18 replies to this topic

[AntsCali098]

I have decided to make a journal covering all my ants. 

Here are all of my colonies from most to least workers as of 2-21-22 (I will not be including single queens with no workers in this journal. Also, the worker count is an estimate and is usually not exact)

 

Pheidole navigans 1Q 600w 

Apheaenogaster occidentalis 6-8Q 200w

Brachymyrmex patigonicus 6Q 200w

Tetramorium immigrans 1Q 150w 

Solenopsis molesta 5-6Q 150w 

Brachymyrmex patigonicus 2-3Q 80w 

Novomessor cockerelli 1Q 70w

Monomorium floricola 6Q 30w

Pheidole navigans 7-10Q 30w

Camponotus vicius 1Q 8w

Pheidole navigans 1Q 5w 

Camponotus sp 1Q 1w

Solenopsis sp 2Q 1w

 

The only original journal I have for all my ants is my Brachymyrmex patigonicus 6Q 200w colony, journal seen here, although I will still be updating all of them in this journal.

 

Lets start with the biggest colony. My Pheidole navigans colony with 1 queen and 600 workers. They have been probably my favorite colony for a while and have a long history. I got this colony already established about 3 months ago. They had around 400 workers. I moved them into an aus ants acrylic founding nest. They moved the whole colony overnight so I don't know exactly how long they took. A few weeks later I decided to make a new outworld for them (pictures below). The outworld was made with simply rocks, soil, and sand, a pretty simple but nice looking outworld. They eventually got quite packed in the nest so instead of moving them to a new one, I put a test tube with water in the outworld both for extra nesting space (if needed) and fresh water. A few weeks after that they decided to move in their outworld most likely because the nest was too dry. I watered the nest and they partly moved back, but about half the colony remained in the outworld. They had built a chamber inside the sand, and even put some brood inside the liquid feeder (that was empty at the time). I had never seen a colony do this so it was pretty incredible. A few days later the rest of the ants moved back into the nest. So another month or so went by and I noticed they had fully moved out of their nest into their water test tube (even though the nest was not dry) and stayed like that until a few days ago when they moved back into the nest.

 

See what I mean by they have had a long history?

 

The colony when I first got them

 

 

The outworld I made for them

 

 

The colony inside the chamber they made inside the outworld

 

 

Some of them inside their empty liquid feeder

 

 

The colony today (I know it looks like a decrease in workers and brood but that is because they are much more huddled up in one chamber then when I first caught them)

 

 

I will try to introduce at least 2 or 3 of my colonies a week and I might also post some updates on the colonies I already introduced. I will probably introduce my Tetramorium immigrans colony tomorrow if I have time.

 

 

 

 

Edited by AntsCali098, April 2 2022 - 5:38 PM.

[ANTdrew]

Pheidole are exceedingly mischievous ants. I can tell this colony is no exception.

[AntsCali098]

I will post an introduction either late today or tomorrow. Sorry for the wait.

[AntsCali098]

Tetramorium immigrans : Introduction

 

I acquired a Tetramorium immigrans colony with about 200 workers and a good amount of larvae (about 80 larvae) off of a trade recently (about 2 months ago). I traded a Pheidole navigans colony with at least 20 fertile queens and also at least 40-50 workers. This colony arrived packed in their test tube, so I gave them an outworld with the sand I use often for my ants. I connected the outworld, and a day later all the ants that had ventured into the outworld had died, covered with whitish powder, along with the cricket I gave them. I thought it was some sort of fungal attack because I had used, the containers, sand, and crickets before with no problems. I took off the outworld and let them live in the test tube alone. Around a week after the strange occurrence I decided to move the into a nest. I moved them into a small esthetic ants mesh nest which had just arrived a day or two before. I also connected the outworld with sand up to the nest, and an hour or so later when about 20 workers were in the outworld I decided to not risk the occurence happening again, and plugged up the outworld with the ants still inside to see if they would have the same fate. A day later when I checked on them, they did have the same whitish powder on them as before, lying dead. I never used the sand with this colony again, and they seem fine in a bare outworld now. I have fed them more crickets and they haven't died, so that means it wasn't the cricket. Anyway, a week or so after the second incident, the ants had moved in the nest. Well...partially. about 3/4 the colony, including the queen remained in the tube. About 5 days later, when the rest of the colony was being to stubborn, I decided to nudge them a bit more. I prepared an outworld with fluon (a bare outworld this time) and I took both the nest and test tube and put it in the outworld. The fluon barriar didn't seem to be working to well right away, so in panic I put the lid on quickly. Ultimately, about 3 days later, my plan worked and they had move in. I took out the test tube and replaced it with a clean one that would act as there fresh water source. I also connected the nest that they were in to the outworld, resulting in their current setup. In the short time they've been with me, a lot has happened with this colony, just like my Pheidole navigans (last introduction). Pictures seen below.                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

