63 replies to this topic

[Loops117]

Hello all. I am Loops.

A little about me.

Born and raised in Michigan. I am crafty so I make all of my own nests and out worlds. I am passionate about everything I do and I aim to bring more hobbyist to the ant world. I am a GAN farmer, as well as a Formicarium maker and seller.  I enjoy critter keeping in general, so you’ll most likely see more then ants in this journal, so the squeamish are advised. I will list off all of my ant species, and show pictures of them as we go. I will also periodically update this first post with my current colony list. You’ll see other species of ants, but they don’t make the list until they’re colonies.

 

Current species.

Aphaenogaster picea

Crematogaster cerasi

Camponotus pennsylvanicus

Camponotus noveboracensis

Formica subsericea

Formica fusca

Formica podzolica

Formica pallidefulva

Lasius alienus

Lasius flavus

Lasius neoniger

Solenopsis molesta

Tetramorium sp E.

Temnothorax longspinosis

Tapinoma sessile

 

My project pages.

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/117colonies/

Facebook - https://www.facebook...75719989189777/

Feel free to ask for anything made. I am always looking to make something new.

 

This is an ant

(C.pennsylvanicus in a wood nest)

 

Thank you.

Loops

Edited by Loops117, April 13 2017 - 8:03 PM.

[Loops117]

Here is were i will be showing my whole collection, sometimes it'll include non-ants. Dang!

Here's an update

Order of being seen in the video

Phidippus audax aka Daring Jumping Spider

Aphaenogaster Sp. Colony (6/10/16) 15 workers

2 C.Pennsylvanicus Queens (5/26/16) Boosted queens with mini outworlds.

Khaleesi, my female Phylocrania Paradoxia aka Ghost Mantis

T. Sessile 5 Queen colony (5/8/16), this colony was collected pre-aspirator days. Hence so much brood, and so little workers.

Lasius Alienus & Crematogaster Sp. (6/13/16)

These two colonies were collected together in the same pine log. Felt it was necassary to house them together...kind of.

Khal, my male Phylocrania Paradoxia

Tetramorium Sp. Queen (5/30/16) my girlfriend rescued from the bathroom at Chilis

6 C.pennsylvanicus Queens (5/28/16).

C.Pennsylvanicus Colony (6/12/16) Found on oak. 70-80 Workers 100+ Brood.

Crematogaster Sp. Colony (6/12/16) only 12-16 workers and a small clutch of eggs when found.

Aphaenogaster Sp. (6/2/16) Found on oak. 20 workers, no count on brood.

Lasius Flavus (4/24/16) Colony scoop, no queen. Just crafty fun.

C.Pennsylvanicus Colony (6/14/16) Found on oak. 20 worker, 40 brood.

 

Original Post

 

Happy to say that i have a colony that's worth a journal.

I found these guys deep in the woods on the side of an unknown log on 6/2/16.

I'm not completely sure, but i'm pretty positive this is Aphaenogaster Picea....could be wrong.

1 Queen, 17  workers, a lot of brood.

I found a C.pennsylvanicus queen in the nest that was infested with maggots. I thought this was bad, and i left it. Later which i found out i should have kept. So, in hopes of them doing this again, i gave them a recently deceased C.pennsylvanicus queen. 

 

Also, idk what or how to feed them. So they have a good assortment of foods in their outworld right now. I watched them hunt and kill fruit flies (was really cool watching that), they immediately accepted the bee pollen i offered them, and the c.pennsylvanicus queen they moved to the top of the brood, then back to the outworld. I also put a small sliver of watermelon in there, and plan on putting a hole for a nectar feeder.

 

Queen.

 

The nest.

 

 

Workers

(which are a blur in about 50 pictures. They're too fast.

 

queen with workers.

 

 

Here's a video i took the other day. Hopefully quality clears up.

Edited by Loops117, October 19 2016 - 5:21 AM.

[Goldsystem]

Very cool ants, I like how long the legs are👍🏽

[Loops117]

Thank you. They are pretty aggressive as well. My favorite species i've kept so far.

[Goldsystem]

What have you been feeding them?

[Loops117]

I've offered them a dead C.Pennsylvanicus queen, which they moved to the brood pile for a day, then pushed back to the outworld.

I've also chilled fruit flies for roughly 5 minutes and dumped about 5 in the out world. After they started to spring back to life, the workers noticed them and immediately engaged them. Each one was wrestled down and consumed. I've given them watermelon for sweets, which i have not witnessed them eating.

I've offered 100% Bee Pollen, which they immediately brought back to the brood pile and consumed.

I will be adding a nectar tower to see how they react to that tonight.

 

This is in chronological order from when i got them.

