105 replies to this topic

[Nathant2131]

Have you just been feeding them fruit flies for protein so far?

I haven't updated in a bit, but yes just fruit flies as of right now. I like fruit flies becuase small colonies simply tear them apart, and don't have the trouble of a hard exoskeleton (on for example a mealworm) to get through.

Edited by Nathant2131, July 22 2017 - 5:57 AM.

[ultraex2]

Yeah I've been feeding mine fruit flies too, I have 6 with queens.  I gave them a cricket leg the other day and they all seemed to like those a lot.  They dragged it back by the larvae and then the next day it was pushed up against the cotton.

Edited by ultraex2, July 6 2017 - 10:34 AM.

[Nathant2131]

7/9/17

Starting tomorrow, I'm on vacation for 28 days. I hope the colonies do well.

 

Colony 1

7/6/17

~1:55 PM: I went down into the basement to check on them.

~2:00 PM: Took worker count: 5

2:15 PM: I gave this colony a dead or dying Fruit Fly. (Species Drosophila hydei, fresh from my culture)

2:39 PM: Left basement.

 

7/9/17

7:43 PM: I went down into the basement to check on them. The fly that I gave them last time was gone.

7:54 PM: I took out the old Sunburst-soaked cotton.

7:57 PM: I placed a new Sunburst-soaked cotton in the tube.

7:59 PM: I placed a dead or dying Fruit Fly (Species Drosophila hydei, fresh from my culture) in their tube.

8:33 PM: Left basement.

 

Colony 2

7/6/17

~1:55 PM: I went down into the basement to check on them.

~2:00 PM: Took worker count: ~10-11

2:17 PM: I gave this colony a dead or dying Fruit Fly. (Species Drosophila hydei, fresh from my culture)

2:19 PM: A worker finds the fly and starts dragging it.

2:21 PM: The worker was having trouble dragging the fly becuase cotton strands were stuck to the fly. I tried helping, which scared the worker and she returned to her colony.

2:23 PM: A worker comes back and starts dragging again. The fly gets locked in place again from a strand.

2:24 PM: The strand comes off. Worker continues on with dragging the fly.

2:25 PM: Whoops! A bit of chaos as the piece of Sunburst-soaked cotton starts rolling everywhere. After the chaso, the fly ended up on top of the cotton, and the worker was back to her colony.

2:26 PM: I knoch the fly off of the cotton.

2:39 PM: Left basement.

 

7/9/17

7:43 PM: I went down into the basement to check on them. The fly I gave them last time was still there at the back of the tube.

8:06 PM: I took out the old Sunburst-soaked cotton.

8:08 PM: I placed a new Sunburst-soaked cotton in their tube.

8:33 PM: Left basement.

 

Colony 3

7/6/17

~1:55 PM: I went down into the basement to check on them. There was a dead, pale worker in the colony. Maybe a failed eclosion?

~2:00 PM: Took worker count: 5

2:33 PM: I gave this colony a dead or dying Fruit Fly. (Species Drosophila hydei, fresh from my culture)

2:39 PM: Left basement.

 

7/9/17

7:43 PM: I went down into the basement to check on them. The fly I gave them last time was gone.

8:10 PM: I took out the old Sunburst-soaked cotton.

8:11 PM: I placed a new Sunburst-soaked cotton in their tube.

8:13 PM: I gave this colony a dead or dying Fruit Fly. (Species Drosophila hydei, fresh from my culture)

8:33 PM: Left basement.

 

Queen 4

 

Colony 5

7/6/17

~1:55 PM: I went down into the basement to check on them. The fly I gave them last time was gone.

~2:00 PM: Took worker count: 12

2:35 PM: I gave this colony a dead or dying Fruit Fly. (Species Drosophila hydei, fresh from my culture)

2:39 PM: Left basement.

 

7/9/17

7:43 PM: I went down into the basement to check on them.

8:14 PM: I took out the old Sunburst-soaked cotton.

8:17 PM: I placed a new Sunburst-soaked cotton in their tube.

8:17 PM: I gave this colony a dead or dying Fruit Fly. (Species Drosophila hydei, fresh from my culture)

8:33 PM: Left basement.

 

Queen 6

7/6/17

~1:55 PM: I went down into the basement to check on them. She was still the same.

