2124 replies to this topic

[Aquaexploder]

Quick question, when should I hibernate my colonies?

[Nathant2131]

Quick question, when should I hibernate my colonies?

There's no staple time honestly, but you can now if you want. Right about now is when I hibernated my Lasius queens, and when I took them out in March they began to produce healthy colonies.

[Aquaexploder]

Quick question, when should I hibernate my colonies?

There's no staple time honestly, but you can now if you want. Right about now is when I hibernated my Lasius queens, and when I took them out in March they began to produce healthy colonies.

Should I feed them at all before hibernation? (I just caught then recently)

[Nathant2131]

 

 

Quick question, when should I hibernate my colonies?

There's no staple time honestly, but you can now if you want. Right about now is when I hibernated my Lasius queens, and when I took them out in March they began to produce healthy colonies.

Should I feed them at all before hibernation? (I just caught then recently)

 

Yeah I would do that just to be safe. Remember all they need is water during hibernation.

[Aquaexploder]

Noooooooooooo! Today at my school we had a fire drill, and when we were heading back I saw a Ponera queen. Just when I bent over to snatch it, a kid stepped right on top of her (not on purpose he just didn't see it).

Things currently flying around here:
Crematogaster
Lasius
Ponera

[Connectimyrmex]

aw, that's sad. I hope you catch a ponera queen soon!

Also, are ants actually still flying?

[Aquaexploder]

Parasitic Lasius is flying.

[noebl1]

I picked up a bunch of these to play with (though link on site may be out of stock): http://www.formicult...m-and-outworld/

 

I like the size for holding test tubes, and hope to get my current colonies into these as will make feeding easier.  I may try to combine the two small P. imparis colonies i have using one as well.

 

No flights by me for a bit, or I somehow missed them.  Not many flights left for here this season

[Connectimyrmex]

Serious illuminati stuff right here: I just found LIVE Tetramorium alates in a spider web!

[Salmon]

Serious illuminati stuff right here: I just found LIVE Tetramorium alates in a spider web!

Tetramorium in october? That's.... something....

[Nathant2131]

 

Serious illuminati stuff right here: I just found LIVE Tetramorium alates in a spider web!

Tetramorium in october? That's.... something....

 

Maybe they were ejected alates like Camponotus do?

[noebl1]

Maybe they were ejected alates like Camponotus do?

 

 

 

That was my first thought too.   Though last year's late season Camponotus ejections were spotty here; I saw only a few over the course of a few weeks.  I don't recall seeing more than one at any given time, so several alates in the same spot definitely is not what I observed (though not saying impossible.)  At least one ejection also seemed a bit more violent than a typical alate type flight.  I found one C. americanus in brutal shape, including a severed head of another C. americanus still locked shut onto one of her antenna.

 

If there is several of them, is is possible it's a mis-ID and they are actually Crematogaster?  Just a shoot in the dark as does seem really late for Tetramorium flights. 

Edited by noebl1, October 7 2017 - 6:08 AM.

[Connectimyrmex]

They were tetramorium, all right. They became a delicious snack for my C. chromaiodes colony.

I'm thinking that an infertile Tetramorium queen created male offspring. Those flew off and got stuck in the web, along with some random female alate. It could also be a random ejection, or maybe those ants just hung around in the nest and were just kicked out.

 

Also, I finally caught a snake! she's a beautiful ringneck snake . Any tips?

Edited by Connectimyrmex, October 7 2017 - 6:43 AM.

[Nathant2131]

Also, I finally caught a snake! she's a beautiful ringneck snake . Any tips?

Make sure you have proper heating with a warm and cool side, and LOTS of research. Keeping a reptile is not something to take lightly. A wild caught one will be harder to keep than a captive bred one as well.

I myself am hoping to keep a Ball Python some day. Good luck with your Ringneck, I've seen one before and they are beautiful snakes!

[Connectimyrmex]

I've kept queen snakes, mourning geckos, gold dust day geckos, house geckos, maybe three other species of introduced hawaiian geckos, and brown anoles, not to mention my old Bearded Dragon, box turtles, tortoises, turtles, etc. My house has always been a zoo.... I'm perfectly aware that reptile keeping is serious.

I've nicknamed my snake "Stinker", because of her occasional musk release. She just ate a small earthworm!

