34 replies to this topic

[jabasson]

I bought a Mexicanus queen recently to be shipped to me and it should arrive sometime this week. This has been my dream species for a while so if anyone has suggestions to successfully found her please let me know. She will come shipped in a test tube with a pva sponge and some substrate. I plan on buying a heat mat and moving into a mini hearth style nest when the time comes.

Edited by jabasson, September 30 2024 - 11:39 AM.

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

use the search bar to find all your info.

[Stubyvast]

Nice! I'd actually suggest you get a heat cable instead, just because if you put a heat mat under your formicarium/test-tube, it will cause a lot of evaporation. However, if you do already have a heat mat, (like I do) just only put a small edge of it under the nest, which minimizes evaporation and acts much the same as a heating cable. 

[jabasson]

Nice! I'd actually suggest you get a heat cable instead, just because if you put a heat mat under your formicarium/test-tube, it will cause a lot of evaporation. However, if you do already have a heat mat, (like I do) just only put a small edge of it under the nest, which minimizes evaporation and acts much the same as a heating cable. 

Yeah I was planning on this just because a mat is cheaper than the cable, and it comes with a thermostat. I'm kinda brokish lol. I'll put the edge of the mat under the exit of the tube and heat to 85 because that's what seems to have the best success for others. Also turns out the queen was shipped today and will be arriving on Friday, so I hope she does ok during her journey. I will get a refund if she arrives dead but I'd rather a healthy queen than my money back. 

 

Link to heat mat I have my eye on: https://www.amazon.c..._lig_dp_it&th=1

[Mushu]

I would recommend you found in a tubs and tubes setup(and inside a shoebox or similar and put the heatpad in there) and regulate the temperature via incubation and venting(open the lid of the tub and shoebox more to lower temp or less maximize temp ). It's much easier to regulate and prevent condensation that way.

 

I'm a big advocate of feeding the queen one feeding of sugar water solution(using a qtip on foil) before letting her be but it's not necessary. 

 

Good luck.

[cooIboyJ]

I would recommend you found in a tubs and tubes setup(and inside a shoebox or similar and put the heatpad in there) and regulate the temperature via incubation and venting(open the lid of the tub and shoebox more to lower temp or less maximize temp ). It's much easier to regulate and prevent condensation that way.

 

I'm a big advocate of feeding the queen one feeding of sugar water solution(using a qtip on foil) before letting her be but it's not necessary. 

 

Good luck.

I wouldn't put them in a tubs and tubes setup because I think the colony needs to be moved into a mini hearth style nest once the workers arrive because they need something to hang on to.

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

that is mostly for repletes.

[jabasson]

I would recommend you found in a tubs and tubes setup(and inside a shoebox or similar and put the heatpad in there) and regulate the temperature via incubation and venting(open the lid of the tub and shoebox more to lower temp or less maximize temp ). It's much easier to regulate and prevent condensation that way.

 

I'm a big advocate of feeding the queen one feeding of sugar water solution(using a qtip on foil) before letting her be but it's not necessary. 

 

Good luck.

Thanks for the advice! One quick question I have though is when I feed her the sugar water should I clean it out the next day and then leave her, or take it out in a week or two during my next checkup, or should I just leave it on the tube without a piece of tinfoil? I don't have fluon and don't want to suffocate her (no access to a drill for breather holes) so I was planning on doing just test tube until mini hearth. I might however find a tubaware at a thrift store and melt holes with soldering iron and see if that works. 

 

Link to knockoff mini hearth I found (cause I'm poor): https://www.amazon.c...v_ov_lig_dp_it 

[jabasson]

Well I got her a day early. She is beautiful!!!

