66 replies to this topic

[Goldsystem]

June 6, 2016
Hello everyone! These are my 12 Tetramorium caespitum queens that I caught only a few days ago, they seemed to have settled into their test tube nicely.
I got the red sand from Michaels and added it as a substrate because I heard these ants like to dig.



This is my P.imparis Queen that I captured back in April, her workers are going to enclose soon. Also I recently gave her some tapinoma sessile pupae and I expected her to eat it, but to my surprise she added the pupae to the brood pile. I can't tell if she ate them or not so we will just have to wait and see.



And finally my camponotus noveboracensis queen, who has a few orange eggs.

Edited by Goldsystem, April 19 2018 - 11:06 PM.

[Goldsystem]

Here's a picture of the Tetramorium caespitum queens egg pile.

Edited by Goldsystem, June 10 2016 - 8:35 PM.

[Goldsystem]

June 8th 2016

Update, two Tetramorium caespitum queens have died but I think they laid their eggs before dying. The queens that died were injured when I found them as they were being attacked by other ants. Two of the ten queens that are still alive also were being attacked when I found them, hopefully they will do better.

Edited by Goldsystem, June 10 2016 - 8:37 PM.

[MrmrGatlin]

Will be very interesting to see what ends up happening with those Tapinoma pupae 

[prettycode]

I thought Tetramorium were monogynic, meaning it could be risky to house more than one queen together for long. No?

Edited by prettycode, June 17 2016 - 11:35 AM.

[ctantkeeper]

they have the ability to exhibit pleometrophic behavior, so although they harmoniously coexist during the founding stage, only one will remain. Btw, its great to see that someone else is doing something similar with Tetramorium (I have a colony with 11-12 queens and a colony with 7. I just caught them yesterday.). Please keep us updated on how they are doing .

 

P.S. how many eggs did you have by the 3 - day mark?

Edited by ctantkeeper, June 17 2016 - 12:36 PM.

[Goldsystem]

It's hard to make a exact count but I'd say around 100 or so, also I will be doing a update on every queen as soon as my P.imparis queens workers enclose so in a few days.

[Goldsystem]

[ UPDATE ]

The P. Imparis workers have finally arrived and I am ecstatic because this is my first time experiencing this. (She ate the Tapinoma pupae)





The tetramorium queens have continued laying eggs and already have large larvae!





And finally the camponotus Queen has larvae now and they are HUGE well at least in comparison to my other queens.





And now some bad news... My parents have decided to let me keep only one species of ant because one I already have a snake, and two they thought I only had one queen (that's my falt) but they said it was ok if I raised the 2 queens that I decided until they had enough workers to start a life safely in the wild. I think I'm going to keep the tetramorium queens, but I'm gonna try and convince my parents to let me keep the P. Imparis Queen as well but getting them to let me keep all 3 is nearly impossible. Wish me luck!

Edited by Goldsystem, June 28 2016 - 10:23 AM.

[Goldsystem]

Well it seems one of my tetramorium queens has been banished... Is this normal?

[LC3]

Well it seems one of my tetramorium queens has been banished... Is this normal?

 

Pretty normal, not all queens get accepted. Plus at the end only one queen will remain.

[Goldsystem]

So the tetramorium workers were born two days ago and there are already at least 20 and more are hatching every day, and the queens haven't killed each other yet...



My Camponotus will have its first workers any day now, and my p.imparis will have a population growth in a week or so

Edited by Goldsystem, July 21 2016 - 4:27 PM.

[Goldsystem]

My Camponotus first worker has enclosed!

[Goldsystem]

Well I haven't had to get rid of any of my queens and I'm pretty shure I won't have too so yay! And now for an update on the colony's growth.

Tetramorium:




P.imparis:




Camponotus noveboracensis:


Also as a side note I had my tetras in a unfinished outword that I (luckily) had been coted with fluon, and my cat knocked it over and the test tube shattered but only in the front so no ants drown or died. I have a new test tube next to the broken one that is slightly smaller.

[Goldsystem]

Here's a update on my colony's progress:

Tetramorium caespitum:



They are growing fast and have killed each other yet like people said they would, they picked out 3 queens and killed them but haven't done anything sense.

P.imparis:


I really like this colony, they are so fascinating and the closest thing I can get to honeypots here in Oregon but I am afraid that they won't be successful in their second year, like what has happened with other ant keepers. I have theory though from what I have noticed most of the people who's queens fail have more than one queen per colony, so for some reason that could be the cause. We will have to wait and see.

Camponotus noveboracensis:


The worker count is now at 8 with a batch of larvae that are growing fast.

I also found a Pheidole queen while I was in central Oregon, she has not shed her wings and I'm about 90% shure she's infertile but I will keep until she has workers or dies from eating and laying unfertilized eggs.

Edited by Goldsystem, August 17 2016 - 10:27 PM.

[Goldsystem]

Small update pictures coming soon. I moved my ants into some THA mini hearths and my tetramorium decided to cover the glass, so I pulled the glass off to remove the sand and out came half the colony... So I panicked and ended up killing most of the escapees ( beginers mistake should have refrigerated first) I also now have a colony of Pheidole . Also my tetramorium still have two queens and I heard that wasn't normal.

Edited by Goldsystem, September 29 2016 - 3:46 PM.

[dspdrew]

I really like this colony, they are so fascinating and the closest thing I can get to honeypots here in Oregon...

 

I'm pretty sure Myrmecocystus testaceus can be found in Oregon.

[Goldsystem]

Edited by Goldsystem, October 9 2016 - 11:42 AM.

[Goldsystem]

Here's a bunch of pictures of all my ants (with the exception of my Hypoponera queen)

[Solenoqueen]

Nice P. imparis you've got there! Where did you find the queen?

[FSTP]

Really liking your P. imparis ! Are those the ones that also go by "false honey pot ants" sometimes? With their gasters distended they really have a very pleasing look and shape about them.

Edited by FSTP, November 2 2016 - 9:54 PM.