40 replies to this topic

[dermy]

Day#1- September 3rd/2015- Was looking at weeding the flower pots to get them ready for our brutal winter, saves time in the spring. And I noticed a few workers. So of course I do what anyone with a half a brain would do, I Dumped it out and started grabbing as many workers as I could. I actually didn't find a queen until I dumped it out to look, and I found 1 at least. I've never found a Myrmica Colony with only One Queen before.... super weird! I'm not going to bother trying to find any more in my container right now. But I do want to go back and dig in the pot again and see what I can find.

 

I made them a special setup, not very good for viewing, but from my past experince they love setups like these! I took [I will get pictures up eventually] 2 Gum Container Lids, duct taped them together, and stuffed in some dirt and the colony inside. I haven't bothered with a Foraging area right now. But I think with a colony that will be growing by 2x once I go back out and get the rest of the workers, they will need it. I also found some brood with them, which is good. I always like a colony that comes with brood.

 

One question, is there any reason that at this time of the year the workers are all Callow looking and haven't developed their darker red colour?

 

 

Other then that not much to say. I'll provide pictures and stuff soon.

[William. T]

There seem to be variations in the genus. I see Tetramoirum SpE colonies with light brown workers, while some of their sisters are black.

[Nes187]

My wife found a small colony in a little chunk off wood and it only had 1 queen too, she turned the piece of wood into sawdust looking so she's pretty sure she never missed any, I found one not far away with 7 queens, so I'm not sure what a normal ammount would be,

[LC3]

I think it might be heat related for the callow workers, they are heat loving ants after all. Form all the workers I have they usually take a very long time to fully darken I often find callow workers under warm rocks during the morning and winters but not so much during the summer and afternoon (by then it's either too dry or just normal workers). 

 

Just another question. Can pupae over winter? If not do Myrmica pupae over winter? 

[dermy]

Just got a reply from someone and thought I'd post it on here for anyone wondering at least a theory on the Callow thing:

 

 

It's because around this time they over feed their brood so it develops quicker so they don't have to over winter the brood, so lots of their brood quickly becomes workers and therefore a bulk amount of callows emerge, that's what I've found anyway

[Mdrogun]

I think it might be heat related for the callow workers, they are heat loving ants after all. Form all the workers I have they usually take a very long time to fully darken I often find callow workers under warm rocks during the morning and winters but not so much during the summer and afternoon (by then it's either too dry or just normal workers). 

 

Just another question. Can pupae over winter? If not do Myrmica pupae over winter? 

 

I am pretty sure that almost all pupae that overwinter will die. However I could be wrong when it comes to Myrmica.

[dermy]

Here are a few videos of my Colony as of Tonight [fun moving ants out of nasty nests!]

 

Vid 1-

https://www.youtube....h?v=x9Z677SUSTc

 

Vid 2- The Colony of Workers

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=89DaOCzgbKE

 

Vid 3- The Queen

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=QydEwXu85CI

 

They are doing well, I've even noticed some Eggs!

[dermy]

Got good news I stayed up all night long [still haven't slept] and got their setup back to normal and they are now happily back in exploring their nest

[dermy]

Some of these ants found a way out of the Nest, now they are sitting on the outside doing absolutely nothing

 

I just hope 100+ ants don't start walking everywhere

[dermy]

Made a super fast time-lapse of the Colony today:

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=DGjPh4sNg_A

 

 

I plan to do one of them feeding eventually They need more protein in their diets I think. I even saw the Queen today [not in the video though]

[dermy]

_{Here are a few Time-Lapses I've made of this Colony, which I think are ready for Hibernation!}

 

_{https://www.youtube....h?v=Tfc8jyN_f-E}

 

_{One of the Foraging area:}

 

_{https://www.youtube....h?v=QswQtLRapBQ}

 

 

_{I'm thinking about bulking them up on sugary sweets and maybe one more pupae, then off to Hibernation.}

[dermy]

I'm going to be throwing them into hibernation here in a week. Just loading them up with sugar water and water. I finally detached the old outworld as well. I'll try to get at least a few pictures of it all soon.

[dermy]

These ants are going to be placed into hibernation very soon, I've been watching them and they are just not that interested in food [minus the sweet stuff and water] so I'm going to feed them up and place them in my basement for Hibernation. I've done this with my Other Myrmica Colony last year and they did fine.

[dermy]

I woke the colony up and about 2 days later here is the result they have taken out dead workers, and have begun foraging again

 

Here is a short video on the colony

https://www.youtube....h?v=fEX2cufwA9g

 

I like the barrier system, as sometimes they can climb up it when it's just the walls, but with the lid the way it is they can't climb upside down [I've never had it happen, might change with a much larger colony] The "Barrier' is just simple Canola oil, it works well. Vaseline and stuff doesn't have any effect on them and it's all sticky all the time [I hate that]

[dermy]

Just made a really cheesy "Time-lapse" of what went on in their foraging area during their first major feeding

https://www.youtube....eature=youtu.be

 

 

The queen has been spotted a lot and I've noticed some eggs too

[dermy]

Just a quick update on these [I'll get some footage and stuff of them later] the Colony is doing well [yay for once an Ant Colony is doing good!] and I've noticed a lot more workers then what I thought I had [they haven't made any new ones yet I don't think] and they have been foraging and eating lots. I've noticed a small amount of brood in the nest [hard to get a view inside, but it's not a big deal to me at the moment]

 

The queen is well, and so far, nothing major has happened, no-one knows where they are and that is good

[dermy]

I can't believe how fast this queen is producing eggs, some are already larvae, if the nest wasn't so messy I'd try to get a video of them, they seem to pile them up neatly depending on sizes, and eggs have their own pile. They have been eating a lot of mealworm and grasshopper [I found it when I was outside, tossed in the freezer and just threw it in there for them]

 

I'm hopeful that this colony will bounce right back to their previous numbers in population.

[dermy]

I took a little video of the Foraging area, lots of workers doing stuff [which is nice to see] it's a mess but it's a good representation of myself so yeah

 

https://www.youtube....eature=youtu.be

[dspdrew]

So is that what the floor in your room looks like?

[dermy]

Not dead mealworms, but garbage and stuff yeah sometimes. I clean it every now and then.