Sorry for the bad picture quality I tried not to disturb her. When she came her box was completely destroyed so I know she suffered in the mail, but she is alive. She was advertised to come with brood but sadly I didn't see any. She might have eggs I can't see because she does have sand with her, but nothing noticeably large. She also didn't react much to light or vibrations of pulling her out of the box, just sat there dazed moving her antenna around. It might be due to the cold I hope (60-70ish degrees). She might have eggs I can't see because she does have sand with her, but nothing noticably large. I assume she ate them in the mail which is understandable. I gave her a drop of sugar water as recommended and put her in the dark. I had concerns she wouldn't come alive so I held off on the heat mat, and now that I see she is alive I bought one and it will arrive on Saturday. I will disturb her again to add the heat mat and clean her sugar water out, and then I will leave her alone for a week or two. She also didn't react to the sugar water being put in. I hope she makes it alright. 

P.S. I realized I posted this in the wrong channel so if a mod could move it that would be awesome

P.P.S. If someone could tell me how to edit the title that would also be great 

Edited by jabasson, August 29 2024 - 4:24 PM.

[Mushu]

 

Well I got her a day early. She is beautiful!!!

 

Sorry for the bad picture quality I tried not to disturb her. When she came her box was completely destroyed so I know she suffered in the mail, but she is alive. She was advertised to come with brood but sadly I didn't see any. She might have eggs I can't see because she does have sand with her, but nothing noticeably large. She also didn't react much to light or vibrations of pulling her out of the box, just sat there dazed moving her antenna around. It might be due to the cold I hope (60-70ish degrees). She might have eggs I can't see because she does have sand with her, but nothing noticably large. I assume she ate them in the mail which is understandable. I gave her a drop of sugar water as recommended and put her in the dark. I had concerns she wouldn't come alive so I held off on the heat mat, and now that I see she is alive I bought one and it will arrive on Saturday. I will disturb her again to add the heat mat and clean her sugar water out, and then I will leave her alone for a week or two. She also didn't react to the sugar water being put in. I hope she makes it alright. 

 

P.S. I realized I posted this in the wrong channel so if a mod could move it that would be awesome

P.P.S. If someone could tell me how to edit the title that would also be great 

 

 

Sorry been busy and have not had visited the site. She looks healthy with a fat gaster.  It's not a problem to use tubs and tubes for founding, the first few repletes can hang on the pve sponge and they can actually hang on the glass believe it or not.  I had planned to move mine to a mini hearth at 20 workers but had to move her early at 10 and she was just one of those queens that keeps producing lots of brood. She took every feeding of humming bird nectar I gave her before and during(I gave her a second feeding after she had cocoons).

 

Just keep an eye on the temperature. 80-85 is what I kept mine at.  You can check on her weekly just make it quick to ensure there's not too much condensation,flood,dangerous mold,etc. Once the first nanitics hatch and they are active (moving around), you can put nectar and a small portion of protein.

 

It's much easier to feed with a tubs and tube as you can get a liquid feeder for the nectar and a bottled water or gatorade 20z size cap(cut open part of the side of the cap) for protein. I noticed my Texas Placodops nanitics wasn't able to figure out to climb  cap that wasn't cut  to get to the insects as it seemed like she tagged it as a barrier of sorts and avoided it.  It'll just remove one variable that can go wrong.  My first nanitics foraged right away.

Edited by Mushu, September 5 2024 - 8:47 PM.

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

 

Well I got her a day early. She is beautiful!!!

 

Sorry for the bad picture quality I tried not to disturb her. When she came her box was completely destroyed so I know she suffered in the mail, but she is alive. She was advertised to come with brood but sadly I didn't see any. She might have eggs I can't see because she does have sand with her, but nothing noticeably large. She also didn't react much to light or vibrations of pulling her out of the box, just sat there dazed moving her antenna around. It might be due to the cold I hope (60-70ish degrees). She might have eggs I can't see because she does have sand with her, but nothing noticably large. I assume she ate them in the mail which is understandable. I gave her a drop of sugar water as recommended and put her in the dark. I had concerns she wouldn't come alive so I held off on the heat mat, and now that I see she is alive I bought one and it will arrive on Saturday. I will disturb her again to add the heat mat and clean her sugar water out, and then I will leave her alone for a week or two. She also didn't react to the sugar water being put in. I hope she makes it alright. 

