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AntsCali's Marvelous Myrmecocystus "Purpleblacks'

Started By AntsCali098 , Mar 19 2024 6:57 PM

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10 replies to this topic

#1 Offline AntsCali098 - Posted March 19 2024 - 6:57 PM

AntsCali098

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This is a long overdue journal.

I caught a single purpleblack queen during my desert trip last August. She immediately laid a huge batch of eggs!

Screenshot_20240318-192152.png

She then got workers a few weeks later, and a relatively large first gen.

https://youtu.be/4dg...-6hVWPywmQk0PiV

Like most of my ants, the queen has just laid some eggs after winter that have now turned into some small larvae!

Thanks for checking out my journal!
  • Dan_Not_Found, TacticalHandleGaming, futurebird and 4 others like this

Interested buying in ants? Feel free to check out my shop! 

Feel free to read my journals, like this one.

 

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Atta sp (wish they were in CA), Crematogaster cerasi, Most Pheidole species

 

 

#2 Offline futurebird - Posted March 20 2024 - 2:57 AM

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Excited to see what comes next for this colony. How did you spot the queen? Was there a mating flight? Or was she just wandering around?


  • AntsCali098 likes this

Starting this July I'm posting videos of my ants every week on youTube.

I like to make relaxing videos that capture the joy of watching ants.

If that sounds like your kind of thing... follow me >here<. 

#3 Offline The_Gaming-gate - Posted March 20 2024 - 4:17 AM

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What a beautiful queen! I love the way honeypots look. I’m excited to see the progress of this colony!
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Ants are small creatures... but together... they can rule the world.

 

 

 

#4 Offline AntsCali098 - Posted March 20 2024 - 1:07 PM

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Excited to see what comes next for this colony. How did you spot the queen? Was there a mating flight? Or was she just wandering around?


She flew to my blacklight. I originally thought she was a M.navajo queen in the dark but when I got home I realized. She still had wings and was flying, so I assumed she was unfertilized, but thankfully I still collected her!

Interested buying in ants? Feel free to check out my shop! 

Feel free to read my journals, like this one.

 

Wishlist:

Atta sp (wish they were in CA), Crematogaster cerasi, Most Pheidole species

 

 

#5 Offline TacticalHandleGaming - Posted March 21 2024 - 5:38 AM

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Very interesting coloration! I look forward to seeing her colony grow!
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Currently kept species

L. neoniger, P. occidentalis, C. modoc, C. novaeboracensis, C. vicinus, T. immigrans, A. occidentalis, S. molesta, P. imparis, M. kennedyi, M semirufus, F. pacifica, P. californica, M. ergatogyna.

 

Previously kept species

T. rugatulus, B. depilis.

 

Looking for

Myrmecocystus pyramicus, Myrmecocystus testaceus

Pheidole creightoni, Pheidole inquilina, Crematogaster coarctata, Crematogaster mutans

My youtube channel.  My ant Etsy store - Millennium Ants

#6 Offline AntsCali098 - Posted March 21 2024 - 7:41 AM

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Excited to see what comes next for this colony. How did you spot the queen? Was there a mating flight? Or was she just wandering around?


She flew to my blacklight. I originally thought she was a M.navajo queen in the dark but when I got home I realized. She still had wings and was flying, so I assumed she was unfertilized, but thankfully I still collected her!

I just realized I wrote that for my Aphaenogaster megammota queen, not this one lol.

Anyways I caught 11 of them during that trip, in the morning and day. There was a bunch of founding chambers around and most had purpleblack queens. I noticed a few were still building their chambers, so I'm guessing they flew earlier that morning.
  • TacticalHandleGaming and futurebird like this

Interested buying in ants? Feel free to check out my shop! 

Feel free to read my journals, like this one.

 

Wishlist:

Atta sp (wish they were in CA), Crematogaster cerasi, Most Pheidole species

 

 

#7 Offline AntsCali098 - Posted June 5 2024 - 5:27 PM

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Its been a while...but they obviously have workers now. They should probably have more, but for some reason the brood just keeps disappearing before it gets past larval stage. Not too sure what's happening there. Anyways, they have about 15 workers with hopefully more to come. They have 1 or 2 small larvae at the moment.

 

purpleblacks

 

Thanks for checking out my journal!


  • TacticalHandleGaming and AsdinAnts like this

Interested buying in ants? Feel free to check out my shop! 

Feel free to read my journals, like this one.

 

Wishlist:

Atta sp (wish they were in CA), Crematogaster cerasi, Most Pheidole species

 

 

#8 Offline kiedeerk - Posted June 5 2024 - 5:47 PM

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Myrmecocystus are very weird and unpredictable. They are picky eaters and have many random deaths. your colony should always have a decent brood pile which I don’t see. They should have brood from all stages at this point. So something is probably wrong whether temperature, humidity, lack of substrate, food intake etc… you have to fix something by ruling out every one of them

Edited by kiedeerk, June 5 2024 - 5:48 PM.

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#9 Offline AntsCali098 - Posted June 5 2024 - 5:51 PM

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Myrmecocystus are very weird and unpredictable. They are picky eaters and have many random deaths. your colony should always have a decent brood pile which I don’t see. They should have brood from all stages at this point. So something is probably wrong whether temperature, humidity, lack of substrate, food intake etc… you have to fix something by ruling out every one of them

I'll try feeding more. They have a heat cable and some substrate, and are in a test tube setup so I don't see a humidity issue.


Interested buying in ants? Feel free to check out my shop! 

Feel free to read my journals, like this one.

 

Wishlist:

Atta sp (wish they were in CA), Crematogaster cerasi, Most Pheidole species

 

 

#10 Online AsdinAnts - Posted June 5 2024 - 5:57 PM

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it doesn’t look like much substrate based on the photo..

Currently keeping
-T. immigrans

-B. patagonicus

-P. ???
I will want to also keep some other lasius types in the future.
You should also subscribe to my youtube channel! https://www.youtube.com/@AsdAnts

#11 Offline AntsCali098 - Posted June 5 2024 - 6:41 PM

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it doesn’t look like much substrate based on the photo..

There's more out of view


Edited by AntsCali098, June 5 2024 - 6:41 PM.

Interested buying in ants? Feel free to check out my shop! 

Feel free to read my journals, like this one.

 

Wishlist:

Atta sp (wish they were in CA), Crematogaster cerasi, Most Pheidole species

 

 

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