2:39 PM: Left basement.

 

7/9/17

7:43 PM: I went down into the basement to check on them. This queen was the same.

8:22 PM: I decided to do something with this queen. I placed a Sunburst-soaked cotton in her tube. She began drinking shortly after.

8:33 PM: Left basement.

 

Colony 7

7/6/17

~1:55 PM: I went down into the basement to check on them.

~2:00 PM: Took worker count: 5

2:37 PM: I gave this colony a dead or dying Fruit Fly. (Species Drosophila hydei, fresh from my culture)

2:39 PM: Left basement.

 

7/9/17

7:43 PM: I went down into the basement to check on them. The fly I gave them last time was still there, at the back of the tube.

8:24 PM: I took out the old Sunburst-soaked cotton.

8:26 PM: I placed a new Sunburst-soaked cotton in their tube.

8:33 PM: Left basement.

 

Colony 8

7/6/17

~1:55 PM: I went down into the basement to check on them.

~2:00 PM: Took worker count: ~11-12

2:39 PM: I gave this colony a dead or dying Fruit Fly. (Species Drosophila hydei, fresh from my culture)

2:39 PM: Left basement.

 

7/9/17

7:43 PM: I went down into the basement to check on them. The fly I gave them last time was gone.

8:27 PM: I took out the old Sunburst-soaked cotton.

8:29 PM: I placed a new Sunburst-soaked cotton in their tube.

8:29 PM: I gave this colony a dead or dying Fruit Fly. (Species Drosophila hydei, fresh from my culture.

8:33 PM: Left baement.

[Bracchymyrmex]

What temperature is it in your basement?
 

[Nathant2131]

What temperature is it in your basement?

64-66 F.

[Nathant2131]

I get home from vacation, and all of the colonies were doing great.

 

I think I'm going to discontinue this journal. My real only intent was to document this species' founding stage in detail, as data on the keeping of this species is lacking. It is also getting tough to keep track of all my colonies since they are getting so big. I'm definitely keeping at least 1 colony of this species, but I think I'm going to resort to euthanization for the rest. It's getting high maintenence, and if I let these clonies grow anymore they are going to need outworlds and formicariums, which will cost a lot of money.

 

For sure though, this is my favorite and most memorable ant species I have kept so far. Keeping them was so smooth and easy. The colonies excepted almost everything I gave them. They proved to be very resilient and seemingly unaffected by the extreme temperatures for the time that they were in my room.

 

it's going to be sad to kill them off . I'm not even sure if I have the guts to do it. But at least I will have one colony. (I think it's going to be colony 8 since they seem the healthiest)

[T.C.]

I get home from vacation, and all of the colonies were doing great.
 
I think I'm going to discontinue this journal. My real only intent was to document this species' founding stage in detail, as data on the keeping of this species is lacking. It is also getting tough to keep track of all my colonies since they are getting so big. I'm definitely keeping at least 1 colony of this species, but I think I'm going to resort to euthanization for the rest. It's getting high maintenence, and if I let these clonies grow anymore they are going to need outworlds and formicariums, which will cost a lot of money.
 
For sure though, this is my favorite and most memorable ant species I have kept so far. Keeping them was so smooth and easy. The colonies excepted almost everything I gave them. They proved to be very resilient and seemingly unaffected by the extreme temperatures for the time that they were in my room.
 
it's going to be sad to kill them off . I'm not even sure if I have the guts to do it. But at least I will have one colony. (I think it's going to be colony 8 since they seem the healthiest)

Let me get this straight, your gonna kill off a bunch of young healthy colonies of prenolepis imparis? That's pretty terrible. I mean if it was something like fire ants, I would say congrats, but false honey pot ants? Why did you collect so many if you didn't intend on keeping them all? Not doing the environment any favor.

[T.C.]

You could put all these test tube colonies in a bucket, and all the colonies may join together and you'll have a massive colony of them. Wouldn't besurprised if P. Imparis would do this.

[Nathant2131]

I get home from vacation, and all of the colonies were doing great.

