35 replies to this topic

[AnthonyP163]

10/5/24

 

Lasius latipes

 

All has been going decently well with these ants. I was able to get a decent pupae boost for the Lasius latipes, but unfortunately, the two queen latipes groups' hosts wouldn't accept them. They let most of them die in the cocoons. I also had to separate those two queens, because they began to show aggression to one another.

 

However, I did receive 4 more queens of this species with what appear to be Lasius ponderosae hosts from UtahAnts! I chose to boost one of them more than the others, and so that queen has about 50-70 hosts currently. I am going to have to put these ants into hibernation within the next few weeks. Most have eggs, but I am not entirely sure if any will develop into larvae.

 

Lasius clavipes

 

The Lasius clavipes queen with americanus hosts has been laying a ton of eggs. I don't think they'll develop prior to hibernation. I have some other queens with less hosts. 

 

Lasius occidentalis

 

The Lasius occidentalis have been having their final generation eclose.

 

Lasius subumbratus 

 

Headed into hibernation shortly. Both queens still doing well.

 

Lasius sitiens 

 

Apparently I received Lasius sitiens this year! I thought they were Cautolasius, but then neoniger-esque workers eclosed, and the queens and workers both match sitiens. I have a few dozen queens that are just beginning to get workers. 

 

Lasius pallitarsis

 

These queens have been doing well and have now began to eclose their own workers. 

 

Lasius crypticus

 

The group with lots of queens has been getting more workers, but also had some queens get culled. I assumed this would happen. It seems to have slowed down as they get more workers and get fed more. I am unsure if they will cull all but one queen, or tolerate multiple.

[Ants_Dakota]

10/5/24

 

Lasius latipes

 

All has been going decently well with these ants. I was able to get a decent pupae boost for the Lasius latipes, but unfortunately, the two queen latipes groups' hosts wouldn't accept them. They let most of them die in the cocoons. I also had to separate those two queens, because they began to show aggression to one another.

 

However, I did receive 4 more queens of this species with what appear to be Lasius ponderosae hosts from UtahAnts! I chose to boost one of them more than the others, and so that queen has about 50-70 hosts currently. I am going to have to put these ants into hibernation within the next few weeks. Most have eggs, but I am not entirely sure if any will develop into larvae.

 

Lasius clavipes

 

The Lasius clavipes queen with americanus hosts has been laying a ton of eggs. I don't think they'll develop prior to hibernation. I have some other queens with less hosts. 

 

Lasius occidentalis

 

The Lasius occidentalis have been having their final generation eclose.

 

Lasius subumbratus 

 

Headed into hibernation shortly. Both queens still doing well.

 

Lasius sitiens 

 

Apparently I received Lasius sitiens this year! I thought they were Cautolasius, but then neoniger-esque workers eclosed, and the queens and workers both match sitiens. I have a few dozen queens that are just beginning to get workers. 

 

Lasius pallitarsis

 

These queens have been doing well and have now began to eclose their own workers. 

 

Lasius crypticus

 

The group with lots of queens has been getting more workers, but also had some queens get culled. I assumed this would happen. It seems to have slowed down as they get more workers and get fed more. I am unsure if they will cull all but one queen, or tolerate multiple.

Awesome! Will these species soon be available for purchase?

[AnthonyP163]

 

10/5/24

 

Lasius latipes

 

All has been going decently well with these ants. I was able to get a decent pupae boost for the Lasius latipes, but unfortunately, the two queen latipes groups' hosts wouldn't accept them. They let most of them die in the cocoons. I also had to separate those two queens, because they began to show aggression to one another.

 

However, I did receive 4 more queens of this species with what appear to be Lasius ponderosae hosts from UtahAnts! I chose to boost one of them more than the others, and so that queen has about 50-70 hosts currently. I am going to have to put these ants into hibernation within the next few weeks. Most have eggs, but I am not entirely sure if any will develop into larvae.

 

Lasius clavipes

 

The Lasius clavipes queen with americanus hosts has been laying a ton of eggs. I don't think they'll develop prior to hibernation. I have some other queens with less hosts. 

 

Lasius occidentalis

 

The Lasius occidentalis have been having their final generation eclose.

