85 replies to this topic

[AsdinAnts]

I’d say too just leave the three queens by themselves for now, and if you want to make another colony, add the queens all at once.

[JesseTheAntKid]

UPDATE 8: Oh dear God. This is not looking good. I decided since they werent eating the jelly I would take it out and try again later. Me being the soft squishy smoothie brain I was I forgot to put the lid back on. Queen Tetrana has gone missing without a trace. I am oh so distressed. It's now down to only two queens. Tomorrow, I am going to be doing something brash, but necessary as I deem it. I am going to have to catch more queens. Wish me luck, I'm going in. As for the other two, they are still in their chambers. I wonder if they will eventually go out to forage realizing the other queens are not coming back. Hopefully this is the case and they can lay more until the next bundle of queens arrives. For now, I will pray for Queen Tetrana's safe return and for an abundance of T. bicarinatum queens.

[JesseTheAntKid]

And if you are wondering, yes, I have been filling the water tubes up. I am hoping to encourage the queens to feel safer, as in it'll be more moist. Good night.

[ANTdrew]

And if you are wondering, yes, I have been filling the water tubes up. I am hoping to encourage the queens to feel safer, as in it'll be more moist. Good night.

Use the edit button to add on extra thoughts like this.

[JesseTheAntKid]

UPDATE 9: Things are starting to get better. I still have only two queens, but I came upon a revelation. They absolutely would not go out to their outworld to eat. So I thought: Instead of not wanting to, what if they don't feel safe doing it? I couldn't let them starve so I got the banana flavored jelly. I guess T. bicarinatum has a love for bananas, because as I put a small sliver just outside one of the duo queens' residences, she went out to explore. She gobbled that banana jelly up. As for the other, she hasn't detected the jelly yet. I am hoping she will. And BTW, I have their "natural" (I decided to go with two outworlds, the bigger one is natural and the smaller one is artifical) outwirld set up. I decided to make it look like the familiar sandy and moist beaches of Texas, which constantly give a salty pine aroma to soothe the nerves. I added small moisture absorbing rocks, some white rocks, some mulch, a couple pine twigs, and of course, this isn't Texas without pine needles. I also added some moss, which I will water with freshwater to make it even more like a beach environment. I hope the T. bicarinatum queens will feel at home, as they have grown up in Texas their whole lives, even if their ancestors didn't. This was a pretty long update. TLDR, The queens finally ate and I made their natural outworld look like the beaches of Texas.

[AsdinAnts]

nice update!

[JesseTheAntKid]

UPDATE 10: They look all cozy and comfy. I made sure the first queen ate as she had evidently looked weak, so I shoved a piece of banana jelly right next to her. Within 15 minutes, that jelly has been put to shame. She got more comfortable with the sand, and is currently sitting right where the sandy outworld and her 3 rooms sit. For now, because they have made incredible progress considering their numerous losses, I have given them an extra room. They now have 2 out of 4 3-room segments, and of course their tropical vacation outworld. I made the smaller outworld a constantly moist and uncontrolled overgrowth of plants. Their small outworld smells like pizza now because of the thyme. The more active queen, the one who ate in the beginning, has a healthy little batch of eggs she carries in her mouth protectively. Things are going smoothly.

[AsdinAnts]

you should feed them protein, I would suggest fruit flies, mealworms, and maybe a cricket leg.

[JesseTheAntKid]

UPDATE 11: I caught and froze two xyloni majors and one invicta male, and then boiled them to make sure no harmful germs were on them. I placed one major in the other queen's chamber, and then placed the invicta male right in the beach vacation entrance where the main queen moved her nest to.

Edited by JesseTheAntKid, January 7 2024 - 2:32 PM.

[JesseTheAntKid]

UPDATE 12: The main queen is doing great. She's gotten very comfortable with the outside, and I have repeatedly caught her taking little nibbles of the invicta male. A heavy rain blows over the beach. The forest gets a canopy wash.

[JesseTheAntKid]

UPDATE 13: Everything is going very, very smoothly. The second queen has eaten, and our main queen has gotten comfy right next to the cacti. I'll try to upload a picture.

[AsdinAnts]

nice 👍

[JesseTheAntKid]

UPDATE 14: The second queens area was infested with mold, so I moved her gently into another area. I tried picking up her eggs with a toothpick, and it worked.

[AsdinAnts]

have any of them hatched into larvae yet, maybe you should raise the temperature. The ideal temperature for this is 30-32 C.

[JesseTheAntKid]

update fifteen:

 

 

 

 

It is with great sadness that i report to you that this journal has come to a close. The two queens are nowhere to be seen in their enclosure, and I can only assume that they have escaped. If i catch more queens, I will restart this journal. But for now, this journal is finished.

[AsdinAnts]

you should leave the space that you had open in hopes of them coming back, and also leave test tubes around the area you lost them just incase they see it as a suitable place to found their colony. (that's what I did with my argentine ants and they came back)

[JesseTheAntKid]

Will do.

[JesseTheAntKid]

UPDATE: Just caught a fresh new alate and a queen. This journal is restarting.

And guess who has a feeder just for them

Edited by JesseTheAntKid, February 5 2024 - 1:26 AM.

[AsdinAnts]

california doesn’t have nuptials till later in the season, I’m sad 😔 anyways, congrats on finding a new alate and queen! Are you going to combine the two, or are you going to separate them?

[JesseTheAntKid]

They're already combined + best buds.