I think I'm going to discontinue this journal. My real only intent was to document this species' founding stage in detail, as data on the keeping of this species is lacking. It is also getting tough to keep track of all my colonies since they are getting so big. I'm definitely keeping at least 1 colony of this species, but I think I'm going to resort to euthanization for the rest. It's getting high maintenence, and if I let these clonies grow anymore they are going to need outworlds and formicariums, which will cost a lot of money.

For sure though, this is my favorite and most memorable ant species I have kept so far. Keeping them was so smooth and easy. The colonies excepted almost everything I gave them. They proved to be very resilient and seemingly unaffected by the extreme temperatures for the time that they were in my room.

it's going to be sad to kill them off . I'm not even sure if I have the guts to do it. But at least I will have one colony. (I think it's going to be colony 8 since they seem the healthiest)

Let me get this straight, your gonna kill off a bunch of young healthy colonies of prenolepis imparis? That's pretty terrible. I mean if it was something like fire ants, I would say congrats, but false honey pot ants? Why did you collect so many if you didn't intend on keeping them all? Not doing the environment any favor.

Like I said my intention was to document how their founding stage goes, so I thought more colonies would be nice for comparisons and such. I did intend on keeping them obviously, but just short term. I would disagree that keeping a colony for 4 months means I didn't intend to keep them at all.

My intention was to give some detailed information to this community that was lacking. There's barely any info or even any relatively established information out there (as far as I know) on rearing the Winter ant, Prenolepis imparis.

-----

I do like your idea of combining the colonies before getting rid of them. I don't have a lot of confidence it will work out but it's worth a try, what's to lose honestly besides the colonies that I was already planning to get rid of.

[noebl1]

@T.C. to be fair, you also never know what's fertile or what's going to make it.  I collected 7 P. imparis, and down to 2 that are fertile; one is doing ok, other not as well.  The rest died or aren't fertile.    Last year a coworker grabbed 11 Tetramorium queens from his pool, sat in a bag all day before I saw them with pool water.  Put them in test tubes 10-12 hours later, and every one survived and was fertile.  I gave a bunch away to other members as had too many.  I collected over a dozen Camponotus for another member, and most died or were infertile and only ended up giving him a handful.  That being said, I can appreciate Nathan is a minor, and that's not the best option for him to meet up with strangers to give them away.

[T.C.]

@T.C. to be fair, you also never know what's fertile or what's going to make it.  I collected 7 P. imparis, and down to 2 that are fertile; one is doing ok, other not as well.  The rest died or aren't fertile.    Last year a coworker grabbed 11 Tetramorium queens from his pool, sat in a bag all day before I saw them with pool water.  Put them in test tubes 10-12 hours later, and every one survived and was fertile.  I gave a bunch away to other members as had too many.  I collected over a dozen Camponotus for another member, and most died or were infertile and only ended up giving him a handful.  That being said, I can appreciate Nathan is a minor, and that's not the best option for him to meet up with strangers to give them away.

@Nathant, 4 months of life is a pretty small time frame compared to how long the colony would last if it's not killed. Like I said, I recommend joining the colonies together. MrILoveTheAnts did it in a video and it worked well.

@Noebl1 His colonies already have workers, so they are all likely to be fine. I'm not trying to stir up anything, just suggesting something rather than slaughtering, several colonies of such a great species. If he did this for documentation purposes, then there is still alot more to document and tests he could run.

[noebl1]

 

@T.C. to be fair, you also never know what's fertile or what's going to make it.  I collected 7 P. imparis, and down to 2 that are fertile; one is doing ok, other not as well.  The rest died or aren't fertile.    Last year a coworker grabbed 11 Tetramorium queens from his pool, sat in a bag all day before I saw them with pool water.  Put them in test tubes 10-12 hours later, and every one survived and was fertile.  I gave a bunch away to other members as had too many.  I collected over a dozen Camponotus for another member, and most died or were infertile and only ended up giving him a handful.  That being said, I can appreciate Nathan is a minor, and that's not the best option for him to meet up with strangers to give them away.

@Nathant, 4 months of life is a pretty small time frame compared to how long the colony would last if it's not killed. Like I said, I recommend joining the colonies together. MrILoveTheAnts did it in a video and it worked well.

@Noebl1 His colonies already have workers, so they are all likely to be fine. I'm not trying to stir up anything, just suggesting something rather than slaughtering, several colonies of such a great species. If he did this for documentation purposes, then there is still alot more to document and tests he could run.

