34 replies to this topic

[ANTdrew]

They may have become stressed and gassed themselves to death with formic acid.

[Virginian_ants]

That sounds like Formica.

[Virginian_ants]

Mini update the queen is the bottle colony had died. The saddest part is that they still care for her moving her to new test tubes and grooming her. I want to give this orphan colony a new queen but how would I go about doing this?

[Virginian_ants]

This week had been great. I caught a Strumigenys colony but that will be on my cryptic ants. I also got a package from Utah ants yesterday containing the Camponotus Castaneus nest it looked awesome. I contacted it almost immediately. Overnight they moved in the eggs and cocoons which is odd because they are opposites in the development spectrum they had them in the same spot as well.


With the nest I also got a pogonomyrmex occidentalis queen and she is out to kill me. I was going to move her from the container she can in to a test tube and it was nerve-racking. She would jump at movement while I was moving her precious larvae. After I got her in I gave her a few flax and chia seeds I will look for dandelion seeds but they are hard to find her in Charlottesville. What other soft seeds could I give her?


The Lasius for their first aphidicola workers.

The Pheidole tysoni have gotten many majors recently.

The Camponotus chromaids I think have lost a few workers I haven't found bodies I host haven't seen all 6 in a while but they have many larvae.


I had three myrmica queens the one that was doing the best just mysteriously died I have all her larvae to the next best one and took it off the market.

I moved all my test tube colonies and queens into an incubator with a small portion heated by a heat mat and it sits at a nice ~85. My room actually sits at 80 during the day but at night it drops to 75 so I initially made the incubator for the pogonomyrmex queen but the other ants would benefit from it.

[Virginian_ants]

Not a lot has happened since the last update. The Camponotus Castaneus moved all the way in. The Camponotus chromaids have cocoons. The pogonomyrmex ate her larvae and has laid new eggs. I moved my Aphaenogaster into the wakoshi gypsum nest small and are growing fast. Other then that nothing has changed. I'm going to move the Lasius aphidicola next spring or summer. I have this 5 gallon container that I was going to use for roaches until I broke the lid while making ventilation. I wasn't allowed to have an open air roach farm for obvious reasons but I already have open air ant farms. I want to move the aphidicola in. It currently just had moss, but I want them to farm aphids so I planted some jalapeno and milkweed seeds I had laying around and also added a few small ground plants. Will this be enough for them to have aphids on?

[OiledOlives]

I definitely wouldn't recommend moving aphidicola into a vivarium since they're extremely subterranean and you might not see them again.

[ANTdrew]

Also, milkweed will not grow for long without full sun.

[Virginian_ants]

Okay. I will transplant the milkweed outside if it sprouts. I'll find another colony to put in it. I'm thinking dolichoderus or brachyponera. Any others that would do well?

[ANTdrew]

Did you cold stratify the milkweed seeds? They will not germinate without first undergoing a month a damp cold.

[Virginian_ants]

No I did not. I was gifted them with no information and I couldn't find any. I did put them into paper towel and kept them in a drawer for 2 weeks and it looked like they ballooned and produced a weird liquid so I thought it was good.

[Virginian_ants]

Update 26/9/23

The myrmica has workers she got her first one a few days after the last update then got many more now had about 6.

I also have a Pheidole queen who got workers. Don't know the exact species but probably dentata. I don't know if I'll keep her. If your interested then pm me.

Mini update in two weeks I'm going to visit a family member in Cuba so I'm excited to find Cuban ants and they have said there are scorpions. It's Guantanamo bay so probably mostly invasive ants but I'm still hopeful.

Edited by Virginian_ants, September 26 2023 - 4:40 AM.

[Virginian_ants]

The pogonomyrmex queen has died. I think the Pheidole could be davisi I can't get good photos but when I can I will post them. I heard that Vollenhovia emeryi don't need to hibernate. It's this true and what others don't benefit from it?

[Virginian_ants]

My Aphaenogaster have died. They were growing rapidly but suddenly fell ill with the same disease that has infected two other of my Aphaenogaster colonies. I'm planning on getting pietrie discs and agar so I can grow it and study it when it comes back in the future. I need a name for it any ideas?

Edited by Virginian_ants, October 5 2023 - 11:59 AM.

[antsriondel]

Oh no! That is awful!

[Virginian_ants]

I haven't updated this in a while so I will just say what ants are still alive and their condition.

Aphaenogaster-my little brother's colony is still growing fast not in hibernation

Camponotus-both colonies in hibernation.

Formica- I have this fusca group colony that I was gonna sell to someone but they never followed up so their mine now. In hibernation

Lasius aphidicola - they are a good 50/50 host to biological workers. In hibernation

Mymica- they have 11 workers with many more on the way. Not in hibernation.

Myrmecina- they had larvae but I can't see them anymore just eggs but they are doing well. Not in hibernation.

Monomorium minimum- they have been moved out of the island because I thought they died. Now I moved them into a tubes and tubes they still have 5 queens and many workers. Not in hibernation.

Pheidole Tysoni- doing great. Not in hibernation.

Tetramorium- they are still in their ant tower and nothing much changed. Not in hibernation.

Tapinoma- they are just in a test tube they killed a few queens. In hibernation.

Temnothorax- they escaped but moved into the Lasius aphidicola's hydration chamber it would be too much work to move them out so they will stay there. In hibernation.

Vollenhovia- they are still growing and have gotten a few new queens I think. Not in hibernation.


Thanks for reading.
-VAA