9 replies to this topic

[PoetaCorvi]

Formica cf. subintegra, a slave-raiding parasitic ant. Collected June 20, 24. Using subsericea as host species.

Not the simplest species, given that I only have one ant colony that has gone past nanitics, but oiledolives has been helping me learn my way around this species. She quickly became my favorite, such a fun species already!!

I thought she was just a carpenter ant when I first found her, because of the small abdomen and speed. She just looked so odd though, glad I decided to collect her lol.

I don’t have any formica colonies, but by chance I have an enormous subsericea satellite colony in my yard, they colonized a big pile of sawdust left after a tree removal. Downside is that I wouldn’t have access to any brood without digging it out and possibly making the colony relocate. Oiledolives suggested I get a large rock and place it on top of the colony, because they would make chambers underneath and store cocoons/pupa there. After about a week I found a few cocoons under two cement bricks I set on top, the main issue was that they pulled them deep into the tunnels before I even got a full look.

It was around this time I realized this was a satellite colony, because I saw ants coming and leaving with brood between a location near the front of my house. The trail went over a patch of open ground that clearly exposed any ants carrying brood. I caught ants carrying cocoons, but they REFUSED to drop them no matter what, so I let them loose. For whatever reason, they don’t have the same energy for naked pupa, I realized that with very little effort I could scare them into dropping the pupa. That’s how I collected the first few. Important to only collect pupa/cocoons, Oiledolives informed me the queen cannot properly care for eggs/larva.

It’s probably extremely obvious to anyone more experienced, but ant pupa are fragile!!!! The subintegra queen tried to open the first few pupa that darkened, but they died shortly after. At first I thought she was just struggling to properly eclose them, but after I removed the corpses and looked closely I realized they all had dents in their gasters, likely because I was not careful enough when collecting. I noticed this on a few other pupa I collected and hadn’t introduced yet. I find it’s best to have something like a spoon that can gently scoop up pupa, any kind of tongs are too rough. Cocoons can be picked up with precise tongs if you’re careful to only grab the cocoon and not the pupa inside.

Later on the wild colony started storing more cocoons and pupa under the bricks, enough that I was able to collect some before they were all taken away. With the recent heatwave I haven’t been able to get much, I’m guessing the heat sent them deeper underground and put a pause on brood transporting. It’s cooler today, and I was able to collect 3 cocoons.

She has properly eclosed her first few workers. I don’t believe she’s laid any eggs yet, but it’s possible I’m just not seeing them. She’s very neat with the space she has. I have her in a tube with a lower sidearm, in a way that she gets water by sticking her head into the sidearm, it maximizes space though means much more frequent watering. I offered her some bee pollen, and she stored it in the sidearm as a little food pocket. Cute but not practical for avoiding mold since that’s where the water is lol.

I have a decently large Wakooshi nest on the way. The test tube makes sense for the first two weeks maybe, but after that they’ve just seemed very confined, despite there only being a few. These workers and their parasite queen are eager to get anting, so they’ll get a lot of space to do so! I know it sort of defeats the purpose of the nests (being visible), but I like adding shredded rot wood to the chambers and letting them dig out what they want. I did this with my first ant colony, though since they’re aphaenogasters it means I barely ever see them, I’m pretty sure each chamber has multiple floors lol. Since formica are much bigger, hopefully I’ll still get good visibility while letting them build their home. When the satellite colony moved into my back yard I spent hours watching them construct the new nest, I think it’s one of the coolest things ants do!!

Since she has a few workers, I can start introducing eggs and larva as well, just have to wait for the outdoor colony to become more active again now that it’s cooler. Maybe I should just get an actual captive colony, though it’d be a while before they get numerous enough that I could harvest brood from them.

[Stubyvast]

Wow nice job! Love parasitic colonies. I attempted to keep a queen of formica obscuripes, who form huge mounds in forests, but the formica pacifica colony, which I intended to use as host, was sadly buried under the pavement, meaning I couldn't get at them no matter what. So I captured a few workers, left them for a week, and then tried introducing them using the fridge method. Sadly, they all escaped when I left them alone, in a gap between the two test tubes I had connected for them. 

So, in hindsight, kind of a disaster story! 

I'm so glad your colony actually kicked off! Great job. I hope they can grow a lot, and can't wait until the first non-host workers arrive!

[ANTdrew]

Are you in Virginia, too?

[NotAxo]

These are the coolest ants I've heard of so far, lets see to what heights they'll reach! This post is a no-brainer follow!

[PoetaCorvi]

Sorry for late replies, forgot to check here :’D

@Stubyvast Oh that sounds so frustrating, I hope you get another opportunity to try keeping obscuripes!! The host colony I’m using is in a sawdust pile that will eventually be moved, I know it’s a satellite colony though because I keep seeing the line of workers carrying brood both ways, but once they enter the thick grass it’s so hard to tell where they go!! Haven’t seen any eggs produced by my subintegra queen yet, though I’ve been doing my best to disturb them as little as possible while they’re settling into their new home.

