34 replies to this topic

[Demoant]

22nd September 2024

It is raining. No anting for me ;(

 

Pseudoneoponera rufipes 

2Q
After catching another queen in late August as well as the older other queens not doing much, I decided to make a risky move and merge them all together (if you can't tell this is a way i use to reduce colonies). After a few days together one queen collapsed but not due to dominance related injuries. A hierarchy emerged between the remaining two queens. 

Here you have the two. The one closer to the camera is the dominant one, and the submissive one gets constantly bullied by the dominant queen. Usually in the form of antennae bashing and pulling. Yet, this is the most successful they have been as I have not seen that many eggs at once in this year of keeping them.

 

Iridomyrmex anceps

1Q, ~300W

They are getting out of control. They move extremely fast and react quickly to any disturbance. It does not help that they are the second fastest growing species in my collection (beaten by Pheidole, but the big heads move way more chill compared to the black tyrants).

 

They also like to make pyramids using brood items in the arena. It could be that the drier environment in the arena favours the pupae more.

 

Myopopone castanea 

1Q

Finally the eggs hatched, but that old larva from before is still the same... I also moved her to a nest with forest substrate instead of clay. It will likely take another month for workers to arrive, if I am lucky that is.

 

Anochetus graeffei 

3Q, ~30W

Now moved them to a plaster nest. So far so good with them, good number of cocoons and the workers bringing the larvae outside for food.

 

But just one problem. Mites. I saw a few workers having some attached on their bodies. See the bumps on this worker's gaster?

No idea if these are parasitic and harmful to the ants or just hitchhikers that does nothing. I will keep an eye on any worker deaths.

 

Paratopula bauhinia
~20W

This is my old colony which I got back from Leo. From an incident a massive number of workers died and presumably the queen too. However, there are some eggs lying around and there is one wingless dealate in the mass of alates that could be the queen. 

 

There is really only about 20 to 30 workers, the rest are alates.

 

Carebara affinis

1Q, ~100W

Good to see the first major arriving, visible above the queen's head. The colony is growing well but a bit slow. That is probably a blessing in disguise, watching 50 workers rush to the tube entrance during feeding time is terrifying and it will only get worse.

 

 

There has been some deaths. Mayriella is on the brink of collapse with workers dropping like flies. Centromyrmex queen gave up and died after I moved her to a new setup which is a big bummer.

University is hammering on me, but I did get to try some lab work on sorting insects which is very neat. See you all next time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

Just stunning ants!

[RushmoreAnts]

Nice to see some unique species! I love those Pseudoneoponera. They look so... primal.

[Demoant]

19th October 2024

I had an entire week off...

 

Pheidole nodifera

1Q, 1000W

Got my DIY engine up and running again and made them and Iridomyrmex some ytong nests.

 

However, the problem of the brick being too dry struck and they suffered quite a bit, about 100 workers died of dehydration. It wasn't until me looking at the nest and saw the larvae all wrinkled that I realised the issue. The problem has been resolved now with me blasting the nest with water and putting a water tube in the arena.

 

Iridomyrmex anceps

1Q, 500W

This is their ytong nest.

 

They are more dry tolerant than Pheidole but it was obvious that they needed water. Now they actually put the majority of the brood in the water tube next to the nest.

Here is a few chambers with brood right up against the glass. 

 

Tetraponera nigra

1Q

Found this queen maybe 2 weeks ago. She is laying eggs which is astounding (a lot of the tponera queens I caught never did anything).

I haven't actually been feeding her protein so I should give her more roaches. I do want to keep this species so fingers crossed.

 

Camponotus sp.

1Q, 5W

These and my big colony are actually the same species. I likely will give them away soon. Still, they are pretty cute.

 

Myrmoteras binghamii

1Q,15W and 1Q, 10W

The formicinae trap jaws are back! Got 2 colonies again. This time I am keeping them quite well with the brood actually developing and not stagnate (all thanks to the fridge).

 

You might ask why one colony is in a chamber and why the other isn't. Answer is that one just never moved so I removed the chamber. They don't really mind.

Here is a video from a month ago where the chamberless colony eats some roach pieces.

 

Odontoponera denticulata

1Q, 2W

I removed a queen to see if the behavior of killing pupae was related to some sort of between-queen sabotage. It has been about a week and this cocoon is still here. If it dies then I will switch the other queen back to see if there is any difference.

 

The viewing plastic isn't the best...

 

Harpegnathos venator

1Q, 13W

Everyone's favourite curved jaw Myrmecia is developing very well. Harps grow surprisingly quick even with them being largish ants.

 

Spiky larva.

 

Camponotus lianghuang

1Q 

I saved the best for last. This rare species of Camponotus flies in October, which is very late for the genus. I caught this queen last week after seeing a male while at university. The best part is that she already laid 2 eggs.   

