chromaiodes 1 queen 150 workers

Camponotus castaneus 1 queen 22 workers

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis 1 queen 3 workers

And finally, last but definitely not least, Camponotus pennsylvanicus 1 queen 12 workers with some really really pretty workers. 

Help

Edited by OiledOlives, October 19 2022 - 7:05 AM.

[OiledOlives]

Wow I did not think that lasius clavger where that rare

They aren't, I just don't catch as many because they fly in November and my anting excitement runs out in mid-June after Formica flights.

[ANTdrew]

Pace yourself. Nobody said you had to collect all those.

[aznphenom]

Pace yourself. Nobody said you had to collect all those.

[OiledOlives]

Deleted 

Edited by OiledOlives, October 19 2022 - 7:06 AM.

[AntsCali123]

Do you have any Pheidole left?


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[OiledOlives]

Do you have any Pheidole left?


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Yeah, I've got a Pheidole bicarinata colony with 3-400 workers. 

[OiledOlives]

Chromaiodes outworld cleaning:

Boosted castaneus a bit:

Cerasi colony I got from a friend:

 

[OiledOlives]

Minor Update:

 

I figured out why my C. chromaiodes were in the outworld and dying off even with constant feeding of protein. I put water into their micro feeder instead of sugar water so they had no access to sugars for a week

 

I ordered some seeds for my bicarinata 8 days ago and they still haven't arrived yet... when my chromaiodes outgrow the Fallen Fortress I'm going to move the bicarinata in there.

 

I have five different Crematogaster colony and 3 of them enjoy escaping so I have no idea which colony I should put them back in. I might reinforce barriers and stuff when I have free time this weekend.

 

All Vollenhovia colonies have new eggs! Most are eating very well and their appetite is huge. 

 

I boosted the small C. pennsylvanicus colony I have with around 6 larvae I collected from a huge colony while it was moving them around at night. They've eaten one of them but the others seem to be doing fine. Three of the 12 workers are very pretty, with reddish gasters and golden hairs. The queen looks nice as well.

[ANTdrew]

Try buying some shelled hemp hearts from the health food aisle at Harris Teeter. My bicarinata and treatae love them.

[OiledOlives]

New current ant list:
C. chromaiodes - 200-300 workers - The queen and some of the workers want to hibernate but a lot of pupae still have not eclosed yet. I will wait around 2 more weeks for the pupae to eclose and then I will put them into the fridge.
C. chromaiodes - 60-70 workers - growing strong, currently in the among us nest
C. chromaiodes - 1-15 workers x15 - doing well, most still have a bunch of brood

C. nearcticus - 10 major colony - These get hungry really quickly and I have been feeding them a bunch of sugar once every two days

C. nearcticus - 2-5 workers x12 - These have been less annoying than last year and have pretty good feeding responses
N. flavipes - 1-5 workers x8 - these are all doing well with a lot of brood. some of the solo queens have been randomly dying, but once they get workers, it seems like the success rate jumps.
Pheidole morrisii - 200 workers - These have crashed recently, but have now been steadily growing in their Mini Hearth
Vollenhovia emeryi - 50+ queens 800+ workers - After I combined them a couple queens and a bunch of workers were culled, but I am no longer seeing dead workers being carried around. They easily take 3+ crickets per day.
Pheidole bicarinata - 500 workers - easily taking 4 crickets per day
Formica subsericea - 100 workers - I recently got this colony. They are eating very well but, like all Formica, go batshit crazy every time anything happens.
Aphaenogaster lamellidens - 6 workers - I got this colony from the same guy I got the Formica from. This has been a species that I've wanted for a while.
Aphaenogaster tennesseensis - 40 workers - I got this colony from Tbone (AnthonyP163 here) and had barely any brood when I got them. I boosted them with a bunch of brood from a wild colony so hopefully they like that.
Monomorium minimum - I split these up because they got way too annoying and began escaping
Pogonomyrmex occidentalis - 50 workers - These have been doing great recently. They have a nice brood pile and should do great this year.
Camponotus castaneus - 15 workers - These crashed because I threw a 2021 queen into their nest after seeing a picture of poly casta just an hour or two north of where I live. It did not go well.

I also have A. rudis x6, Myrmica, C. novaeboracensis, 2q C. lineolata, and some other colonies, but that would be too long of a post.

[OiledOlives]

A. lamellidens

A. tennesseensis

A. fulva

A. rudis

S. molesta

M. incompleta

Edited by OiledOlives, July 21 2022 - 12:50 PM.

[OiledOlives]

Pheidole morrisii:



Camponotus chromaiodes major:


Pogonomyrmex occidentalis:


Pheidole bicarinata:





Aphaenogaster rudis:



Vollenhovia emeryi:


Camponotus caryae:


Temnothorax longispinosus:

Attached Images

• 

Edited by OiledOlives, October 19 2022 - 7:07 AM.

[FloridaAnts]

Pheidole morrisii:
Pheidole morrisii colony.JPG
Pheidole morrisii queen.JPG
Camponotus chromaiodes major:
Camponotus chromaiodes major.JPG
Pogonomyrmex occidentalis:
Pogonomyrmex occidentalis colony.JPG
Pheidole bicarinata:
Pheidole bicarinata.JPG
Pheidole bicarinata larvae.JPG
Pheidole bicarinata pupae.JPG
Pheidole bicarinata pupae2.JPG
Aphaenogaster rudis:
Aphaenogaster rudis queen with worker.JPG
Aphaenogaster rudis bent.JPG
Vollenhovia emeryi:
Vollenhovia emeryi colony.JPG
Camponotus caryae:
Camponotus caryae side.JPG
Solenopsis molesta:
Solenopsis molesta carpet.JPG
Temnothorax longispinosus:
Temnothorax longispinosus side.JPG
Temnothorax longispinosus top.JPG

I don’t see the molesta picture

When Camponotus get large do they just poop eggs out? My floridnaus doesn’t even move when she does it, she just is in her normal position. Yours(Castaneus) just kind of bends around and plucks it off… maybe different species

[OiledOlives]

Pheidole bicarinata

I really like my colony. I estimate they are at 7-900 workers by now. They have been stagnating recently but I fed them some more morning primrose seeds yesterday and a couple hundred pinhead crickets today so hoping the larvae get well fed. They are having 5-10 workers eclose every day.

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[OiledOlives]

P. bicarinata close to max size (2-3k workers)

One of the alate pupae is very close to eclosing.

[OiledOlives]

Chromaiodes, flavipes, americanus, lamellidens, incompleta, tennesseensis, picea, depilis, ambiguus, curvispinosus, obliqua, chinensis, occidentalis, novaeboracensis, subsericea, chinensis and novae feeding on crickets

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[OiledOlives]

I collected all 10 of the chinensis queens under a single log. Since this species cannot found with queens, I had to collect workers. I went to a nearby park where I had previously found a lot of chinensis colonies. I collected just 200 workers and a couple hundred pupae because these ants are pretty fast. I threw the queens and the workers together in an outworld so they could sort the brood out and calm down. After a couple hours, I dumped them into a spare Mini Hearth. Two days later half of their pupae eclosed and now, they only have around 50 more pupae left to eclose. These ants specialize on termites but will gladly take other feeder insects. This is my first semi-serious attempt with this species as I have not cared enough in previous years to successfully found queens.

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