 

P.S. I realized I posted this in the wrong channel so if a mod could move it that would be awesome

P.P.S. If someone could tell me how to edit the title that would also be great 

 

To change the title go to your first post then use the full editor and you should be able to edit it.

[jabasson]

UPDATE

Thanks for the help. Today I checked up on her and tried to be careful and make it quick so I don't have pictures. She is alive, and has gathered the scattered sand into a pile and is sitting on it. I couldn't see much because I didn't want to shine bright lights on her so I can only hope she has brood in that pile as well. When covering her back up I tapped the tube a little hard on accident while putting the thermometer back so I hope she isn't freaking out.

 

I bought materials to make an incubation chamber of sorts off of aliexpress for like 15 bucks that will arrive on or before the 15th. I'll show a picture when I'm finished but I just bought a thermostat, heating cable, and a power supply to make a heat regulated shoe box or maybe a foam box so my apartment doesn't heat up as much (I have no AC). This should help the queen found as manually adjusting my heat mat usually has her at more of a 75-90 degree range than a constant 80-85 as I have work and have to leave the mat either on or off for 4 hours at a time, and I also sleep for 8 hours. 

[Ants_Dakota]

UPDATE

Thanks for the help. Today I checked up on her and tried to be careful and make it quick so I don't have pictures. She is alive, and has gathered the scattered sand into a pile and is sitting on it. I couldn't see much because I didn't want to shine bright lights on her so I can only hope she has brood in that pile as well. When covering her back up I tapped the tube a little hard on accident while putting the thermometer back so I hope she isn't freaking out.

 

I bought materials to make an incubation chamber of sorts off of aliexpress for like 15 bucks that will arrive on or before the 15th. I'll show a picture when I'm finished but I just bought a thermostat, heating cable, and a power supply to make a heat regulated shoe box or maybe a foam box so my apartment doesn't heat up as much (I have no AC). This should help the queen found as manually adjusting my heat mat usually has her at more of a 75-90 degree range than a constant 80-85 as I have work and have to leave the mat either on or off for 4 hours at a time, and I also sleep for 8 hours. 

Just make sure to test the incubation chamber thoroughly before putting the queen in.

[Mushu]

 

UPDATE

Thanks for the help. Today I checked up on her and tried to be careful and make it quick so I don't have pictures. She is alive, and has gathered the scattered sand into a pile and is sitting on it. I couldn't see much because I didn't want to shine bright lights on her so I can only hope she has brood in that pile as well. When covering her back up I tapped the tube a little hard on accident while putting the thermometer back so I hope she isn't freaking out.

 

I bought materials to make an incubation chamber of sorts off of aliexpress for like 15 bucks that will arrive on or before the 15th. I'll show a picture when I'm finished but I just bought a thermostat, heating cable, and a power supply to make a heat regulated shoe box or maybe a foam box so my apartment doesn't heat up as much (I have no AC). This should help the queen found as manually adjusting my heat mat usually has her at more of a 75-90 degree range than a constant 80-85 as I have work and have to leave the mat either on or off for 4 hours at a time, and I also sleep for 8 hours. 

Just make sure to test the incubation chamber thoroughly before putting the queen in.

 

Second this. I work from home so was able to check and keep and eye on the temps throughout the day and with different ventilation. I'd set the thermostat at 82 F with a plus/minus 1 degree for heating/cooling, and alert at 88. I'm not sure where you're located but if it's hot with no ac, I'd be more concerned about temps getting to high although they are built to survive(not thrive) high desert temps.  

Edited by Mushu, September 8 2024 - 4:49 AM.

[Mushu]

UPDATE

Thanks for the help. Today I checked up on her and tried to be careful and make it quick so I don't have pictures. She is alive, and has gathered the scattered sand into a pile and is sitting on it. I couldn't see much because I didn't want to shine bright lights on her so I can only hope she has brood in that pile as well. When covering her back up I tapped the tube a little hard on accident while putting the thermometer back so I hope she isn't freaking out.