 

They are still undescribed but the name "lianghuang" is given to them by sellers and keepers. It means bright yellow which perfectly describes the ant.

 

I managed to bump into Dr. Guénard while working at the lab and he complimented my shirt. So yeah, consider this a brag   

The anting season is coming to an end but some Polyrhachis and other random things is still flying. I was shocked to hear US and EU keepers already starting diapause. Maybe I just never noticed. Ants here do diapause in or even after November so my ants still got some time to grow.

Hope you have enjoyed this entry and I will see you next time.

[Demoant]

2nd November 2024

It is getting cooler...

 

Odontomachus simillimus (1Q, 11W)

Growing very nicely. It feels like their meat demand decreased as they grew? The workers are still nanitic size and the next generation should give rise to the bigger workers.

 

Worker next to the large egg pile.

 

Odontomachus silvestrii (1Q)

Haven't laid a single egg yet. Her gaster seems to have gotten longer for the last few days, maybe a good sign?

 

Ectomomyrmex leeuwenhoeki (1Q, 9W)

Gave them a new nest. I added too much water in the previous setup and some pupae died, rip.

 

The two queens are still here and they will likely grow a bit more judging by the eggs and larvae present.

 

Colobopsis minus (30W) and hybrid (10W)

The three queen minus colony are booming. I spotted a few major pupae/larvae and that is very exciting.

 

The hybrid colony is not as fast by a long shot. They suffered a few worker deaths for some reason. Still, they have a nice pile of brood.

 

Polyrhachis peetersi (1Q)

3 eggs. Is nice. She is still very timid but disturbing her doesn't cause her to eat the eggs so that is fine.

 

Camponotus mutilaris (1Q, 7W)

I almost forgot to feed them, which tells you how much of a background character they are. The queen finally laid a few eggs but they are growing at snail's pace.

 

Ooceraea biroi (400W)

I have split them, the left colony is around 100 workers while the rest is at the dirt setup. They also have mites but I have given up on dealing with that.

 

This is the split colony. Waiting for them to lay eggs again.

 

I actually got a new Camponotus colony. Not sure on the species, they are darker than my old vitiosus, but there is a chance my old vitiosus is actually lighti. After evicting them from their sticks I realised they don't have a queen. However, I noticed eggs appearing so that means the queen is there or the workers are laying. Anyways I might include them in the next update. 
See you next time.

Edited by Demoant, November 4 2024 - 12:30 AM.

[Demoant]

4th December 2024

How is there only a month left in 2024???

 

As promised from last post here is a few photos of the new Camponotus colony I got.

I checked a few more times and they don't have a queen. However a lot more eggs have appeared.

Maybe these are infertile eggs.

 

Dacatria templaris

This is a rather unique species of ant as they resemble Proatta, which resembles the new world Atta genus. Wonder how they woul...

oh

 

Crap.

So the colony is now left orphaned sadly. They do have an interesting albeit annoying trait of faking death. Sometimes it is hard to know if the ant is really 6 inches underground or not.

 

Here is a dead worker. They do look less like Atta but they are a sister genus to Proatta. 

 

Stictoponera bicolor (100W)

They have earned themselves a plaster nest. Workers rarely leave exposed patches of brood but I got a photo of the eggs.

 

Carebara affinis (1Q, 300W)

A couple more majors have appeared but it is still a long way from them swarming over everything. They are also growing slower than I expected which is probably a blessing in disguise.

 

Polyrhachis peetersi and Polyrachis fellowesi (1Q each)

Gonna group them together because why not.

Peetersi has done a good job of getting a pupa while fellowesi is still at one egg. Myrmas.

I gave her the tube with the cork so she can have a nest and eating part. I still have hopes for her, for now.

 

Strumigenys exilirhina (1Q, 20W)

Still kicking in their setup but they are not interesting at all.

 

Tetramorium parvispinum (2Q, 50W?)

Same with the strumis they are very boring. This dirt setup doesn't even allow me to see anything.

 

Iridomyrmex anceps (1Q, 700W)

Awful thing happened to them. My cat slipped from my ant table, dragging their old setup with her. 

They lost probably 30-40% of workers. Lucky for me they stored a lot of the brood at the tube next to them so a good portion of the colony remained.

Lessoned learned. DON'T LET YOUR CAT TOUCH YOUR ANTS AT ALL!!!

 

Mystrium camillae (1Q, 20W)

Some new ants. After the failure of Myopopone I decided to try my hands on some other Amblyoponinae. They haven't got any eggs yet but they are happy to eat mealworms. 

They also have different sized workers which would be neat the see when the colony grows.

 

The temperature got a lot cooler in the last week and the ants are starting their diapause sooner or later. I finally have to time to write as I approach the exam period of the university.

I will probably update again in 2 weeks.

See you next time.