@ANTdrew I am!

@NotAxo Thanks!! I’m very excited to see them grow.

Will post update in just a few

[PoetaCorvi]

Okay update time! Colony already has way more workers!! Partially because the workers are a lot better at eclosing the pupa than the queen is, partially because (as mentioned in the original post) I learned the method I was using to collect pupa was damaging them. Now I scoop them up rather than using anything to grab them, has worked much better. She has about 20 grown workers atm, with ~6 older pupa who all look like they’ll be hatching soon.

They moved into the new nest very quickly, I used this nest: https://www.wakooshi...-set-module-kit

Of the chambers with the red cover, the middle one and the gypsum chambers were filled with shredded rotwood, allowing them to expand at their own pace. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to keep ants without at least some construction material in the chambers, I know it lessens visibility but seeing them build is so cool!!! Currently they only occupy the chambers I left open, it’ll likely be a little while before they need the filled ones. They also occupy right around the water tower and keep some brood there despite it being exposed (albeit in a usually darker room). I’ve been feeding them mostly sugars and they’ve been crazy for it. Recently I offered a live mealworm since their numbers were up, the ants I saw inspect it didn’t seem too interested and they left it for a bit, was a day and some before I saw them bring it to a food store. Not sure if they killed it or it died and they found it.

The host colony finally started setting brood near the surface again after recent storms, so I was able to collect quite a bit today, maybe 12-15 pupa and older larva. The colony seemed to have a new attitude about me taking their brood, first time I’ve ever had a subsericea (barely) bite me! Just added the new brood a few minutes ago, as well as some food. In the future when they get a larger separate outworld it’ll be cool to simulate an actual raid for the subintegra workers (minus the ant fights, but for all they know they’re just really good at being sneaky).

I’m not sure how quickly the queen should start having eggs. They could be too small to see (especially since I don’t remove the cover for more than about 3 seconds), not sure. Even if she were infertile though, I imagine she would still do just fine as long as I consistently offer new brood, since she mostly needs her subintegra workers for raiding.

An interesting observation is that they seem far more sensitive to vibrations than to any visual stimuli. I knew they were sensitive to vibrations, if I accidentally shifted their formicarium they would go nuts, I just thought they were generally sensitive to any stimulus. Usually I’ve managed to spook them by the time I check under the covered chambers (kept the paper on one side of the red cover, so I cannot see through), so I’ve only seen those chambers while they’re running around. Today though I managed to avoid spooking them, and when I lifted it they didn’t really react despite the light. Good to know! Will have to try and get some nice pictures soon.

[RushmoreAnts]

It was around this time I realized this was a satellite colony, because I saw ants coming and leaving with brood between a location near the front of my house. The trail went over a patch of open ground that clearly exposed any ants carrying brood. I caught ants carrying cocoons, but they REFUSED to drop them no matter what, so I let them loose. For whatever reason, they don’t have the same energy for naked pupa, I realized that with very little effort I could scare them into dropping the pupa. That’s how I collected the first few. Important to only collect pupa/cocoons, Oiledolives informed me the queen cannot properly care for eggs/larva.

I've experienced the fusca group's stubbornness with pupae as well, although the hosts I collected were naked pupae. 

 

 I don’t believe she’s laid any eggs yet, but it’s possible I’m just not seeing them. 

Many parasitic and slave-raiding queens wait until after hibernation to lay eggs. Time will tell if this colony holds to that.

[Ants_Dakota]

An interesting observation is that they seem far more sensitive to vibrations than to any visual stimuli. I knew they were sensitive to vibrations, if I accidentally shifted their formicarium they would go nuts, I just thought they were generally sensitive to any stimulus. Usually I’ve managed to spook them by the time I check under the covered chambers (kept the paper on one side of the red cover, so I cannot see through), so I’ve only seen those chambers while they’re running around. Today though I managed to avoid spooking them, and when I lifted it they didn’t really react despite the light. Good to know! Will have to try and get some nice pictures soon.

This is interesting, my parasitic queen is sensitive as well. Do your host workers act aggressive, or more like nanitics? I have noticed that my workers, despite being huge, are afraid to forage or even attack a live fruit fly(they just run away).

[RushmoreAnts]

This has to do with colony size, as workers will conserve themselves when their numbers are low, no matter what size they are. A bigger worker just means a bigger target for a bird, frog, or spider.

[Ants_Dakota]

This has to do with colony size, as workers will conserve themselves when their numbers are low, no matter what size they are. A bigger worker just means a bigger target for a bird, frog, or spider.

I know that is true, I just wanted to confirm from their experience if they had that as well.