 

I bought materials to make an incubation chamber of sorts off of aliexpress for like 15 bucks that will arrive on or before the 15th. I'll show a picture when I'm finished but I just bought a thermostat, heating cable, and a power supply to make a heat regulated shoe box or maybe a foam box so my apartment doesn't heat up as much (I have no AC). This should help the queen found as manually adjusting my heat mat usually has her at more of a 75-90 degree range than a constant 80-85 as I have work and have to leave the mat either on or off for 4 hours at a time, and I also sleep for 8 hours. 

 

How much sand is in there? I personally put enough to where it's flattens the area the queen would be walking on and they need sand to spin cocoons. 

[jabasson]

 

UPDATE

Thanks for the help. Today I checked up on her and tried to be careful and make it quick so I don't have pictures. She is alive, and has gathered the scattered sand into a pile and is sitting on it. I couldn't see much because I didn't want to shine bright lights on her so I can only hope she has brood in that pile as well. When covering her back up I tapped the tube a little hard on accident while putting the thermometer back so I hope she isn't freaking out.

 

I bought materials to make an incubation chamber of sorts off of aliexpress for like 15 bucks that will arrive on or before the 15th. I'll show a picture when I'm finished but I just bought a thermostat, heating cable, and a power supply to make a heat regulated shoe box or maybe a foam box so my apartment doesn't heat up as much (I have no AC). This should help the queen found as manually adjusting my heat mat usually has her at more of a 75-90 degree range than a constant 80-85 as I have work and have to leave the mat either on or off for 4 hours at a time, and I also sleep for 8 hours. 

 

How much sand is in there? I personally put enough to where it's flattens the area the queen would be walking on and they need sand to spin cocoons. 

 

Not much if you scroll up you will see how much there is, but I have heard that they don't need much substrate, and I don't want to stress her out by putting in more sand. 

[jabasson]

UPDATE

I checked up on her today as I was forced to move her location. During the transfer I tried to do some recording and got the really poor footage below (my macro lens is a little too zoomed in): 

https://youtu.be/xtzASZ5Kl0U

It seems that she now has her first batch of eggs!! Hopefully she has the energy to raise these to adulthood. I recently read in UtahAnts thread that overnight he cools his queens to about 70 degrees at night and I might start trying that as most of his queens survive. She has been here for two weeks so I'm not sure if that is a bad sign or if it is normal for her to still have eggs and no larva. I'm also a little concerned she doesn't have enough water. The seller didn't leave much water in the tube and it is about halfway gone. I hope it will last till she has pupae because I feel like she would be less likely to eat pupae. 

Edited by jabasson, September 14 2024 - 5:01 PM.

[UtahAnts]

Diurnal cooling is optional, keeping constant heat might be a good idea at this point. Although it really depends on the temperature of the room.

[jabasson]

UPDATE

 

Welp I'm starting to give up hope. I checked on her today to just see what looked like a simple cluster of eggs. It has now officially been 3 weeks, or 21 days and the eggs don't look ready to hatch, they might even look smaller than they did before. I'm not sure if she is infertile or not. I'm also clueless as to where all the sand from day 1 went as I don't see any in the tube. She may have stuck it all on the cotton. I'll keep checking once a week but I'm no longer as hopeful as I was before. 

 

Edit: I did spot after uploading what may be a single larva. My guess is as good as yours if it was the camera or if it is larvae, I guess I can only hope. She still is a healthy weight from the looks of it. Water supply is now 1/3 what it used to be so I may have to move before workers even if she is fertile. The pictures were bad because I was worried about tapping the glass with my lens it was so close.

 

P.S. I'm in college and pretty busy so if anyone has a good source of sand that I can buy rather than mixing and baking myself for the cocoons I would be interested in buying. I do not want to cook sand and stink up the apartment I live in with 5 other dudes. 

Edited by jabasson, September 21 2024 - 1:04 PM.

[ANTdrew]

Do you have a microwave? Just dig up some substrate outside and nuke it 15 seconds when the other dudes aren’t around.