50 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

Update 12-20-2014
 
One of these queens died the other day after all 30 or so of her workers suddenly died a week before. The same thing happened to one of my S. xyloni colonies I had right next to it too. I have no idea why this happened, but it's not the first time I've seen this sort of thing happen to Solenopsis.

 

The other queen is doing pretty good still. As of today she has about 100 workers, and a good-sized pile of brood.

[dermy]

That's a bummer man.

[dspdrew]

Update 1-17-2015
 
The one last queen I had in just a test tube only died. The only remaining colony of these now is doing fairly well. As of now they have roughly 180 workers.

[dspdrew]

Update 2-7-2015
 
Just did a rough count on this colony while feeding them today, and they're growing pretty quickly. They now have around 300 workers.

[Gregory2455]

What kind of heat are you providing them?

[dspdrew]

I'm not providing them any heat.

[Vendayn]

I've heard of cases of some kind of unknown substance can kill an entire room of ant farms. I remember reading over on Antdude's forum...not sure what it came out to be, maybe unknown. This guy had almost all his colonies drop dead within days of each other, when they were healthy. I see this does, like you saw, happen with Solenopsis A LOT. Maybe they were sick to begin with. He ended up removing all the sick colonies, cleaning all his ant farms and I don't really remember what came of it.

 

Could be fungal (like mold or something which seems logical. Especially if it was black mold.), bacteria of some kind (which in a artificial environment may make sense)...or maybe if pesticides have been sprayed outside (they also do sometimes fly over and spray in some areas, mostly farms though) and they somehow get in, could do it too.

 

I'd in any case, if you haven't already, move the healthy Solenopsis colony and any other ant away from them and clean things out. Personally, I wouldn't risk all my other ants. Just my suggestion though. Maybe its just something about Solenopsis or something less apocalyptic.

Edited by Vendayn, February 7 2015 - 7:41 PM.

[dspdrew]

That problem has never affected any other colonies at the time it occurred, so I don't think it had anything to do with the food or environment. Either way, there's only one colony left now and they're doing great.

[Chromerust]

I'm not providing them any heat.

I removed the heat lamp from mine, they were multiplying way too fast. I'm glad to hear they are doing better, it was around 300 when it started exploding for me. You'll need to feed them everyday if you want that to happen tho.

[dspdrew]

Yeah this colony is growing at about the same pace as that big S. xyloni colony I once had.

[dspdrew]

Update 4-11-2015
 
This colony is still doing well. They're now up to around 600 workers, and they have a huge pile of brood.

[Gregory2455]

Whaaaaaat?! And here I am with a queen from the same flights with no workers or brood. At least she is eating.

[dspdrew]

Yeah this was the only one that did well.

[AntsAreUs]

Pictures?

[dspdrew]

I'll get some on the next update.

[Tspivey16]

Any pics yet- I would like to see what a large amount of workers for this colony looks like space wise.

[dspdrew]

I'll update this along with my S. xyloni journal this weekend. I might as well; I've updated just about everything else.

[dspdrew]

Update 6-11-2015
 
This colony is growing like crazy. They are now up to about 1800 workers, including a few majors.
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
They started chewing a tunnel right into the cotton glove.
 

[Chromerust]

Very nice! i

[Gregory2455]

Hah, they tunneled into the cotton like my Tetramorium.