 

Lasius subumbratus 

 

Headed into hibernation shortly. Both queens still doing well.

 

Lasius sitiens 

 

Apparently I received Lasius sitiens this year! I thought they were Cautolasius, but then neoniger-esque workers eclosed, and the queens and workers both match sitiens. I have a few dozen queens that are just beginning to get workers. 

 

Lasius pallitarsis

 

These queens have been doing well and have now began to eclose their own workers. 

 

Lasius crypticus

 

The group with lots of queens has been getting more workers, but also had some queens get culled. I assumed this would happen. It seems to have slowed down as they get more workers and get fed more. I am unsure if they will cull all but one queen, or tolerate multiple.

Awesome! Will these species soon be available for purchase?

 

Lasius sitiens, crypticus, and pallitarsis likely will!

[AnthonyP163]

10/18/24

 

Notably, some of the Lasius latipes and Lasius clavipes have had larvae develop from their eggs. I didn't think this would happen prior to hibernation, but I'm glad it did. I know they have to hibernate soon so I'm curious how long they'll keep the brood growing and also a little bit nervous to hibernate all of the parasites. Historically, there's been some casualties each time. 

 

Recently I've introduced a lot of Lasius interjectus and one Lasius claviger to a lot of hosts. A friend in Wisconsin found a Lasius plumopilosus queen, which is very rare, but she likely isn't fertile as she's kept her wings. I introduced her to a few dozen Lasius claviger workers. It was bumpy at first, but that is the species she has done well with. To my knowledge, this is the first time they've been introduced to hosts in captivity. My end goal is, after all, to have raised a colony of every single described Lasius species in the US (and perhaps maintain them all at once?). 

 

Lasius occidentalis: All of the brood has eclosed and now being prepared for hibernation. 

 

Lasius clavipes: Lots of larvae, of varying sizes, but none large yet. 

 

Lasius subumbratus: Headed to hibernation shortly, but surprisingly, they have a few larvae. I didn't realize!

 

Lasius latipes: 4 have eggs, one has eggs and larvae. I will probably slowly put them into hibernation over the next 2 weeks. 

 

Lasius sitiens: These colonies are growing nicely, and the heated queens are showing no signs of hibernation. I hope for this to continue but I know it likely won't. 

 

Lasius pallitarsis: These queens have been laying eggs as I feed them fruit flies upon getting workers, but I'm 100% sure they'll need to hibernate soon.

 

Lasius interjectus: I got a handful of these queens a few weeks ago, and promptly introduced them to Lasius claviger workers as hosts. This seems to be the best option for fall-flying interjectus, as it matches their flight pattern. This is my hypothesis as to why they fly in the fall - they're hoping to infiltrate claviger colonies. 

 

I find they do best in group introductions. I introduced 5 queens to around 50 workers and another 5 queens to around 15 workers. I tried to introduce others but ran out of claviger temporarily and had issues with some. I have one queen with a young Lasius neoniger colony, and then just recently I saved a dying queen by introducing her to a new group of Lasius claviger. 

 

Lasius claviger: I introduced a Lasius claviger queen to a big host group (around 75-100 workers) of Lasius sensu stricto. They have around 50-75 pupae as well. I had a L. aphidicola queen with this group, but after weeks of being fed (and getting fat) she randomly died. The introduction for the claviger queen was rough so I'm hoping she can make it through the next few days.

 

Lasius speculiventris: Just when I was about to put this queen into hibernation, she lays a giant batch of eggs. Wonderful. I'll try to keep them out and see if they'll grow the larvae. 

 

 

 

I made a video compilation of all of the Lasius colonies, seen below.

 

 

[Ants_Dakota]

Recently I've introduced a lot of Lasius interjectus and one Lasius claviger to a lot of hosts. A friend in Wisconsin found a Lasius plumopilosus queen, which is very rare, but she likely isn't fertile as she's kept her wings. I introduced her to a few dozen Lasius claviger workers. It was bumpy at first, but that is the species she has done well with. To my knowledge, this is the first time they've been introduced to hosts in captivity. My end goal is, after all, to have raised a colony of every single described Lasius species in the US (and perhaps maintain them all at once?). 