[Demoant]

8th December 2024

Gonna do more but shorter updates, hopefully...

 

Camponotus lianghuang (1Q)

She might honestly be a Camponotus that founds semi-claustrally. She is very to happy eat both sugar and roaches.

Development slowed a bit but she got one pupa now. Nice!

 

Colobopsis minus hybrid (2Q, 30W)
I threw them into the fridge to give them an adventage over their non-hybrid counterpart. (Guess who has a favourite colony?)

They have one major pupa but I cannot tell which species it belongs to. I will get the answer in 2 weeks probably.

 

Camponotus sp. (1Q, 200W)

After seeing them occupying the water tube in their arena I finally gave them a plaster nest. I forgot how well ants stand out in the white plaster.

 

They still have a bit of growing before occupying the entire nest. Here is an awful photo which I hope can show the plenty of callows.

 

 

[Demoant]

16th December 2024

It got really cold. (it is 17C)

 

Camponotus holosericeus (1Q, 5W)

A species that I really want to be successful, but they aren't. This colony started with 8 workers but trickled down to 5. 
They would grow if it wasn't winter.

 

Pheidole nodifera (1Q, 2000W)

I provided them a heating cable (and Iridomymrex too) to help them continue their development in winter. 

I want to make them a horizontal nest and have water chambers where I can add water to them. They have very high water demands.

 

Colobopsis minus (3Q, 60W)

As of the time I am writing this the queens in the hybrid Colobopsis colony mauled each other. I have terminated the colony so no more of them sadly.

This colony will probably receive the leftover brood.

 

Myrmoteras binghamii (1Q, 15W &1Q, 7W)

Again the bigger colony is doing better than the smaller one. 

 

Anochetus graeffei (3Q, 30W)

They haven't been growing too much partly due to me not feeding them a lot. 

 

Lordomyrma jingpo(1Q, 300W)

Not sure which. I have yet to look more deeply into the genus Lordomyrma and I don't feel like going through Tetramorium. They are easy to keep which is good.

The idea of Lordomyrma is from other keepers of the same species but they are also unsure. 

 

I don't think I will update the Ooceraea anymore. Their setup is overrun by springtails and mold. The container will become a springtail farm.

I have a few more new species to show but I will wait till they stablize or when I figure out how to keep them well to reveal them.

Edited by Demoant, December 22 2024 - 9:05 PM.

[Yusteponant]

4th December 2024

How is there only a month left in 2024???

 

As promised from last post here is a few photos of the new Camponotus colony I got.

I checked a few more times and they don't have a queen. However a lot more eggs have appeared.

Maybe these are infertile eggs.

 

Dacatria templaris

This is a rather unique species of ant as they resemble Proatta, which resembles the new world Atta genus. Wonder how they woul...

oh

 

Crap.

So the colony is now left orphaned sadly. They do have an interesting albeit annoying trait of faking death. Sometimes it is hard to know if the ant is really 6 inches underground or not.

 

Here is a dead worker. They do look less like Atta but they are a sister genus to Proatta. 

 

Stictoponera bicolor (100W)

They have earned themselves a plaster nest. Workers rarely leave exposed patches of brood but I got a photo of the eggs.

 

Carebara affinis (1Q, 300W)

A couple more majors have appeared but it is still a long way from them swarming over everything. They are also growing slower than I expected which is probably a blessing in disguise.

 

Polyrhachis peetersi and Polyrachis fellowesi (1Q each)

Gonna group them together because why not.

Peetersi has done a good job of getting a pupa while fellowesi is still at one egg. Myrmas.

I gave her the tube with the cork so she can have a nest and eating part. I still have hopes for her, for now.

 

Strumigenys exilirhina (1Q, 20W)

Still kicking in their setup but they are not interesting at all.

 

Tetramorium parvispinum (2Q, 50W?)

Same with the strumis they are very boring. This dirt setup doesn't even allow me to see anything.

 

Iridomyrmex anceps (1Q, 700W)

Awful thing happened to them. My cat slipped from my ant table, dragging their old setup with her. 

They lost probably 30-40% of workers. Lucky for me they stored a lot of the brood at the tube next to them so a good portion of the colony remained.

Lessoned learned. DON'T LET YOUR CAT TOUCH YOUR ANTS AT ALL!!!

 

Mystrium camillae (1Q, 20W)

Some new ants. After the failure of Myopopone I decided to try my hands on some other Amblyoponinae. They haven't got any eggs yet but they are happy to eat mealworms. 

They also have different sized workers which would be neat the see when the colony grows.

 

The temperature got a lot cooler in the last week and the ants are starting their diapause sooner or later. I finally have to time to write as I approach the exam period of the university.

I will probably update again in 2 weeks.

See you next time.

What do you put into the plaster? It looks amazing by the way

[Demoant]

 

4th December 2024

How is there only a month left in 2024???

