39 replies to this topic

[ANTdrew]

My N. vividula never escaped even once. Fluon stops them very easily.

[Jonathan5608]

Okay, thanks. Are they good at escaping?

if you got a good formicarium then nah

[Jonathan5608]

Crackers still Crakin

Nothing much has changed. They just keep doing their thing, growing like crazy. There was recently a massive hatch out of eggs so a lot of little larvae around.

https://www.flickr.c...@N04/64b9835EE8

[100lols]

Can you tell if there is still 7 queens? The brood mass is intense!

[Jonathan5608]

Can you tell if there is still 7 queens? The brood mass is intense!

6

[Jonathan5608]

Also I’ve noticed one male alate from the colony.

[Jonathan5608]

Firecrackers Update

Same stuff still happening here. Bunch of eggs, bunch off larvae, bunch of pupae. The egg piles are starting to diminish since there hatching out.
https://flic.kr/p/2p21Stk

[Jonathan5608]

Updates
These crackers just don’t stop. The queens are sheer egg laying machines. I noticed a male alate in the nest so I’ll probably have a decent number of alates next year. There was a recent hatching of eggs which has brought about a whole bunch of new little larvae. Unfortunately the acrylic is has condensation on it so I couldn’t grab a great video.
https://flic.kr/p/2p3FQdm
All those little white larvae just hatched.
https://flic.kr/p/2p3HGPm
I always wanted an ant with repletes. I thought the answer for my area would be prenos but it was nylanderia all along.

Edited by Jonathan5608, September 17 2023 - 7:46 PM.

[Jonathan5608]

Update

This girls are still craken and I’ve counted four male alates this far. Excited to see what the future brings and can’t wait to see that first female alate pupae. @Antdrew how’s your single queen doing.
https://flic.kr/p/2p4SsGV

[Jonathan5608]

Also Nylanderia are polygonous or at least some species.

[Jonathan5608]

One of the alates https://flic.kr/p/2p4LwjA

[ANTdrew]

Nice work with these. Mine are growing steadily. The micro-repletes are adorable.

[Jonathan5608]

Update

Production has slowed and most of the brood is small larvae. They have around 20 male alates with more pupae waiting to hatch. Other than that, nothing much has changed.

[ANTdrew]

They will probably keep all those males through the winter. My vividula colony pumped out males like crazy in the old days.

[Jonathan5608]

I think I’m gonna hibernate them.

[Jonathan5608]

Update

Sorry for the late update. Firecrackers slowed down so I put them in hibernation for next year. Around 30+ male alates have pupated and I’ll probably see some female alates next year. I have another 6 queen colony and a 1 queen colony that put in hibernation also. I think that the 6 queen colony will produce some alates next year so hopefully I can start experimenting with artificial nuptial flights.

[ANTdrew]

Mine got trash mites, so I popped them in the freezer. RIP

[Jonathan5608]

Mine got trash mites, so I popped them in the freezer. RIP

rip my friend. Maybe next year.

[ANTdrew]

Yeah, but I’ll raise vividula in the future. They are more active than these.

[Jonathan5608]

Yeah, but I’ll raise vividula in the future. They are more active than these.

I think I'm gonna try and start searching for some native nylanderia next year. The problem is here flavipes covers everything