I think that is really cool goal, and I look forward to following your progress.

Edited by Ants_Dakota, October 18 2024 - 6:45 PM.

[AnthonyP163]

 

Recently I've introduced a lot of Lasius interjectus and one Lasius claviger to a lot of hosts. A friend in Wisconsin found a Lasius plumopilosus queen, which is very rare, but she likely isn't fertile as she's kept her wings. I introduced her to a few dozen Lasius claviger workers. It was bumpy at first, but that is the species she has done well with. To my knowledge, this is the first time they've been introduced to hosts in captivity. My end goal is, after all, to have raised a colony of every single described Lasius species in the US (and perhaps maintain them all at once?). 

I think that is really cool goal, and I look forward to following your progress.

 

Thanks!

[ANTdrew]

I saw sooooo many L. claviger queens last weekend here in Virginia.

[Ants_Dakota]

I saw sooooo many L. claviger queens last weekend here in Virginia.

I caught and saw none  . I wish I could get some from you!

[AnthonyP163]

11/22/24

 

Tiny little update. Most of these colonies are in hibernation. The Lasius speculiventris queen won't stop laying eggs so I'm still waiting to put her into hibernation. What I believed was Lasius crypticus is actually just Lasius neoniger, but since they're from a semi-desert area in Arizona, they won't stop growing! I have one colony with around 50 workers and hundreds of brood in a nest currently. 

 

The Lasius sitiens are in a similar situation - they don't seem to want to slow down. Though I'm tempted to never hibernate these ants, I do think that I'd like to hibernate them all for a few weeks at least. I find that at least some sort of diapause will really boost their growth afterward, as it resets their cycle. I have set aside a few colonies that I'm keeping for myself. 

 

I also cheated and hibernated a large Lasius brevicornis group for about a month. I took them out ~2 weeks ago and they have a giant batch of eggs, with a total of 23 queens in the nest. I plan to have that as my largest L. brevicornis colony, which I can hopefully keep for many years to come. In my mind, there is nothing more interesting than a giant, old colony of Lasius, except a giant, old colony of Lasius that has 23 queens.

 

A giant group of L. nearcticus queens also wanted to skip hibernation so I let them. They're growing a ton of larvae and pupae currently.

 

Since Lasius interjectus tend to die in hibernation for me a lot, I took the 5 queen group out today after one month. Upon looking at them 12 hours later, they have eggs. I'm unsure if they were laid before hibernation or today.

[AnthonyP163]

1/7/2025

 

It's now January, and I'm doing some experimenting with shorter hibernations. In the past, I've had a lot of bad luck with hibernating Acanthomyops parasites. This year, I hibernated some latipes, clavipes, and interjectus for around 2 months. I took them out a short time ago.

 

Lasius interjectus: The five-queen group is now in a formicarium and is laying lots of eggs! After I took them out in November, I returned them to the fridge for another month or so. I felt that one month wasn't enough. They had around 60 days total of hibernation.

 

Lasius latipes: I took out two queens with a small amount of hosts and they haven't laid any eggs yet.

 

Lasius clavipes: I took out the main Lasius clavipes queen and her 250+ plus Lasius americanus hosts. They've finally begun growing the larvae, but around half of the workers still seem to want to hibernate. Slowly but surely, they seem to be feeding the larvae more and more fruit flies. Hoping they absolutely thrive!

 

That Lasius nearcticus group that wanted to skip hibernation got large larvae but then slowly began eating all of the brood. Therefore, I put them into hibernation in December. I had some Lasius brevicornis that hibernated for about 2 months get workers already, a 6 queen group.

 

I'm not sure if Lasius nearcticus is designed to be quite as polygynous as L. brevicornis is. In 2021, I found a giant physogastric queen, and their species seems to lay smaller eggs than brevicornis. This makes me think they tend to have colonies with one queen (or at least a lower number than brevicornis). 

 

This queen I found back in 2021 is really what I'm going for with my colonies. I want to grow them all to the point that the queens look like this:

 

 

I think it'd be even cooler if I had colonies of species that we haven't yet seen physogastric, such as Lasius claviger (to my belief?). There's pictures of a Lasius latipes queen being physogastric already, but I want one of my own anyway because that's insanely cool. 