 

As promised from last post here is a few photos of the new Camponotus colony I got.

I checked a few more times and they don't have a queen. However a lot more eggs have appeared.

Maybe these are infertile eggs.

 

Dacatria templaris

This is a rather unique species of ant as they resemble Proatta, which resembles the new world Atta genus. Wonder how they woul...

oh

 

Crap.

So the colony is now left orphaned sadly. They do have an interesting albeit annoying trait of faking death. Sometimes it is hard to know if the ant is really 6 inches underground or not.

 

Here is a dead worker. They do look less like Atta but they are a sister genus to Proatta. 

 

Stictoponera bicolor (100W)

They have earned themselves a plaster nest. Workers rarely leave exposed patches of brood but I got a photo of the eggs.

 

Carebara affinis (1Q, 300W)

A couple more majors have appeared but it is still a long way from them swarming over everything. They are also growing slower than I expected which is probably a blessing in disguise.

 

Polyrhachis peetersi and Polyrachis fellowesi (1Q each)

Gonna group them together because why not.

Peetersi has done a good job of getting a pupa while fellowesi is still at one egg. Myrmas.

I gave her the tube with the cork so she can have a nest and eating part. I still have hopes for her, for now.

 

Strumigenys exilirhina (1Q, 20W)

Still kicking in their setup but they are not interesting at all.

 

Tetramorium parvispinum (2Q, 50W?)

Same with the strumis they are very boring. This dirt setup doesn't even allow me to see anything.

 

Iridomyrmex anceps (1Q, 700W)

Awful thing happened to them. My cat slipped from my ant table, dragging their old setup with her. 

They lost probably 30-40% of workers. Lucky for me they stored a lot of the brood at the tube next to them so a good portion of the colony remained.

Lessoned learned. DON'T LET YOUR CAT TOUCH YOUR ANTS AT ALL!!!

 

Mystrium camillae (1Q, 20W)

Some new ants. After the failure of Myopopone I decided to try my hands on some other Amblyoponinae. They haven't got any eggs yet but they are happy to eat mealworms. 

They also have different sized workers which would be neat the see when the colony grows.

 

The temperature got a lot cooler in the last week and the ants are starting their diapause sooner or later. I finally have to time to write as I approach the exam period of the university.

I will probably update again in 2 weeks.

See you next time.

What do you put into the plaster? It looks amazing by the way

 

I put in excavator clay into the plaster while mixing. This idea is when I thought about adding colour to the plaster but I didn't want to purchase specific pigments. Then I realised the clay substrate dye the plaster to the brown colour.

[Yusteponant]

Thank you!

[Shinywooloo]

Is your name a TF2 refrence

[Demoant]

25th December 2024

Merry Christmas fellas!

 

Camponotus sp. Scarlet (1Q, 2W)

A fairly large and exceptionally beautiful Camponotus. I think this is my first Camponotus in the subgenus, Camponotus. This means they would likely grow much slower than the tropical Camponotus here. Very excited to see how the colonly develops and when majors show up.

 

Odontoponera denticulata (1Q, 4W)

Finally picking themselves up. They stopped opening premature cocoons and is finally growing. 

 

Paratopula bauhinia (1Q, 23W)

Their tube is really, really gross. I can't get much of a good pic so here is an ugly photo.

I don't see much eggs but the larva pile is still massive.

 

Polyrhachis peetersi (1Q, 1W)

Things went out well, the worker emerged with no problem. Now I wonder how long will it take for this colony to get 10 workers.   

 

Carebara affinis (1Q, 600W?)

I moved them as they had an odd die off of around 80 workers. After I dumped them out I saw a massive major at a staggering 9mm (not the biggest I know). I would have expected majors of that size to appear much later in the colony's life, not within a year of founding. 

I also saw another larva which will likely grow into another large major.

 

I kinda didn't't realise it was Christmas until yesterday when I learned that it was already the 24th. So, Merry Christmas and Happy new year! Hope you all can get the ants you want next year!

[Demoant]

Is your name a TF2 refrence

Yes

here is an old drawing i did for Demoant and friends

[MyrmecologyMaven]

Merry Christmas to you as well! The Camponotus sp. scarlet reminds me of my old colony of Camponotus CA02 that slowly fizzled out a year ago. I gave away all my colonies last year because I was too busy to take care of all of them. My area doesn't have that many interesting ants because of invasive argentine ants killing everything. Haven't caught anything besides solenopsis and a camponotus queen that escaped before I could catch it. The only time I find cool ants is when I go out camping. Now that I have more time I'm gonna go out anting again this year and find some more ants. Also planning to purchase a few new colonies online soon (I miss my myrmecocystus and harvesters). Thanks for making such a well put together interesting thread! You keep showing off some of my DREAM species that we don't have here in the states!