22 replies to this topic

[giraffedom]

I believe I caught this queen on June 22nd. I don't know her exact species, but I'm excited to raise a Crematogaster colony. She is currently housed in an Atom B formicarium. At first she was always very stressed when exposed to light, but now she no longer minds it. I've been feeding her drops of honey and she always eats it all at once. She has a big pile of eggs and larva, and I think one pupa which will hopefully soon become her first worker. 

 

 

[Derpy]

Nice catch! I have a colony of these girls and they are just soooooooo cute. In my opinion crematogaster have to be the cutest species. I hope your colony does well!

[AntsAreUs]

In my opinion crematogaster have to be the cutest species.

Take that back! Tetramorium pulcherrimum are by far the cutest species.

[Derpy]

Ok fine, loooking at some pictures, Tetramorium pulcherrimum is probably the cutest.

[AntsMaryland]

 

In my opinion crematogaster have to be the cutest species.

Take that back! Tetramorium pulcherrimum are by far the cutest species.

 

wow. that's SO cute...

[ponerinecat]

Look up calyptomyrmex.

[giraffedom]

So many cute ants! I have to say though, Crematogaster will probably end up being the cutest ant I ever get to keep. I'm super excited for the little workers to come. I fed her a fruit fly today in hope it would speed up the development of all her larva. She quickly caught it and started feeding them. 

[AntsMaryland]

Look up calyptomyrmex.

That looks like a big (well very small) ant TEDDY BEAR! I wish I could keep that species...

[giraffedom]

7.19.2018

 

It looks like the protein definitely helped. She now has 7 pupae and about 15 larvae. It's crazy how quickly some of these larvae have developed; only two days ago I couldn't see a single pupa. 

 

 

[giraffedom]

7.25.18

 

The first workers have eclosed! The first one arrived last night. At that time the younger of the two had not started to stretch out her legs quite yet.

 

 

This morning, I found the youngest with her legs stretched out and the older of the two helping the queen with brood care. I fed the queen some honey to celebrate. They're so tiny, and I love their little heart-shaped gasters. I'm looking forward to giving them space to forage soon. I can tell there's going to be more coming in the near future.

 

 

 

[giraffedom]

7.30.18

 

We have 7 workers now! I can't wait to move them into something bigger where they can forage instead of me just stuffing food into the nest. I fed them half a cricket yesterday and they've already devoured it. 

 

 

[CatsnAnts]

That’s awesome! I’m still waiting on workers for my crematogaster queen!

[giraffedom]

That’s awesome! I’m still waiting on workers for my crematogaster queen!

 

I have a second Crematogaster queen, and she's at about the same stage as yours. She has two pupae and a large pile of larvae currently. I think the difference in development times between my two colonies had a lot to do with heat. One was kept at 80F and one was kept around 72F. No surprise, the one kept in hotter conditions got workers first (and is thus featured in this journal). Now I'm keeping the second queen in an 80 degree room as well, hoping to catch her up.

[giraffedom]

8.14.18

 

This colony is now at 21 workers, with a huge pile of brood that they've stuck to the ceiling. It's pretty fun to watch them hang and care for larvae at the same time.

 

 

[brianhershey]

You have a winner! I found a colony (100+) in a walnut here in Kansas last year and it's doing really well now (250+), huge brood pile, they LOVE the heating cable I have running under their THA Casita, I run that 12 hours a day and off overnight. I didn't diapause them last winter but will put them on a chilly window sill this year now that they are established. They are very light tolerant and have been in room light all year, but recently I did some experiments and the queen chamber is measurably calmer in the dark.... I can tell they start moving around more when I gently move away a piece of cardboard, making sure there is zero vibration. So now the cardboard stays leaning against the glass, not fully dark but much darker than before.

 

Looks like yours are ready to expand. If they have other chambers to use, if you feed them cooked chicken, turkey or pork they will break it up and farm a field of it where they have room.

 

Mine also like crickets, meal worms sliced in half lengthwise and occasional raw honey diluted in water.

 

Good luck and looking forward to updates!

 

Brian 

[brianhershey]

Mine also like ... raw honey diluted in water.

 

 

I just found out that raw honey and water left to sit will ferment... very toxic for ant food, I'll no longer do that! Apparently processed, or pasteurized honey has the natural yeast removed so no danger of fermenting.

[Kaelwizard]

I have a queen of this genus. She is waiting until after hibernation to lay. I might hibernate her early (beginning of October maybe) and wake her up early (January to VERY early February). 

[brianhershey]

I have a queen of this genus. She is waiting until after hibernation to lay. I might hibernate her early (beginning of October maybe) and wake her up early (January to VERY early February). 

 

I have two Crem queens I caught a couple weeks ago and no eggs yet, so I suppose I'll do the same. I have a cold window sill I used last year for wintering over. Evenings are now in the 60's here.

[VoidElecent]

Very nice journal so far

[Kaelwizard]

 

I have a queen of this genus. She is waiting until after hibernation to lay. I might hibernate her early (beginning of October maybe) and wake her up early (January to VERY early February). 

 

I have two Crem queens I caught a couple weeks ago and no eggs yet, so I suppose I'll do the same. I have a cold window sill I used last year for wintering over. Evenings are now in the 60's here.

 

Where I live it is 60 for like the whole day but in the morning it is 40.