14 replies to this topic

[Roachant]

Hi all!

So here is my first attempt at making a journal. I realize the quality of the vids is poor but I will practice so please stand by ;-)

 

this is my first video showing the ants just hanging out in their new nest. I'm not sure if they are actually feeding the queen or just transfering pheremones but they seem to do that quite a lot.

I'm using the firebrick nests I carved out with a dremel and so far the ants seem to like them. One colony moved in from their test tube within an hour and the second moved in about 4-5 hours later.

 

this is after I gave them a piece of cooked chicken. Needless to say, they loved it.

 

An odd thing I noticed was that they also brought in some bits of sand from their outworld and put them in the tunnels. I hope they are not trying to seal off the opening in an attempt to hibernate, I'd like to enjoy these colonies a little!

Don

 

 

 

[Ants4fun]

Nice videos!

[LC3]

Interesting. Can't wait to see your colony when they produce majors!

[Jonathan21700]

They are probably customizing the nest entrance and tunnels and also using it for the larvae to pupate. Nice colony!

[Roachant]

Update!
Well since I have gotten the colonies I haven't had either queen lay any eggs so today I put one colony in the fridge and will put the other tomorrow most likely. So I will be back with these journals in 3-4 months time, hopefully with some news of new eggs!
Don

[LC3]

Goodluck.

[Roachant]

Hi!
Well, a few months have passed in the fridge so I decided to wake them up and see how everything went.
In one colony everything so far is good, the queen survived and there are plenty of workers who did as well who are starting to mill around. I even see them feeding each other and feeding some of the larvae that over wintered with them.
My other colony is not doing so well. Many workers have died and the Queen looks to be in rough shape, so much so I'm not sure she will make it.
I'm a little nervous about hibernating my tetramorium colony since it was a kind of hit and miss with these guys which are in my opinion, tougher than the tetras. We shall see!

[Crystals]

Where were the two colonies located in the fridge?  Those cold air vents are something to avoid when sticking colonies into the fridge.

[Roachant]

I put them towards the bottom. Maybe they still got too cold.

[LC3]

My ants are located on the door of the fridge with a plastic cover over the shelf they are located on.

[Roachant]

Good news everyone! (Had to throw in a futurama reference...) both queens survived! And a few more workers have woken up, it just took them a little longer. One colony has taken some sunburst nectar and as far as I can tell, the other one hasn't although a few do have extended gasters. I am going to put a cricket in their outworlds today to get their protein intake going but they aren't foraging. Maybe they are at night when I'm not looking. In any case, I'm glad they survived their small winter nap and hope to have some eggs soon!

[Roachant]

Update!
So, indeed my two queens survived and not only that, they have laid a new batch of eggs that have grown into a nice pile of larvae. The ants are eating large amounts of sunburst nectar and all have large gasters, including the queens themselves. I'm trying to give them protein as well in the form of crickets and chicken. I may have to bump up the heat a bit because the larvae aren't growing as fast as I would like. Still, I'm glad they are doing well. I noticed something about Camponotus, they don't send out a lot of workers to forage. In fact there only seems to be at most two workers out of the nest at any given time. Perhaps it's because they are eating too much and don't need to forage as much? They certainly are some of the quietest ants I have ever seen.

[jjjakes]

In my small Camponotus colonies, I hardly if ever see workers outside of the nest, and in my larger one, the ants that are in the outworld mostly just sit around. That said, mine are also bursting with nectar. 

Edited by jjjakes, December 18 2015 - 6:53 PM.

[dermy]

It could be that they are just taking longer then you think because they are Camponotus, they tend to be a slower growing species of Ant.

Edited by dermy, December 20 2015 - 3:32 AM.

[Roachant]

True, in general they are but I have a camponotus colony that grew 6 minor workers from eggs to workers in about a month!
I've never seen my colonies grow that fast, it's wierd.