[Loops117]

Couple days ago i scooped up another Aphaenogaster Sp. colony. Here they are.

 

I didn't realize how small the first colony was until i put them in this. We'll see what happens now, lol.

 

And here they are killing a fruit fly.

Edited by Loops117, June 10 2016 - 10:06 PM.

[Loops117]

Updated original post.

Acquired a couple new colonies, and experimented with Bodacious Brood Boosting.

I've had some great success and i'm hoping it will help others.

 

Supplies.

Aspirator (Best thing ever)

2 extra jars with lids.

2 Tupperware containers.

3 small collection containers.

1 Pocket Knife (for plucking and peeling).

1 Water Bottle.

1 Cooler (This doesn't leave my car, and my car is never more then a 5 min walk for me. Usually within 100ft of me).

 

Here's what i do.

I use an aspirator for collecting. The thing never leaves my side when i'm anting, and is usually hanging from my mouth and the collection tube is usually in my hand at all times. Was thinking of attaching it to a wristband to help keep it at reach when i need to use both hands... (I use spaghetti jars with extra lids so i can swap out jars and put the tubing on a new one at a quick twist) 

I go out for 1Hr - 1.5Hrs at a time.

I don't stray more then 20ft past tree line/sun light. I havent been exploring much, but i very very seldom find ants in areas that get no direct sunlight.

I watch for logs, and depending on your location, boxes. The other day i located two massive colonies in old, weathered cardboard boxes. One a 12pack box, and the other a 24pack box. Both looked to be sitting there since winter.

Once i locate a colony, i watch for the queen before i do any collecting. Once queen is located, i suck her up first. Then, once confirmed she's the queen, i don't leave until every single worker and brood is collected. I won't collect if i don't see a queen.

Once collected, i put them in a cool dark area of my car (Cooler), or in my backpack and allow them to calm down.

I put frozen leftovers in a small cooler, and use those to keep my findings cool while it's hot out.

 

Edited by Loops117, June 16 2016 - 5:17 AM.

[aqandres4]

Wow, you have really big queens, judging from the size of the test tube.

 

(0:36-0:38) in your updated video. 6/15/16

 

Like, they look HUGE.

 

Are these Camponotus? <--- it's just a guess

Edited by aqandres4, June 16 2016 - 8:19 PM.

[Loops117]

Wow, you have really big queens, judging from the size of the test tube.

 

(0:36-0:38) in your updated video. 6/15/16

 

Like, they look HUGE.

 

Are these Camponotus? <--- it's just a guess

Yes, Camponotus pennsylvanicus. I stopped collecting these queens and just kept the original ones i've had. I'm not sure about other areas, but they're in a huge abundance in this area. I pass on at least 5 every time i go anting. Also, I plan on giving these up on/for GAN if i can. If i can't, then beginner enthusiast or some project down the road.

Edited by Loops117, June 17 2016 - 4:46 AM.

[Loops117]

Update 6/23/16

 

Couple of days ago, my first fertile c.pennsylvanicus queen hatched two boosted nanitics. She is by far my most favorite queen out of all of my ants, and i'm excited to see her rule.

 

Added another part to my large Crematogaster sp. nest. It's big enough for now, but i want them to have more out world real estate.

 

Noticed one of my (so thought) C.pennsylvanicus colonies looks to have smaller brood then my actual c.pennsylvanicus brood, and a fat silver line around their gasters. i couldn't really get a look at them since i can only look at them top down without a lid, so i'm not quite sure. Are there any close related species to c.pennsylvanicus that's smaller and silver?

 

Again with my c.pennsylvanicus colonies. My large colony has warped from heat, and smaller workers escaped. Found them all ontop of the outworld huddled up...Pooter action!

 

Caught 4 more T.caespitum queens the other day while on lunch at work. Got some good footage.

 

Here's some videos.

[Loops117]

I also wanted to add in something i've come across, or seem to be coming across.

 

As i research the species of ants i have and want, i find very little to no information on said species. Is it due to the vast amount of sub species? I really feel like even though we are in 2016, we are still very shallow in the depths of the ant world. We know our basics, and some much more then others. Feeding, natural behavior, and other things such as claustral/semi-claustral, and parasitic/non-parasitic are un-documented and seems to just get lost if it ever was. I'm being honest that i use the Ant Care Sheets more then anything, and i wish they were updated with more species. It almost feels like i'm the first with my species with how little information there is on them, which makes them seem cooler to me.

