17 replies to this topic

[AntsAreUs]

Currently keeping so far:

None

 

Planning on Ponera pennsylvanica soon...

Edited by AntsAreUs, March 10 2025 - 1:10 PM.

[Nare]

Currently keeping so far:

Myrmica sp. - 2 queens with eggs
Camponotus pennsylvanicus - 1 queen eggs small larva
Camponotus chromaiodes - 2 queens with eggs larva and pupa
Tapinoma sessile - tiny fragment of existing colony (may fly soon)
Ponera pennsylvanica - 2 queens and 2 established colonies
Myrmecina americana - 1 queen with eggs
Proceratium sp. - 1 queen
Formica sp. (sanguinea group) - alate (doubt she mated)

Many more to come…

I shall update this further with pictures when I get home today.

Haven't seen that name in years - looking forward to the journal.

[ANTdrew]

Welcome back.

[AntsAreUs]

I'll probably make the journal a little nicer looking down the road. Here are some photos of some of the ants so far. Myrmecina americana is in a setup right now where a photo is impossible. 

 

Camponotus pennsylvanicus

 

 

Camponotus chromaiodes

 

 

Myrmica sp. (both queens are likely same species)

 

 

Proceratium sp.

 

 

Ponera pennsylvanica

 

Edited by AntsAreUs, June 14 2024 - 1:58 PM.

[AntsAreUs]

I hope to get better equipment for photography and recording videos in the future possibly. Side note... any plaster nests in the near future will be fairly rushed and I'm still planning optimized setups for some of these weirder ants.

[AntsAreUs]

Welcome back.

 

 

 

Currently keeping so far:

Myrmica sp. - 2 queens with eggs
Camponotus pennsylvanicus - 1 queen eggs small larva
Camponotus chromaiodes - 2 queens with eggs larva and pupa
Tapinoma sessile - tiny fragment of existing colony (may fly soon)
Ponera pennsylvanica - 2 queens and 2 established colonies
Myrmecina americana - 1 queen with eggs
Proceratium sp. - 1 queen
Formica sp. (sanguinea group) - alate (doubt she mated)

Many more to come…

I shall update this further with pictures when I get home today.

Haven't seen that name in years - looking forward to the journal.

 

Thank you glad to be back.

[B_rad0806]

Haven't seen that name since 8th grade, now i'm graduated from high school. Nice to have you back AAU

[AntsAreUs]

The Ponera colony in the plaster nest is continuously laying eggs, up to 6. The larger colony is still in a dirt setup and have small-mid sized larva. The individual queens require tiny chamber to lay eggs so they don’t have eggs yet.

[AntsAreUs]

Ok so... Tetramorium immigrans just had a huge flight this morning and ended up capturing many alates and some dealates. Some parasitic Lasius umbratus group queen was collected too. I ended up finding a dead Aphaenogaster alate which led me to think they flew too but I ended up looking under logs and stones and found a small fragment of Proceratium. I believe this Proceratium is the same species as the queen I have and will be testing their interactions between new queen/old workers + pupa. I ended up forcefully moving the Proceratium queen into her tiny plaster chamber I made her because it seem Proceratium in general have very rudimental navigation methods, she ends up just hiding under the tube and staying completely still forever instead of actually exploring for a decent nest location. This Proceratium queen also shows no signs of foraging or interest in spider eggs or prey of any kind. 

 

[Stubyvast]

Huh. I wonder if she's more active in the dark? Maybe she just doesn't react well to observation, which I've noticed with quite a few species. They should get used to it after a few weeks. Can't wait 'till Tetramorium nuptial flights in BC!

Good luck with your colony!

[NotAxo]

Some of the ants you guys talk about are soo cool. Leafcutters and Honeypots are a dream of mine. I'm in 11th grade currently and am looking for a great college in the US to study entomology and biochemisty. Only 2 more years!!! Lets hope I can get my hands on some!

here, we mostly have fire ants and campontus, pheidole and weavers. We only see pheidole and campobotys flights here ;-;

Edited by NotAxo, June 18 2024 - 12:00 AM.

[AntsAreUs]

Overall status/update so far 6/18/2024:

 

Myrmica sp. - 2 queens both with eggs

Both fed sugar and sunflower seeds. Likely they are the same species.

 

Camponotus pennsylvanicus - 1 queen eggs and larva of various sizes

 

Camponotus chromaiodes - 2 queens one with pupa and larva the other with mostly eggs

 

Tapinoma sessile - colony fragment 2 queens only eggs

 

Ponera pennsylvanica - 2 individual queens

 1 smaller colony with 2 queens and 5 workers

 1 bigger colony with ? queen and decent amount of brood and workers

They aren't picky eaters, they accept most dead arthropods and I also give them a bit of scrambled egg.