The colony when I first got them

 

The fungal outbreak

 

Their setup now

 

The colony now (Including a real cool shot I got of the queen and some of her brood and workers)

 

 

 

Edited by AntsCali098, February 24 2022 - 7:55 PM.

[AntsCali098]

Aphaenogaster occidentalis: Introduction

 

This colony was bought off of the GAN project about 2 years ago, one of my first ant colonies and the oldest that is still alive. I used to be obsessed with naming my colonies, and antscanada, so this colony was named The Dark Warriors, although I never really call them that anymore. They started with about 80-100 workers and are now at about 210 workers, so it has been kind of slow gong for them. This is probably one of my most problem free colonies, as they have never really had a die-off or anything too bad at all. I think the closest thing to a big problem was that around 10-20 workers escaped once, but the problem has been fixed, so this will not be as long as an introduction as the others. I feed this colony a cricket about once every other day and they have sugar water in a test tube at all times. Their setup is quite a unique one (pics below). It is technically similar to a tubs and tubes setup, but not very much like one. They have 3 test tubes with fresh water (their main nests) inside an ac outworld and another tube connected to it. The connected tube is their sugar water tube, which used to be their main nest back about a year ago. They also have a long vinyl tube going to another small container with a test tube inside, because I felt they needed extra nesting space. Usually, there is one queen with around 30 workers in the tube and about 20 larvae. It is quite relaxing to watch ants travel through the vinyl tubing. The ants use the rest of the container as their main garbage site, and that is pretty smart if you ask me, since it is far away from their main nesting area. Before I moved the ants into this setup, they were moved into an ac hybrid nest  . It was obviously way too big for them, and I didn't have much knowledge at all back then, so it took me a few months to realize it was too big and move them into their setup now   

I will end by saying that brood-wise this colony has always had a lot of brood, and currently they have around 50 fresh eggs, 100 larvae, and 30 pupae, so I am hoping they will have an explosion soon.

Pics

 

The current setup

 

 

The colony

Edited by AntsCali098, February 28 2022 - 8:00 PM.

[AntsCali098]

Brachymyrmex patigonicus update

 

note: this colony already has a journal seen here, so I will not be introducing them.

 

Update 3-5

 

This colony is doing great, but they moved into the outworld. The reason why is that their liquid feeder leaked, hydrating the sand, and making it good for digging. I don't really mind them doing this though, and they might even do better in the sand. Plus, I think this species enjoys digging, so I hope they do well. I'm not really gonna try to get them back in the tube, because I am fine with them digging in the sand. They also piled up a lot of sand in the test tube, and I think this is some of the sand they dug up. I'm not sure why they did this, maybe because they are now using it for garbage. The whole colony is moved in now, but when the pics were taken the brood was still in the tube, so I can show you the brood. They have a ton of small larvae and eggs. The queens laid a ton of eggs and there is so much brood now  

Pics below

 

The chambers and anthills that were made

 

The brood (a lot of it)

Edited by AntsCali098, March 5 2022 - 5:47 PM.

[antsriondel]

 

Brachymyrmex patigonicus update

 

note: this colony already has a journal seen here, so I will not be introducing them.