 

Idk, i could just be doing things wrong. But i really feel like we're pioneers of some sort. We may not be the first to study each species of ants, but we're the vast majority of hobbyist that are replicating and synthesizing the ant world to the fullest extent. To me this means that we're doing more then studying this ant, but forcing them to eat different foods and live in worlds totally different then their natural worlds. I don't know were i'm really going with this anymore. Just that i love/hate seeing how much information is there compared to how much we're writing.

[Loops117]

Hey guys. It’s been a little bit of time since my last update.

Since then, I’ve traded off one of my Crematogaster sp. Colonies for 2 parasitic Lasius sp. Queens. They’re both still alive and strong, still figuring out how to get these girls to take to new colonies.

 

Both of my Aphaenogaster sp. have doubled in size, although I lost half of my workers to one of the colonies due to a hole in my tubing.

 

My Camponotus queens are all well and thriving. I received 3 new C.nova queens from a buddy, which leads me to believe my C.nova queen is something else. She has the same markings, but she’s smaller..1~2mm smaller.

 

T.sessile colony has really been doing well. They’re in a small environment and they seem to be liking it. I have roughly 50-60 workers now, brood is hidden well and can’t get an estimate.

 

Lasius alienus colony is doing great. Queen is leaving egg piles all over the nest. I see her away from the workers quite often, is this normal?

 

All 5 of my T.Caespitum queens are sitting on huge brood piles. Should be seeing something good from them in a month or so.

 

Pheidole sp. queen still has yet to lay eggs, or they’re too small to see in her setup. She’s tiny, prolly my smallest queen.

 

My Crematogaster colony has been really taking off. They somehow managed to empty their liquid feeder into the main feeding chamber, so I replaced the feeding dish with some oak wood chips. They seem to like it, which gives me some great ideas for their future setup. I had gone out and bought their future outworld, and it’s massive for such a small species. See pic below. The smaller out world is the standard size i use.

 

Here's the full collection without my 3 new C.nova queens.

 

Video

 

 

Crematogaster sp. Queen in her nest.

 

Aphaenogaster sp. colonies

Colony 1 - This is the one that lost workers to a hole.

 

Colony 2.

 

And here's one of my Parasitic Lasius sp. queens.

 

Thank you guys for looking.

[Loops117]

One of my parasitic queens died last night...idk why.

Also, i added 3 workers to my 2nd parasitic queens tube. This was take shortly after.

[Loops117]

Well, after some good waiting, my Pheidole sp. queen finally laid. She has been taken out of the bug cabinet and moved to a cupboard in thekitchen nobody but i can reach, this way she's in solid darkness for the next month or so.

 

Here's her eggs debut. Pretty sure it's super fresh.

[Canadian anter]

Wow, you have really big queens, judging from the size of the test tube.
 
(0:36-0:38) in your updated video. 6/15/16
 
Like, they look HUGE.
 
Are these Camponotus? <--- it's just a guess

Yes, Camponotus pennsylvanicus. I stopped collecting these queens and just kept the original ones i've had. I'm not sure about other areas, but they're in a huge abundance in this area. I pass on at least 5 every time i go anting. Also, I plan on giving these up on/for GAN if i can. If i can't, then beginner enthusiast or some project down the road.

I've only seen them once and the queen I found was very a ggresive and broke tthrough the cotton......Three times!Camponotus are rare in my area.

[Loops117]

I pack my cotton super tight for my Camponotus. TBH, i've only had one restless queen. She wouldn't lay, and ended up building up a huge cotton ball in her tube (which i need to remove). She's a C.nova, and i had given her 3 C.pennsylvanicus pupae after waiting 3 weeks for her to calm. She ate the first hatchling, and laid 5 eggs the next morning. She kept the 2 other brood.

[Loops117]

Hey guys. It's been a minute since my last update.

Since then both of my parasitic Lasius queens are dead. I've found a new Lasius queen, but she's still unidentified. I’ve built some starting setups for my C.pennsylvanicus, along with some additions to my other setups. Pictures are just of some of the changes, and random pics.

 

 

C.pennsylvanicus colonies.

 

Lasius alienus enjoying their new nectar feeder.

 

 

Crematogaster sp.  additional outworld with some prey in it.

Aftermath

 

My Pheidole sp. queen with more eggs.

[Loops117]

Here's an updated set of pictures of my Crematogaster sp. / Lasius sp. Hotel.

It's a work in progress.

 

 

This was once full to the top of wood chips. My Crematogaster processed most of it and will be getting a refill soon.

 

My Crematogasters have made it easy on me. I added the trash bin to the side of their expansion outworld, the they immediately started using it for trash. You can see it in the bottom right of this last picture.

Edited by Loops117, July 27 2016 - 10:09 AM.

[sgheaton]

Is that vertical....or rather very steep climb an issue for anyone?