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Owl's (used to be polygynous) Formica subsericea


34 replies to this topic

#21 Offline OwlThatLikesAnts - Posted December 24 2024 - 5:07 PM

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Alright, so I am not starting up this journal (kind of am...) , instead I am asking a question, so I checked up on the colony, all of the workers are still alive and healthy but I have noticed that they are running out of food, the main "replete" that they depend on food for (the major worker that gave to them from brood boosting) almost has no more food, the other workers don't have food either to share with the rest of the colony, so that is my question, do I take them out of hibernation (Jan 11th) ? Or do I leave them, they have been in hibernation since November 11th, or do I feed them? It will be hard to because they have no outworld


Currently keeping:

 

1x Formica subsericea, 20+ workers + a decently sized brood pile (35-40)

1x Crematogaster cerasi 3 workers with brood (been going all winter)

 

*As you watch your ants march, remember that every thing begins with a small step and continued by diligence and shared dreams*

-A.T (Me)

 


#22 Offline ANTdrew - Posted December 26 2024 - 4:26 AM

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Hibernating Formica only need water, not food.
"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#23 Offline OwlThatLikesAnts - Posted December 28 2024 - 2:54 PM

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Hibernating Formica only need water, not food.

Alright, thanks for the continuous advice AntDrew!  (y)


Currently keeping:

 

1x Formica subsericea, 20+ workers + a decently sized brood pile (35-40)

1x Crematogaster cerasi 3 workers with brood (been going all winter)

 

*As you watch your ants march, remember that every thing begins with a small step and continued by diligence and shared dreams*

-A.T (Me)

 


#24 Offline OwlThatLikesAnts - Posted February 2 2025 - 3:26 PM

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Update?

 

So here is an update about my Formica and here is where I begin… *sigh* they laid an egg… My experience with them so far is that they completely ignore the seasons like regular Formica and lay eggs wherever the flipping fish they want.

They are really healthy right now and the nanitics are not dying off yet. I also found out that they love ground beef from tacos.

I also named the queen Adriana and I found out that she is not that jumpy anymore, here’s some pics:

The queen, Adriana

IMG_2646.jpeg

One of the workers carrying ground beef (they keep running around so I cannot get a pic of them eating it)

IMG_2645.jpeg

One of da eggs

IMG_2642.jpeg

 

That’s it for that update, please feel free to comment about da egg and how it is too early to take them out (my fault)  :facepalm:  :ugone2far: 
 

Also, does anyone have any idea why they laid….?


Edited by OwlThatLikesAnts, February 2 2025 - 3:28 PM.

Currently keeping:

 

1x Formica subsericea, 20+ workers + a decently sized brood pile (35-40)

1x Crematogaster cerasi 3 workers with brood (been going all winter)

 

*As you watch your ants march, remember that every thing begins with a small step and continued by diligence and shared dreams*

-A.T (Me)

 


#25 Offline OwlThatLikesAnts - Posted February 17 2025 - 7:01 PM

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Update:

So the Formica have been doing very good, they ate all of the ground beef and by doing that, they laid a lot of eggs and they now have a decent sized brood pile, about 20 eggs and small larva. Because I saw the small larva, I decided to feed them again and this time I gave them some pork fat, and they are really enjoying it right now. The queen is still a hulking monstrosity, she was the bigger queen of the pair, about 11mm but now I expect she grew an extra 1-2 mm! Talk about huge! I bet that she is cooking up a bunch of eggs in there because ever since she grew that big, she has been pumping out eggs at an astonishing rate (at least for a Formica) That is it for this update, I still can’t understand why they are laying eggs in February, normally Formica has very strict egg laying schedules beginning in spring and ending around end of summer, has anyone else seen this before?