Myrmecina americana - 1 queen with a handful of larva 

I know this from a long time ago when I kept them they are accepting of sugar which is weird. Also feeding this queen a little bit of scrambled egg.

Proceratium sp. - 1 queen and also a separate colony fragment with only pupa

Queen/worker interactions have been non aggressive and strange. No sign of foraging whatsoever.

Formica sp. (sanguinea group) - 1 alate

Highly doubt she has mated at all.

 

Lasius sp. (umbratus group) - 1 queen

Need to grab some Lasius pupa when I get around to it. I also suspect with most parasitic Lasius queens they always seem underfed so I always give them a bit of sugar.

 

Tetramorium immigrans - 11 alates/dealates

Some alates shed wings and majority did not. Keeping them in pleometrosis fashion (3 or 2 per test tube).

 

 

Side note: I would appreciate any criticism towards the journal in general to make it look nicer. I will also try my best to update it whenever things happen or per request.

Edited by AntsAreUs, June 18 2024 - 7:22 PM.

[AsdinAnts]

commas would definitely make the journal more easier to read, and separating the queens and colonies/separating queens.
For instance,
“Myrmica sp. -
Queen 1 has eggs
Queen 2 has eggs
both queens were fed sugar and sunflower seeds.”

[AntsAreUs]

6/23/2024

 

Not a lot has happened overall in just a week. Camponotus are getting pupa now and most likely getting workers shortly. Tapinoma sessile colony ended up laying a lot more eggs out of nowhere and I also set up a proper nest/outworld for them. The larger Ponera colony I still have in a dirt setup now has many large larva and also just spotted some newer eggs which means I did collect the queen(s). The big reason I'm doing this update here is because I ended up collecting a bunch of spider eggs yesterday under river rocks. The merged Proceratium colony now has moved all their pupa into the first chamber and also ended up collecting and eating one of the spider eggs which is huge progress. I also ended up capturing another new Proceratium queen by complete accident looking for spider eggs under logs. I believe this new Proceratium queen is of different species than the first colony I have so I will not try to add her to the previous setup. All the Tetramorium immigrans queens have tons of eggs. I have caught an actual dealate of the Formica sanguinea group species here.

 

This is a comparison of the 2 different Proceratium I've caught

 

Most recent one:

 

Previous one:

 

This photo I caught literally about 5 minutes ago eating a spider egg:

 

Tetramorium immigrans:

 

Tapinoma sessile:

Tomorrow I shall be getting some new equipment that might just let me get better photos here's hoping.

[Stubyvast]

Nice colonies so far! Hope they're successful! I like the gasters on Proceratium, with their interesting segmentation. Definitely reminds me of Paraponera.

[AntsAreUs]

Quick little update on the other Proceratium queen. After she has eaten 2 of 3 spider eggs I have offered she ended up laying an egg I believe in an open test tube setup. I'm not so sure if I want to keep her in a test tube setup for founding we will see how this goes.

 

Center two eggs have been eaten, far right not eaten, far left kind of hidden from it all being white I believe to be hers.

[AntsAreUs]

6/28/2024

 

I ended up catching a few new Formica queens during their flights going on right now and they have laid eggs pretty much immediately. Tetramorium and Myrmica eggs are hatching. Both Camponotus probably very close to getting workers. Myrmecina queen has actually created her own little chamber of dirt in between some paper towel and the container and also has nice sized larva. New Proceratium findings... I figured out that when they don't eat the tip of their gaster that is usually profoundly curved ends up becoming a lot more flattened and barely noticeable. When they do eat it becomes a whole lot more visible and very curved.

 

This is their actual egg which leads me to believe the one from the lone queen above this post is probably just a half eaten spider egg.

 

They also store hatched spiders (behind the alate pupa)

Edited by AntsAreUs, June 28 2024 - 5:27 PM.

[AntsAreUs]

There was a change of plans last year which led me to ditching everything yet again. This time I have much better prepared for rearing the more difficult to keep ants for sure... I have a plan of setting out artificial nesting spaces out in wooded areas that I know a lot of the more cryptic ants live. The artificial nesting idea I have in mind is setting out cork sheets with cardboard underneath in covered areas that I can check regularly. For now I will be hunting Ponera pennsylvanica queens and founding them fully with a new nest design I've made. The nest design is meant to hold a lot of moisture for longer periods of time which makes maintaining them and keeping them alive way easier for longer periods. The nest design isn't meant to last longer than a year and probably will be able to make a new one on a yearly basis for them.

 

 

Edited by AntsAreUs, March 10 2025 - 1:07 PM.