I decided to start a journal for this species. These are from the end of July 2022; I received them with a batch of eggs. All three queens looked very healthy. This is also my first time founding these species.
I decided to give each of them different substrates:
Fine golden brown sand, white sand, and brown sand.
After two weeks, all of them finally have a good number of pupae after leaving them in the dark every few days and checking on them. I’ve tried my best not to cause any vibration, but these are aggressive queens like my Aphaenogaster queen, who goes out before her workers.
After about a month, on August 27th, one of the queens had her first nanitics. She also has a second generation on the way. After a few days, the other queens also had their nanitics.
I gave them sugar right away after their first nanitics, and then baby dubia roach every other day once they had three or more nanitics. So far, they’ve been pretty aggressive with a good response to the food I gave them.
I'm moving them to a mini hearth soon once all the 1st generation comes out or till they get to 20 workers. It's becoming challenging to feed them. They try to run out as soon as I pull the cotton. The technique I do is: I make a thin line of byformica sweet drink like a barrier; then I quickly put the dead dubia roach inside while they are busy drinking. It works every time!
Thanks for checking out my journal!