[AnthonyP163]

Just wanted to throw some visuals in here and update slightly:

 

https://www.youtube....rts/WC9CeBXMlfs

 

 

A good chunk of colonies are still hibernating. Some pallitarsis and sitiens just never stopped growing, so I've been keeping them out and growing. I thought the Lasius neoniger was going to stop growing too but then they laid a big batch of eggs - the other smaller colonies seem to want to hibernate.

 

The giant group of Lasius brevicornis was unfortunately killed because I knocked their nest onto its side, which resulted in eggs getting stuck to the lid, which resulted in mold. They all died within days. Thankfully I have plenty more brevicornis and I will not be making that mistake again this time. This group is much larger. 

 

The Lasius clavipes is the clip with the larvae eating fruit flies - that queen has begun laying eggs again and the larvae are eating more and more. Very optimistic.

Edited by AnthonyP163, February 6 2025 - 9:57 AM.

[AnthonyP163]

2/6/2025

 

It's been just under a month since I last updated and most colonies have been progressing very well. Upon thinking about it a lot and doing some research, I've decided the way to make a Lasius colony grow fastest is to provide protein every single day or even 2-3 times a day. I give most of my colonies chunks of mealworm for the fats as well as fruit flies, which the larvae primarily eat. 

 

I'm keeping a good amount of claustral Lasius (neoniger, crypticus, etc) as hosts for any queens I get at the end of this upcoming season. 

 

I also include a 5 minute video of clips of the colonies detailed below.

 

Lasius neoniger: Unfortunately my large Lasius neoniger colony (which probably has upwards of 200 workers and at least 500 brood items) seems to be slowing down for hibernation. Though some larvae are still pupating and eggs are still in the nest, the majority of them seem to be stagnant and the workers trash more fruit flies every time I feed them. When I hibernate this colony, I probably won't do it for very long. 

 

Lasius crypticus: These turned out to be real crypticus. It turns out crypticus is a good bit smaller than neoniger and also seems to be polygynous! They absolutely love sugars and fruit flies. I'm feeding them tons every day and the queens lay a ton of eggs. They haven't hibernated yet either.

 

Lasius pallitarsis: Some of these queens just didn't want to hibernate, so I didn't make them. The largest colony is up to 12 workers, and MAN their queens get really big when they're full. I can't wait to have physogastric queens laying tons of eggs.

 

Lasius brevicornis: The large group that I made after killing the first one is doing insanely well. They have over 100 pupae and hundreds of eggs and larvae, with I believe 28 queens creating it all. I expect workers from them any day now. 

 

The 6 queen colony that never hibernated is probably pushing 75 workers by now and laying tons of eggs. I'm very happy with this species, and I can't wait to see how they look in months or years.

 

Lasius nearcticus: I really like this species because of the giant physogastric queen I found a few years back. Unfortunately, they seem to grow insanely slow. I have a few queens in founding right now and they've been at eggs for a very long time. The large group I had founding together at all of their brood so I put them back into the fridge.

 

Lasius clavipes: This queen has been doing insanely well and laid HUNDREDS of eggs. The pile was much larger than herself. Unfortunately, the first larvae to pupate have all been males. It's known that hybrid Lasius may produce hybrid queens that are incapable of being fertile. I've always hoped that there's exceptions, and I'll wait a long time and keep taking care of this colony just in case the males were mistakes or eggs laid by the hosts. 

 

I have a few other queens of this hybrid with a smaller number of hosts that I just took out of hibernation. It's super interesting to me how different they can look. Some look more like latipes, and others more like claviger.

 

Lasius subumbratus: These have been eating lots and laid a lot of eggs for a time, but they seemed to eat all the eggs they laid and the pile always stays at a small size despite continuous egg laying. I'm not too sure what I can do to stop this. Ever since I started feeding them protein daily, their hosts have been happy to take it. I'm hoping this allows them to get going.

 

Lasius aphidicola: I had an aphidicola queen introduced to tons of hosts with tons of brood. She dropped dead after a bit, and I introduced another queen to her host group. Her host group has been very uncooperative - they trash fruit flies despite their larvae clearly wanting to eat. I'm hoping they snap out of it with time. A lot of the larvae have pupated, although tiny.

