49 replies to this topic

[Flu1d]

So I caught my first queen. She has laid eggs, however, to not distract her too much, I plan on waiting a few more days before I take any pictures. These pics were taken when I first caught her on 12/05/2022. She laid her pile of eggs sometime between 12/08 at night and 12/09 in the morning. I gave her a little snack based on advice that invicta alates don't typically get fed AS well this time of year, even though they fly year round. She would not lay eggs until I gave her a chunk of horsefly and I also gave her a small tiny droplet of honey on a separate day. After she had that, she dropped a nice sized grouping of eggs.

I am not sure if I will make a journal or not, this being my first queen I may wait until I have a little more knowledge and experience before doing so. Or perhaps I will do one after the colony matures a tiny bit, who knows. In the meantime, some pretty poorly taken (but not unviewable) macro shots of my first girlie!

Edited by Flu1d, December 10 2022 - 10:56 PM.

[Ant-nig321]

Wow!!,congratulations on having your first queen.Good luck!!

[Flu1d]

Wow!!,congratulations on having your first queen.Good luck!!

Thanks so much

[ANTdrew]

Congrats, man! I think this is a very easy species to get started, to say the least. The challenge will come when they start growing *too well* for you. My tip is actually to not provide them optimal care, so their numbers stay manageable.
Read this first: http://tarheelants.b...or-ant.html?m=1

[Flu1d]

Congrats, man! I think this is a very easy species to get started, to say the least. The challenge will come when they start growing *too well* for you. My tip is actually to not provide them optimal care, so their numbers stay manageable.
Read this first: http://tarheelants.b...or-ant.html?m=1

I really appreciate the tips as well as the link, that was useful! I knew they would explode in size, but I didn't know it could be even CLOSE to 50k in 6 months! I will definitely try to work on a way to balance feeding them enough so they don't try to escape as much while at the same time not feeding them so much I have a 200,000 ant colony in 3 years.

[LowQualityAnts]

Invicta was my first species too

[Flu1d]

I think perhaps sometime tomorrow I may pull her tube out and snap a few quick pics of the eggs.. If not tomorrow then very soon after. Right now my focus is on giving her lots of space so she doesnt freak out and eat her eggs. I am bad when it comes to patience so my method is to try and forget she is even there at all (not easy since I monitor the thermometer every hour or two to ensure its staying 80+). I have her set up in a typical test tube setup in an upside down envelope box lid with 2 black shirts sitting on top to insulate as well as keep the light out and there is a space heater pointed directly at ger (but far enough away to not make her TOO hot). Her cotton (dry) end is sticking out of the one end of the shirts as to not decrease oxygen.

Here are a few pictures of the (extremely temporary) setup:

Edited by Flu1d, December 11 2022 - 8:12 AM.

[Flu1d]

Invicta was my first species too

How did you like them? Any tips/tricks/advice?

[LowQualityAnts]

Invicta was my first species too

How did you like them? Any tips/tricks/advice?

They died from mold right after founding.

[Flu1d]

Today I caught another 11 invicta queens, however I accidently killed one for a total of 10 today and 11 total alive queens.

Invicta was my first species too

How did you like them? Any tips/tricks/advice?

They died from mold right after founding.

Noooooo 😭

[antsriondel]

Congrats on your first Queen! 

[ANTdrew]

Today I caught another 11 invicta queens, however I accidently killed one for a total of 10 today and 11 total alive queens.

Invicta was my first species too

How did you like them? Any tips/tricks/advice?

They died from mold right after founding.

Noooooo 😭

Good grief! Only keep one of them and euthanize the rest.

[Flu1d]

Congrats on your first Queen!

Thank you!

[Flu1d]

Today I caught another 11 invicta queens, however I accidently killed one for a total of 10 today and 11 total alive queens.

Invicta was my first species too

How did you like them? Any tips/tricks/advice?

They died from mold right after founding.

Noooooo 😭

Good grief! Only keep one of them and euthanize the rest.

I know you're right, but it feels so wrong 😭.

I will wait and see who founds the best and make my choice from there

[LowQualityAnts]

Make them fight!!!




For legal reasons this is a joke.

Edited by LowQualityAnts, December 11 2022 - 5:26 PM.

[Ant-nig321]

Maybe sell some.

[LowQualityAnts]

Maybe sell some.

isn't that illegal?

[Ant-nig321]

Maybe sell some.

isn't that illegal?

I ment around his neighborhood.

[LowQualityAnts]

I thought the fire ant quarantine zone had special regulations?

[ANTdrew]

Do not sell them.