 

 

hmm I may try to find that video as wondering if I could combine my two P. imparis queens to increase success as not sure the 2nd one will make it.

[Nathant2131]

 

@T.C. to be fair, you also never know what's fertile or what's going to make it.  I collected 7 P. imparis, and down to 2 that are fertile; one is doing ok, other not as well.  The rest died or aren't fertile.    Last year a coworker grabbed 11 Tetramorium queens from his pool, sat in a bag all day before I saw them with pool water.  Put them in test tubes 10-12 hours later, and every one survived and was fertile.  I gave a bunch away to other members as had too many.  I collected over a dozen Camponotus for another member, and most died or were infertile and only ended up giving him a handful.  That being said, I can appreciate Nathan is a minor, and that's not the best option for him to meet up with strangers to give them away.

@Nathant, 4 months of life is a pretty small time frame compared to how long the colony would last if it's not killed. Like I said, I recommend joining the colonies together. MrILoveTheAnts did it in a video and it worked well.

@Noebl1 His colonies already have workers, so they are all likely to be fine. I'm not trying to stir up anything, just suggesting something rather than slaughtering, several colonies of such a great species. If he did this for documentation purposes, then there is still alot more to document and tests he could run.

 

Ah, I watched his video just now. Really interesting :

 

 

And again the only reason I was planning on getting rid of the colonies is becuase I don't have the time or money to invest in 6 long term colonies (that are growing larger and larger) at a time. Then eventually I would need 6 seperate formicariums, 6 seperate outworlds, etc. 

 

I'll try the combination soon, once I find a working ant barrier. (I think my Fluon is faulty or something) I'll do it with 5 colonies. In case it doesn't work at least I will have that one extra.

[ultraex2]

How many workers are your colonies at now?

[lucas3431]

And again the only reason I was planning on getting rid of the colonies is becuase I don't have the time or money to invest in 6 long term colonies (that are growing larger and larger) at a time. Then eventually I would need 6 seperate formicariums, 6 seperate outworlds, etc. 

 

A second hand 50 gallon tank would support them...if the colonies react well together.

[T.C.]

I've never seen P. Imparis colonies get over 20-30 workers. I'd like to see someone's colony get past it.

[Nathant2131]

How many workers are your colonies at now?

I've never seen P. Imparis colonies get over 20-30 workers. I'd like to see someone's colony get past it.

I never counted them, but I believe many of the colonies are well past 20 workers. I have been gone for the past week though and wouldn't have access to the colonies right now (obviously ). Not worried at all for leaving the for long amounts of time anymore. The colonies all still had full gasters when I got back home 10 days ago, actually even fuller than when I left them. (and that was an entire 28 days!). I haven't even fed them yet since last July before I left as they seem plenty full.

[T.C.]

How many workers are your colonies at now?

I've never seen P. Imparis colonies get over 20-30 workers. I'd like to see someone's colony get past it.

I never counted them, but I believe many of the colonies are well past 20 workers. I have been gone for the past week though and wouldn't have access to the colonies right now (obviously ). Not worried at all for leaving the for long amounts of time anymore. The colonies all still had full gasters when I got back home 10 days ago, actually even fuller than when I left them. (and that was an entire 28 days!). I haven't even fed them yet since last July before I left as they seem plenty full.

My apologies, I mean single queen colonies. Also, for the queen to reproduce she is going to need to be getting protein. Not a gaster full of honey. That's the workers thing.

[Reevak]

I've never seen P. Imparis colonies get over 20-30 workers. I'd like to see someone's colony get past it.

My 3 queen colony has roughly 35+ workers, my 2 queen colony has 25+ workers, and all of my single queen colonies (6 colonies) have roughly 10+ each. I haven't updated my journal in a long time though.

[T.C.]

I've never seen P. Imparis colonies get over 20-30 workers. I'd like to see someone's colony get past it.

My 3 queen colony has roughly 35+ workers, my 2 queen colony has 25+ workers, and all of my single queen colonies (6 colonies) have roughly 10+ each. I haven't updated my journal in a long time though.

Yeah, my mistake. Like I said, I meant single queen colonies.