 

Lasius interjectus: The 5 queen Lasius interjectus have been doing great! They have a group of probably 50-75 larvae and some of them are getting pretty large. The claviger hosts have been trashing a lot of fruit flies, but when I feed them a ton, at least a few tend to end up in the larvae pile. I'm confident that if they get a few biological workers, those workers will be better at nursing brood.

 

Lasius latipes: It's been a wild ride with this species. The queen with the most hosts (probably 40-55) has done horribly compared to the others. She's laid maybe 3 eggs total since coming out of hibernation in January. The other queens, which came out with larvae, have laid plenty of eggs. 

 

The queen with the least hosts (maybe 13 total?) has ironically been the first to get pupae. She has also laid at least 30 eggs. It's funny to me that I always preach giving queens as many hosts as you can, and my first latipes bios will be in a colony of 13 workers. 

 

The queen that hibernated with tons of larvae from last year has also been laying plenty of eggs, but her hosts seem to be completely inept. She has probably 25-30 workers and they've neglected to feed the larvae or even care for them much at all. There's been multiple larvae dead. These larvae are larger than the other queens pupae. 

 

Lasius murphipes: It turns out the latipes queen that looked small and weird was actually a hybrid between Lasius latipes and Lasius murphyi. She has laid the most eggs out of any of the latipes, and has at least 30 hosts. I would guess she's laid 100+ eggs, and she's pretty consistently fat. I feed them a lot of mealworm chunks. I'm hoping she's not infertile!

 

Lasius occidentalis: The Lasius occidentalis colony got 3 months of hibernation! I took them out a few weeks ago and the queen has since started laying eggs again. I give them mealworm chunks daily and they have access to a liquid feeder which they make good use of. The amount of eggs has been pretty disappointing so far but it's also possible I'm just impatient. I'm really hoping this colony does well! 

 

Lasius claviger: Larvae! I took a video of this queens hosts and her and little larvae have appeared. I'm hoping this queen doesn't drop dead, because her hosts do NOT want to leave their dirty tube and she has always acted lethargic or wobbly. If she dies, I will likely just put another claviger queen in with her hosts to take over.

 

Lasius plumopilosus: I still have a queen with claviger hosts but I'm 99% sure she's infertile. I'm hoping she'll at least lay some eggs that I can grow up and see. Her hosts have been dropping dead to an extent, so that's disappointing. She is so tiny, I really want to get this species going!

 

Lasius speculiventris: This queen has been laying a lot of eggs since she got out of hibernation. I'm hoping they turn to larvae soon, because some of her eggs are from prior to hibernation as well. Feeding them daily at least.

 

I'm super excited for all of these ants to grow into huge colonies.

 

Edited by AnthonyP163, February 6 2025 - 10:32 AM.

[Ants_Dakota]

2/6/2025

 

It's been just under a month since I last updated and most colonies have been progressing very well. Upon thinking about it a lot and doing some research, I've decided the way to make a Lasius colony grow fastest is to provide protein every single day or even 2-3 times a day. I give most of my colonies chunks of mealworm for the fats as well as fruit flies, which the larvae primarily eat. 

 

I'm keeping a good amount of claustral Lasius (neoniger, crypticus, etc) as hosts for any queens I get at the end of this upcoming season. 

 

I also include a 5 minute video of clips of the colonies detailed below.

 

Lasius neoniger: Unfortunately my large Lasius neoniger colony (which probably has upwards of 200 workers and at least 500 brood items) seems to be slowing down for hibernation. Though some larvae are still pupating and eggs are still in the nest, the majority of them seem to be stagnant and the workers trash more fruit flies every time I feed them. When I hibernate this colony, I probably won't do it for very long. 

 

Lasius crypticus: These turned out to be real crypticus. It turns out crypticus is a good bit smaller than neoniger and also seems to be polygynous! They absolutely love sugars and fruit flies. I'm feeding them tons every day and the queens lay a ton of eggs. They haven't hibernated yet either.