Currently keeping:

 

1x Formica subsericea, 20+ workers + a decently sized brood pile (35-40)

1x Crematogaster cerasi 3 workers with brood (been going all winter)

 

*As you watch your ants march, remember that every thing begins with a small step and continued by diligence and shared dreams*

-A.T (Me)

 


#26 Offline OwlThatLikesAnts - Posted February 18 2025 - 4:58 PM

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Small photo update:

The brood pile grew a bit so I decided to take photos of them

IMG_2678.jpeg

 

Right now they are just eating the piece of pork fat and the worker that is carrying the eggs can barely move because there is so many of them and it keeps getting stuck around other workers and pieces of substrate. Now I know what the second year population boom is because this is my first time raising a colony to their second year. I also have not kept them in any darkness and they are completely fine


Edited by OwlThatLikesAnts, February 18 2025 - 5:36 PM.

Currently keeping:

 

1x Formica subsericea, 20+ workers + a decently sized brood pile (35-40)

1x Crematogaster cerasi 3 workers with brood (been going all winter)

 

*As you watch your ants march, remember that every thing begins with a small step and continued by diligence and shared dreams*

-A.T (Me)

 


#27 Offline ANTdrew - Posted February 19 2025 - 3:06 PM

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My old Formica subsericea used to always lay lots of eggs right after I started heating them in February, so what you’re seeing is not unusual at all. If you wake them up early, though, the queen will tend to stop laying early, so you won’t have a huge population boom.
  • OwlThatLikesAnts likes this
"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#28 Offline OwlThatLikesAnts - Posted February 19 2025 - 4:11 PM

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My old Formica subsericea used to always lay lots of eggs right after I started heating them in February, so what you’re seeing is not unusual at all. If you wake them up early, though, the queen will tend to stop laying early, so you won’t have a huge population boom.

Alright, now I know, thanks AntDrew! (I mean one time this specific colony laid eggs in September and they grew to workers, so I guess only time will tell)


Currently keeping:

 

1x Formica subsericea, 20+ workers + a decently sized brood pile (35-40)

1x Crematogaster cerasi 3 workers with brood (been going all winter)

 

*As you watch your ants march, remember that every thing begins with a small step and continued by diligence and shared dreams*

-A.T (Me)

 


#29 Offline OwlThatLikesAnts - Posted February 23 2025 - 5:57 AM

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Small Update:

Man their brood pile is really starting to take off  :blink:. They have a mixture of eggs, newly hatched larva and some small larva. I expect their brood pile to be in the 25-30 zone and other than that they are doing very good.


Currently keeping:

 

1x Formica subsericea, 20+ workers + a decently sized brood pile (35-40)

1x Crematogaster cerasi 3 workers with brood (been going all winter)

 

*As you watch your ants march, remember that every thing begins with a small step and continued by diligence and shared dreams*

-A.T (Me)

 


#30 Offline OwlThatLikesAnts - Posted February 23 2025 - 9:56 AM

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Photo Update:

I know it has only a couple hours since I’ve updated but I just peeked into my Formica’s nest and I was like “WHAT IN THE FLIPPING FLAPPY IS THAT” It turns out that my Formica have hunted, captured, and killed something that somehow got into the nest, the nest it completely sealed off and nothing can get in or out, but sometimes when I am feeding my ants I like to leave the outworld open because for now they are good behaving ants and they do not want to escape.

IMG_2692.jpeg

 

Now that I am looking in their nest, it seems that they have seized a silver fish of some sort but they have definitely ripped it to shreds and I can’t find any body parts.

 

IMG_2678.jpeg

 

This is a photo of last week when they decided to give me a good shot of their brood pile, they really like to lay eggs when they have an abundance of proteins and nice living conditions, I have also began to notice that whenever I change the cotton in their humidifier/water feeder in their nest, they like to rip most of it to shreds and keep just enough so that they can drink from the humidifier.