 

Update 3-5

 

This colony is doing great, but they moved into the outworld. The reason why is that their liquid feeder leaked, hydrating the sand, and making it good for digging. I don't really mind them doing this though, and they might even do better in the sand. Plus, I think this species enjoys digging, so I hope they do well. I'm not really gonna try to get them back in the tube, because I am fine with them digging in the sand. They also piled up a lot of sand in the test tube, and I think this is some of the sand they dug up. I'm not sure why they did this, maybe because they are now using it for garbage. The whole colony is moved in now, but when the pics were taken the brood was still in the tube, so I can show you the brood. They have a ton of small larvae and eggs. The queens laid a ton of eggs and there is so much brood now  

Pics below

 

The chambers and anthills that were made

 

 

 

 

The brood (a lot of it)

 

 

 

 

 

Brachymyrmex patigonicus update

 

note: this colony already has a journal seen here, so I will not be introducing them.

 

Update 3-5

 

This colony is doing great, but they moved into the outworld. The reason why is that their liquid feeder leaked, hydrating the sand, and making it good for digging. I don't really mind them doing this though, and they might even do better in the sand. Plus, I think this species enjoys digging, so I hope they do well. I'm not really gonna try to get them back in the tube, because I am fine with them digging in the sand. They also piled up a lot of sand in the test tube, and I think this is some of the sand they dug up. I'm not sure why they did this, maybe because they are now using it for garbage. The whole colony is moved in now, but when the pics were taken the brood was still in the tube, so I can show you the brood. They have a ton of small larvae and eggs. The queens laid a ton of eggs and there is so much brood now  

Pics below

 

The chambers and anthills that were made

 

 

 

 

The brood (a lot of it)

 

 

 

nice colony's!!!

[ColAnt735]

 

 

Brachymyrmex patigonicus update

 

note: this colony already has a journal seen here, so I will not be introducing them.

 

Update 3-5

 

This colony is doing great, but they moved into the outworld. The reason why is that their liquid feeder leaked, hydrating the sand, and making it good for digging. I don't really mind them doing this though, and they might even do better in the sand. Plus, I think this species enjoys digging, so I hope they do well. I'm not really gonna try to get them back in the tube, because I am fine with them digging in the sand. They also piled up a lot of sand in the test tube, and I think this is some of the sand they dug up. I'm not sure why they did this, maybe because they are now using it for garbage. The whole colony is moved in now, but when the pics were taken the brood was still in the tube, so I can show you the brood. They have a ton of small larvae and eggs. The queens laid a ton of eggs and there is so much brood now  

Pics below

 

The chambers and anthills that were made

 

 

 

 

The brood (a lot of it)

 

 

 

 

 

Brachymyrmex patigonicus update

 

note: this colony already has a journal seen here, so I will not be introducing them.

 

Update 3-5

 

This colony is doing great, but they moved into the outworld. The reason why is that their liquid feeder leaked, hydrating the sand, and making it good for digging. I don't really mind them doing this though, and they might even do better in the sand. Plus, I think this species enjoys digging, so I hope they do well. I'm not really gonna try to get them back in the tube, because I am fine with them digging in the sand. They also piled up a lot of sand in the test tube, and I think this is some of the sand they dug up. I'm not sure why they did this, maybe because they are now using it for garbage. The whole colony is moved in now, but when the pics were taken the brood was still in the tube, so I can show you the brood. They have a ton of small larvae and eggs. The queens laid a ton of eggs and there is so much brood now  

Pics below

 

The chambers and anthills that were made

 

 

 

 

The brood (a lot of it)

 

 

 

Nice colonies!!!

Agreed.

[AntsCali098]

 

 

 

Brachymyrmex patigonicus update

 

note: this colony already has a journal seen here, so I will not be introducing them.

 

Update 3-5

 

This colony is doing great, but they moved into the outworld. The reason why is that their liquid feeder leaked, hydrating the sand, and making it good for digging. I don't really mind them doing this though, and they might even do better in the sand. Plus, I think this species enjoys digging, so I hope they do well. I'm not really gonna try to get them back in the tube, because I am fine with them digging in the sand. They also piled up a lot of sand in the test tube, and I think this is some of the sand they dug up. I'm not sure why they did this, maybe because they are now using it for garbage. The whole colony is moved in now, but when the pics were taken the brood was still in the tube, so I can show you the brood. They have a ton of small larvae and eggs. The queens laid a ton of eggs and there is so much brood now  

Pics below

 

The chambers and anthills that were made

 

 

 

 

The brood (a lot of it)

 

 

 

 

 

Brachymyrmex patigonicus update

 

note: this colony already has a journal seen here, so I will not be introducing them.