 

Lasius pallitarsis: Some of these queens just didn't want to hibernate, so I didn't make them. The largest colony is up to 12 workers, and MAN their queens get really big when they're full. I can't wait to have physogastric queens laying tons of eggs.

 

Lasius brevicornis: The large group that I made after killing the first one is doing insanely well. They have over 100 pupae and hundreds of eggs and larvae, with I believe 28 queens creating it all. I expect workers from them any day now. 

 

The 6 queen colony that never hibernated is probably pushing 75 workers by now and laying tons of eggs. I'm very happy with this species, and I can't wait to see how they look in months or years.

 

Lasius nearcticus: I really like this species because of the giant physogastric queen I found a few years back. Unfortunately, they seem to grow insanely slow. I have a few queens in founding right now and they've been at eggs for a very long time. The large group I had founding together at all of their brood so I put them back into the fridge.

 

Lasius clavipes: This queen has been doing insanely well and laid HUNDREDS of eggs. The pile was much larger than herself. Unfortunately, the first larvae to pupate have all been males. It's known that hybrid Lasius may produce hybrid queens that are incapable of being fertile. I've always hoped that there's exceptions, and I'll wait a long time and keep taking care of this colony just in case the males were mistakes or eggs laid by the hosts. 

 

I have a few other queens of this hybrid with a smaller number of hosts that I just took out of hibernation. It's super interesting to me how different they can look. Some look more like latipes, and others more like claviger.

 

Lasius subumbratus: These have been eating lots and laid a lot of eggs for a time, but they seemed to eat all the eggs they laid and the pile always stays at a small size despite continuous egg laying. I'm not too sure what I can do to stop this. Ever since I started feeding them protein daily, their hosts have been happy to take it. I'm hoping this allows them to get going.

 

Lasius aphidicola: I had an aphidicola queen introduced to tons of hosts with tons of brood. She dropped dead after a bit, and I introduced another queen to her host group. Her host group has been very uncooperative - they trash fruit flies despite their larvae clearly wanting to eat. I'm hoping they snap out of it with time. A lot of the larvae have pupated, although tiny.

 

Lasius interjectus: The 5 queen Lasius interjectus have been doing great! They have a group of probably 50-75 larvae and some of them are getting pretty large. The claviger hosts have been trashing a lot of fruit flies, but when I feed them a ton, at least a few tend to end up in the larvae pile. I'm confident that if they get a few biological workers, those workers will be better at nursing brood.

 

Lasius latipes: It's been a wild ride with this species. The queen with the most hosts (probably 40-55) has done horribly compared to the others. She's laid maybe 3 eggs total since coming out of hibernation in January. The other queens, which came out with larvae, have laid plenty of eggs. 

 

The queen with the least hosts (maybe 13 total?) has ironically been the first to get pupae. She has also laid at least 30 eggs. It's funny to me that I always preach giving queens as many hosts as you can, and my first latipes bios will be in a colony of 13 workers. 

 

The queen that hibernated with tons of larvae from last year has also been laying plenty of eggs, but her hosts seem to be completely inept. She has probably 25-30 workers and they've neglected to feed the larvae or even care for them much at all. There's been multiple larvae dead. These larvae are larger than the other queens pupae. 

 

Lasius murphipes: It turns out the latipes queen that looked small and weird was actually a hybrid between Lasius latipes and Lasius murphyi. She has laid the most eggs out of any of the latipes, and has at least 30 hosts. I would guess she's laid 100+ eggs, and she's pretty consistently fat. I feed them a lot of mealworm chunks. I'm hoping she's not infertile!

 

Lasius occidentalis: The Lasius occidentalis colony got 3 months of hibernation! I took them out a few weeks ago and the queen has since started laying eggs again. I give them mealworm chunks daily and they have access to a liquid feeder which they make good use of. The amount of eggs has been pretty disappointing so far but it's also possible I'm just impatient. I'm really hoping this colony does well! 

 

Lasius claviger: Larvae! I took a video of this queens hosts and her and little larvae have appeared. I'm hoping this queen doesn't drop dead, because her hosts do NOT want to leave their dirty tube and she has always acted lethargic or wobbly. If she dies, I will likely just put another claviger queen in with her hosts to take over.