 

IMG_2694.jpeg

 

This is a photo of them right now, the brood pile hasn’t grown too much and you can also see the “silverfish” in this photo, they really seem to be proud like a bunch of hunters that just took down a giant bear, they also seem to really enjoy eating the silverfish itself


  • rptraut likes this

Currently keeping:

 

1x Formica subsericea, 20+ workers + a decently sized brood pile (35-40)

1x Crematogaster cerasi 3 workers with brood (been going all winter)

 

*As you watch your ants march, remember that every thing begins with a small step and continued by diligence and shared dreams*

-A.T (Me)

 


#31 Offline OwlThatLikesAnts - Posted March 3 2025 - 5:54 PM

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Small photo update:

the photos says it all, the colony has done some massive growth during the 2 and a half weeks since I have posted an update, from tiny newborn larva to large sized larvae in a couple weeks, it is really astounding how fast these ants can grow for how big they are, especially if they have a constant source of protein. I feed them meat and it really lasts them a long time, they even eat it when it is dry. Sometimes I think of them as “fast growing one sized carpenter ants”

 

IMG_2704.jpeg

this photo is them showcasing their largest larvae 

 

IMG_2707.jpeg

 

Moments later, they moved out their large larva and placed the smaller larva ball to get their pictures taken  :) 


  • rptraut and Ernteameise like this

Currently keeping:

 

1x Formica subsericea, 20+ workers + a decently sized brood pile (35-40)

1x Crematogaster cerasi 3 workers with brood (been going all winter)

 

*As you watch your ants march, remember that every thing begins with a small step and continued by diligence and shared dreams*

-A.T (Me)

 


#32 Offline OwlThatLikesAnts - Posted March 9 2025 - 4:47 PM

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Small Update:

First pupa of the season!!!  :yahoo:  :greeting: 

It looks pretty small, close to nanitic size but just a bit bigger, seems to me that they are going for the quantity and not quality approach. I also see a small pile of larva that are soon to become pupa, so right now this colony is doing really well.


  • rptraut and Ernteameise like this

Currently keeping:

 

1x Formica subsericea, 20+ workers + a decently sized brood pile (35-40)

1x Crematogaster cerasi 3 workers with brood (been going all winter)

 

*As you watch your ants march, remember that every thing begins with a small step and continued by diligence and shared dreams*

-A.T (Me)

 


#33 Offline OwlThatLikesAnts - Posted Yesterday, 8:40 AM

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Brief update:

they now have 3 pupa, one naked and 2 with cocoons


Edited by OwlThatLikesAnts, Yesterday, 8:40 AM.

  • ANTdrew and rptraut like this

Currently keeping:

 

1x Formica subsericea, 20+ workers + a decently sized brood pile (35-40)

1x Crematogaster cerasi 3 workers with brood (been going all winter)

 

*As you watch your ants march, remember that every thing begins with a small step and continued by diligence and shared dreams*

-A.T (Me)

 


#34 Offline OiledOlives - Posted Yesterday, 6:38 PM

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Just a quick note -- these are not F. subsericea. The pubescence is too dilute on the second tergite (and likely 3-4, but it's unclear). Something like F. subaenescens is more likely (not an ID, fusca-group in these speciose areas need further magnification to confirm).



#35 Offline OwlThatLikesAnts - Posted Yesterday, 6:45 PM

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Just a quick note -- these are not F. subsericea. The pubescence is too dilute on the second tergite (and likely 3-4, but it's unclear). Something like F. subaenescens is more likely (not an ID, fusca-group in these speciose areas need further magnification to confirm).

If one of the workers die, I will try to get more magnified shots, just saying there used to be 2 queens and some of the workers are brood boosted (the bigger ones)


Edited by OwlThatLikesAnts, Yesterday, 6:46 PM.

Currently keeping:

 

1x Formica subsericea, 20+ workers + a decently sized brood pile (35-40)

1x Crematogaster cerasi 3 workers with brood (been going all winter)

 

*As you watch your ants march, remember that every thing begins with a small step and continued by diligence and shared dreams*

-A.T (Me)

 





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