 

Update 3-5

 

This colony is doing great, but they moved into the outworld. The reason why is that their liquid feeder leaked, hydrating the sand, and making it good for digging. I don't really mind them doing this though, and they might even do better in the sand. Plus, I think this species enjoys digging, so I hope they do well. I'm not really gonna try to get them back in the tube, because I am fine with them digging in the sand. They also piled up a lot of sand in the test tube, and I think this is some of the sand they dug up. I'm not sure why they did this, maybe because they are now using it for garbage. The whole colony is moved in now, but when the pics were taken the brood was still in the tube, so I can show you the brood. They have a ton of small larvae and eggs. The queens laid a ton of eggs and there is so much brood now  

Pics below

 

The chambers and anthills that were made

 

 

 

 

The brood (a lot of it)

 

 

 

Nice colonies!!!

Agreed.

 

thanks guys!

[AntsCali098]

I got a lot of information.

 

First of all, I will not be doing detailed introductions on any more of my colonies, since I got the most important ones out of the way. I will continue this journal with updates on colonies once a week or 2, sometimes more.

 

ok I will update on a few of my colonies

 

Update 3-17

 

Tetramorium immigrans: Bad news on these ladies. I checked on them today and their queen was curled up, lifeless. I think this might've been from stress because a lot of stuff has happened with them in the past week. I will try to buy a new T.immigrans colony, if anyone is selling.

 

Pheidole navigans: 600 worker colony: I thought their queen died as well, because I found queen parts in the garbage, but today I checked on them and saw the queen, healthy as ever   I have no clue how I found new looking queen parts, and to add to the weirdness I found 2 queen gasters . The closest thing I could think of was that was part of the queen that I had tried to introduce a few months back, so they could have another queen. They did end up killing that queen, but it was a few months ago, while the gasters looked very new, and it doesn't explain why I found 2 queen gasters  . I guess this will remain a mystery. I also noticed that they had once again, built chambers in the sand. I don't really mind because I am overjoyed that the queen is alive. They have quite a bit of brood now as well, although it is all in the chambers in the outworld.

 

Lastly, I caught 2 new Brachymyrmex patigonicus colonies, but will only be keeping one and selling the other.

 

Pics of the chambers and new colony below

 

Edited by AntsCali098, March 17 2022 - 6:10 PM.

[AntsCali098]

Update 3-31

 

Pheidole navigans: 600 workers: This colony just continues to live in the outworld, and I am thinking of using the aus ants nest for another colony.  I don't mind if the colony is happy.

5 workers: selling/releasing them soon.

30 workers: I think the queens are unfertile, since the eggs aren't developing.

 

Monomorium foloricola: Probably selling these as well. They just don't interest me and are also not doing great under my care at the moment

 

Novomessor cockerelli: Well, they have moved into their outworld, which is bare  . They also had a huge die-off and are at 30 workers.

 

Monomorium minimum: New colony alert! This has gotta be my new favorite colony. I've always wanted Monomorium minimum and I finally collected a colony. I made sure to leave some queens with the remainder of the colony I wasn't able to get. I got about half the colony. They have around 200-300 workers, and I think there were about 10-12 queens. The most impressive part is their brood! They have a humongous mountain of mostly larvae. I think there were even somewhere around 600-700 larvae! The queens even sometimes hide under it. I can't wait for all those new workers to hatch.

 

Solenopsis sp: Another new colony! This one has 80+ workers and a couple queens. They have around 20 larvae as well. I believe they are either molesta, or carolinensis, but are most likely S.molesta. I might post an id request to know exactly what solenopsis they are.

 

Pics of M.minimum and Solenopsis sp on next post

Edited by AntsCali098, March 31 2022 - 5:59 PM.

[AntsCali098]

Pictures from previous update

 

 

Edited by AntsCali098, March 31 2022 - 5:58 PM.

