114 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

A lot of desert ants slow down brood production during the winter.

[dspdrew]

Update 3-12-2016
 

The large colony is still slowly shrinking. They're down to about 55 or so workers now.

 

The good news is the new colony that lost all but one worker, has two new workers now, and is producing more brood.

[dspdrew]

Update 4-7-2016
 

The large colony now has a bunch of new larvae, so the colony is definitely making a comeback.

 

The small colony has a bunch of new larvae as well, so they too are making a good comeback.

[dspdrew]

Update 6-14-2016
 

The large colony lost its queen so they are doomed. I found her dead in two pieces sitting in their trash pile.

 

The smaller colony has ten workers now, so hopefully they will continue in their success and replace the big colony I had.

[dspdrew]

Update 7-28-2016
 

What used to be the large colony is finally completely gone now.

 

The newer colony is getting bigger all the time. I'm now in the process of moving them out of the "dirt box" and into one of my new founding formicariums.

[dspdrew]

Update 8-22-2016
 

I just found a whole bunch of these queens last night near Chiriaco Summit, California. I'm putting some of them in my "dirt boxes", some in my new founding formicariums, and some in test tubes.

[dspdrew]

Update 7-9-2017
 

I still have that one remaining colony and it's doing fairly well. They now have about 40 workers.

 

I also just found another one of these queens tonight on my black light in Trabuco Canyon, CA. It still has its wings, and seemed to want to keep flying when I first caught it, so it might not be fertile; I'll just have to wait and see.

[Bracchymyrmex]

Update 7-9-2016

2017?

[dspdrew]

Update 10-29-2017
 

I ended up finding a few more of these in Trabuco Canyon, CA and a bunch more in the desert this season.

 

My largest colony is really growing, and is now up to around 150 workers.

 

 

[nurbs]

This is one of my favorite Camponotus species. They are a riot to watch. I've had a few get loose crawling on the wall and can always tell it is a fraggle by watching its movements.

 

They all have different personalities. Unlike C. quercicola, for exampe, who are totally chill lowkey - these guys are paranoid schizo ants with the slightest hint of vibration and disturbance.

[dspdrew]

This is one of my favorite Camponotus species. They are a riot to watch. I've had a few get loose crawling on the wall and can always tell it is a fraggle by watching its movements.

 

They all have different personalities. Unlike C. quercicola, for exampe, who are totally chill lowkey - these guys are paranoid schizo ants with the slightest hint of vibration and disturbance.

 

Yeah they're crazy paranoid.

[JackPearl]

Their colouration is awesome! I still can't get over it, I'm in love

[T.C.]

Yeah, their color is pretty cool. This ant species in cali is just another reason why I want to move there.

[AntsCalifornia]

These guys are really cool and I'm glad I have one of these queens. All your colony deaths are kind of freaking me out though. I only have one of these colonies, and only 1 Pheidole too, and I am trying so hard to keep them alive now. Is there something wrong with your colonies or do most people have little success?

[nurbs]

These guys are really cool and I'm glad I have one of these queens. All your colony deaths are kind of freaking me out though. I only have one of these colonies, and only 1 pheidole too, and I am trying so hard to keep them alive now. Is there something wrong with your colonies or do most people have little success?

 

All mine are doing great, no deaths. Some are over 30 workers now with tons of brood.

[dspdrew]

These guys are really cool and I'm glad I have one of these queens. All your colony deaths are kind of freaking me out though. I only have one of these colonies, and only 1 phiedole too, and I am trying so hard to keep them alive now. Is there something wrong with your colonies or do most people have little success?

 

Which deaths are you referring to? I hear this a lot from people, but I actually have a pretty low percentage of deaths with most species. I think people don't realize that when someone has 400 colonies of ants of about 50 different species, AND writes about everything that happens to them in journals, you are going to hear about a lot of deaths. That in no way means the death RATE is any higher though.

 

This year I did have a higher number of Myrmecocystus and Acromyrmex deaths than I did two years before.

[dspdrew]

Update 11-30-2017
 

It was getting way too hard to feed these guys in that little formicarium they were in, so I moved them into a larger one.

 

 

 

 

 

[AntsCalifornia]

cool supermajors, i can't wait for my supermajors

[dspdrew]

cool supermajors, i can't wait for my supermajors

 

They're just majors.

[OhioAnts]

 

cool supermajors, i can't wait for my supermajors

 

They're just majors.

 

 

What are those pyramids for? And such a clean and cool setup! Very impressed!