 

Lasius plumopilosus: I still have a queen with claviger hosts but I'm 99% sure she's infertile. I'm hoping she'll at least lay some eggs that I can grow up and see. Her hosts have been dropping dead to an extent, so that's disappointing. She is so tiny, I really want to get this species going!

 

Lasius speculiventris: This queen has been laying a lot of eggs since she got out of hibernation. I'm hoping they turn to larvae soon, because some of her eggs are from prior to hibernation as well. Feeding them daily at least.

 

I'm super excited for all of these ants to grow into huge colonies.

Excellent update! It is quite cool to see some of these ants probably being kept for the first time, and your updates are really helpful for us antkeepers! I wanted to know what your best tips were for L. brevicornis, specifically in regards to heating and diapause. How long did it take to grow them to that size? Do you find more or less queens to be beneficial to them? Is there a nest or founding method you believe they work best in? Thank you for your time!
Ants_Dakota

Edited by Ants_Dakota, February 6 2025 - 1:11 PM.

[AnthonyP163]

Thanks! I think Lasius brevicornis simply tend to do best in a test tube setup. However, in cases when you have more than maybe 8-10 queens, there just isn't enough space in a test tube. 

 

They definitely get more workers with more queens, but I've noticed that 1 or even 2 queen groups can do equally as well.

 

The 6q Lasius brevicornis colony that's probably reaching 100 workers soon got their workers I believe in January, or maybe December. When you feed them daily or multiple times a day with lots of sugars and fruit flies, the queens will lay eggs like crazy. I've noticed this about most Lasius species during their 'productive' season. It's best to demonstrate to the queen that there's an abundance of food so she can lay more eggs.

 

Can't wait for you to update your journal! 

[Ants_Dakota]

Thanks! I think Lasius brevicornis simply tend to do best in a test tube setup. However, in cases when you have more than maybe 8-10 queens, there just isn't enough space in a test tube. 

 

They definitely get more workers with more queens, but I've noticed that 1 or even 2 queen groups can do equally as well.

 

The 6q Lasius brevicornis colony that's probably reaching 100 workers soon got their workers I believe in January, or maybe December. When you feed them daily or multiple times a day with lots of sugars and fruit flies, the queens will lay eggs like crazy. I've noticed this about most Lasius species during their 'productive' season. It's best to demonstrate to the queen that there's an abundance of food so she can lay more eggs.

 

Can't wait for you to update your journal! 

This is honestly so helpful as I certainly do not feed my ants enough, so I thank you for revealing this! As you somewhat mentioned, fruit flies appear to the their favorite food source? It would make sense considering that they are easy for the ants to dispose of and should not cause as much mold in the setup. Is there a certain temperature you aim to keep them at? I will be taking my ants out of diapause in a few weeks here, and am looking forward to updating my journals as well!

Edited by Ants_Dakota, February 7 2025 - 5:53 AM.

[AnthonyP163]

 

Thanks! I think Lasius brevicornis simply tend to do best in a test tube setup. However, in cases when you have more than maybe 8-10 queens, there just isn't enough space in a test tube. 

 

They definitely get more workers with more queens, but I've noticed that 1 or even 2 queen groups can do equally as well.

 

The 6q Lasius brevicornis colony that's probably reaching 100 workers soon got their workers I believe in January, or maybe December. When you feed them daily or multiple times a day with lots of sugars and fruit flies, the queens will lay eggs like crazy. I've noticed this about most Lasius species during their 'productive' season. It's best to demonstrate to the queen that there's an abundance of food so she can lay more eggs.

 

Can't wait for you to update your journal! 

This is honestly so helpful as I certainly do not feed my ants enough, so I thank you for revealing this! As you somewhat mentioned, fruit flies appear to the their favorite food source? It would make sense considering that they are easy for the ants to dispose of and should not cause as much mold in the setup. Is there a certain temperature you aim to keep them at? I will be taking my ants out of diapause in a few weeks here, and am looking forward to updating my journals as well!

 

I think keeping them in the upper 70s is best for founding and general growth. Fruit flies seem to be the best protein for them because they can easily be carried to the larvae for them to feed - easier for smaller colonies and even larger colonies as well.