[AntsCali098]

Update 4-2

 

Camponotus sp: 1 worker: First eggs since hibernation! I think there are about 8 eggs. This colony might finally get another worker soon as well, because 2 large larvae are present. The queens gaster is also really packed up with eggs! she's looking pretty physogastric. Also, I think this Camponotus might be modoc, because I noticed a hint of red tint on the queen's legs. I may get an id.

 

Camponotus vicinus: 8 workers: This colony also has their first eggs since hibernation. I think there are 4 eggs! Also, they have a cocoon and I am hoping for the first new worker of 2022.

 

Solenopsis sp: 1 worker: The worker of this colony died, but I had another colony with plenty of larvae (around 45) and 20 workers. I successfully fused the queens into this colony and they are living happily .

 

Solenopsis molesta/carolinensis: I have been a colony collecting machine the past few days, and I caught yet another solenopsis colony   Again, not sure exactly what solenopsis but am leaning towards molesta, or carolinensis. They have 3 queens and about 350 workers. I will post an id request on the id thread for this colony. 

 

Also a question for you guys: Should I update the colony list on the first page because of the new colonies, or should I leave it at is?

Edited by AntsCali098, April 2 2022 - 5:54 PM.

[AntsCali098]

I've decided to post my updated colony list here:

 

Pheidole navigans 1Q 600w 

Monomorium minimum 10-12Q 350w

Solenopsis molesta 3Q 350w 

Apheaenogaster occidentalis 6-8Q 200w

Brachymyrmex patigonicus 6Q 200w

Tetramorium immigrans 1Q 150w 

Solenopsis molesta 5-6Q 150w 

Solenopsis molesta 2Q 90w

Brachymyrmex patigonicus 2-3Q 80w 

Pheidole navigans 7-10Q 30w

Brachymyremex patigonicus 3Q 25w

Novomessor cockerelli 1Q 25w

Solenopsis sp 2Q 20w

Camponotus vicius 1Q 8w

Pheidole navigans 1Q 5w 

Camponotus sp 1Q 1w

Edited by AntsCali098, April 10 2022 - 4:22 PM.

[AntsCali098]

I recently collected a few new colonies, bringing my colony count to around 20. Will write details and pics later.

Edited by AntsCali098, April 29 2022 - 1:00 PM.

[AntsCali098]

Update 5-6

 

New colonies!

 

Linepithema humile 10-15Q 1,000w (I know these ants are hated, but found a huge colony so it is best to remove them from the environment)

Nylanderi sp 1Q 45w

 

Also, I acquired a Camponotus CA-02 queen  update on her when she gets workers. A nice pile of eggs and some larvae right now.

 

 

Pics when I get home, sorry for delay.

Edited by AntsCali098, May 6 2022 - 8:55 AM.

[AntsCali098]

Pics of the new colonies. The Nylanderia queen laid new eggs which is a great sign.

 

The Linepithema (argies) always just swarm in the small container that they are now in. I am moving them into a much larger container soon.

 

Also, the CA02 queen

 

(I even set this pic as my pfp  )

Edited by AntsCali098, May 8 2022 - 6:00 PM.

[lazyant]

 

Pics of the new colonies. The Nylanderia queen laid new eggs which is a great sign.

 

 

 

 

 

The Linepithema (argies) always just swarm in the small container that they are now in. I am moving them into a much larger container soon.

 

 

 

 

Also, the CA02 queen

 

 

(I even set this pic as my pfp  )

 

Hey, how did you catch the argies? Just wondering because ever since I saw that one ausants video always wanted to keep them!

Edited by lazyant, May 8 2022 - 6:22 PM.

[AntsCali098]

 

 

Pics of the new colonies. The Nylanderia queen laid new eggs which is a great sign.

 

 

 

 

 

The Linepithema (argies) always just swarm in the small container that they are now in. I am moving them into a much larger container soon.

 

 

 

 

Also, the CA02 queen

 

 

(I even set this pic as my pfp  )

 

Hey, how did you catch the argies? Just wondering because ever since I saw that one ausants video always wanted to keep them!

 

It depends where you live. Here you can go to just about any place with rocks and logs to flip and they will likely be underneath a log or a rock. They are usually quite shallow nesters in my experience