 

The nice thing is that she's pretty much ready for hibernation, so I have plenty of time to prepare.

Edited by Connectimyrmex, October 7 2017 - 9:00 AM.

[Aquaexploder]

I am finding Lasius drones around here, but no queens.

[noebl1]

@Nathan How's your Ponera doing?    The first one I had died after about 48h, second one still alive.  I had initially added some springtails from my culture, but she seemed disinterested TBH.  Today I added a fruit fly and she was pretty aggressive chasing it and taking it down (apparently wasn't as wounded as I thought).  They apparently have some sort of stinging ability, as notice she would grab a wing and her gaster appeared to sting it several times as she tried to subdue it.  She finally killed it and dragged it under the coconut fibers against the cotton where the water reservoir is.  Contrary to what I had read, she was surprisingly out and about foraging in the light.  Wondering if hunger got the better of her.  I read they are mostly predaceous, so have not tried any Sunburst yet.  I've read they will also take boiled egg yolk, but again haven't tried.

Edited by noebl1, October 7 2017 - 12:01 PM.

[Nathant2131]

@Nathan How's your Ponera doing?    The first one I had died after about 48h, second one still alive.  I had initially added some springtails from my culture, but she seemed disinterested TBH.  Today I added a fruit fly and she was pretty aggressive chasing it and taking it down (apparently wasn't as wounded as I thought).  They apparently have some sort of stinging ability, as notice she would grab a wing and her gaster appeared to sting it several times as she tried to subdue it.  She finally killed it and dragged it under the coconut fibers against the cotton where the water reservoir is.  Contrary to what I had read, she was surprisingly out and about foraging in the light.  Wondering if hunger got the better of her.  I read they are mostly predaceous, so have not tried any Sunburst yet.  I've read they will also take boiled egg yolk, but again haven't tried.

I haven't seen her for many days, I believe she burrowed into the Coco fiber and her color plus size doesn't help with spotting her. She could be dead for all I know. I haven't fed her anything yet, should probably get to that soon. 

 

All I have captive breeding at the moment is mealworms, so I'lll try those.

Edited by Nathant2131, October 7 2017 - 12:05 PM.

[noebl1]

I haven't seen her for many days, I believe she burrowed into the Coco fiber and her color plus size doesn't help with spotting her. She could be dead for all I know. I haven't fed her anything yet, should probably get to that soon. 

 

All I have captive breeding at the moment is mealworms, so I'lll try those.

 

 

The first 3 weeks I had it I left her completely alone in test tube.  Last weekend I pulled her out, and she was fairly active, so added a couple springtails (pita to do btw).  I saw one still today, so unsure if the other one died or she ate it.  She was foraging around in the test tube today and not under the coconut fibers, so decided to try the fruit fly to see.  First minute or so she seemed a bit put off by it, then she started pretty aggressively chasing it around the tube until she finally killed it.  Took her a couple attacks to finally take it down, each time appearing to sting it for a moment.  When she finally did kill it, after dragging it back, she left it (though she vanished at this point.)  Wish I could find a bit more care info for them as I know they aren't the easiest.

 

Still also want to find someone with experience caring for Aphaenogaster.  I caught her about 3.5 weeks ago, and she already has a small pile of eggs. I'm *assuming* they'll probably not do much until Spring post hibernation, but wasn't sure.   I also believe they are full claustral so I don't need to do much for her.  Definitely a beautiful ant, so hoping she makes it.

[Salmon]

 

Also, I finally caught a snake! she's a beautiful ringneck snake . Any tips?

Make sure you have proper heating with a warm and cool side, and LOTS of research. Keeping a reptile is not something to take lightly. A wild caught one will be harder to keep than a captive bred one as well.

I myself am hoping to keep a Ball Python some day. Good luck with your Ringneck, I've seen one before and they are beautiful snakes!

 

 Ringneck snakes have very different requirements from most other snakes. They don't need heat, thriving at room temperature and potentially being killed by the sort of heat that most snakes need, and they require a very humid enclosure with soil- like substrate.

 

They're also extremely picky eaters. The ringneck snakes in New England feed exclusively on salamanders. You might be able to get them to eat earthworms that have had a salamander rubbed on them and switch them over to regular earthworms, but I don't see any way of keeping a ringneck snake alive that doesn't involve killing at least one salamander.