107 replies to this topic

[Mettcollsuss]

Sadly my queen hasn't laid any eggs after about a month, so I'm assuming she's infertile. I hope your colony continues to grow. This will be a really cool species to see develop. Something cool I read somewhere is that you can put a cork in the entrance of their formicarium, the majors will chew out a hole just the right size to block with their flat heads.

 

That sounds really cool.

[Aaron567]

October 5, 2017

 

This little colony has changed a lot since the last update. Due to the very limited amounts of eggs these queens are able to produce at one time, getting this colony started has been slow. The first nanitic actually died after the second nanitic was born, and the death may have been caused by a thread of cotton that had tied itself around the worker. Another worker was born after that, making 2 workers once again. And some more workers to come very soon, as you can see.

 

The past several days, the queen has laid at least 8 more little noodle eggs. That's the most I've ever seen her lay in such a short time period. I am excited to see the growth of this colony and can't wait to see the first majors. The queen also still has that one wing left, although it looks to have been bitten down.

 

Sorry for cloudy photos. The test tube is not very clean anymore.

 

Edited by Aaron567, June 1 2018 - 7:19 AM.

[BMM]

Nice. My queen turned out to be fertile, but yours look quite a bit more productive. Mine's only got two workers, one larvae, and a batch of eggs at this point. I'm guessing based on your location that you won't need to hibernate them?

[Aaron567]

Nice. My queen turned out to be fertile, but yours look quite a bit more productive. Mine's only got two workers, one larvae, and a batch of eggs at this point. I'm guessing based on your location that you won't need to hibernate them?

 

Since they are very similar to Camponotus my guess is that they do hibernate in my area just like the Camponotus do. Despite that, I will not be hibernating these, and I will see how it goes. Most ants in my area do not hibernate

[Ants853]

What have you been feeding them?

[Aaron567]

What have you been feeding them?

 

Mealworms and sugar/honey water.

[Aaron567]

October 7, 2017

 

I just checked on this colony a few minutes ago to find that they have separated the eggs by themselves and that the third worker just eclosed. Fourth worker will eclose soon. Another larva has also pupated in the last day or so. There are 11 eggs and two newly hatched larvae.

 

Look at all those eggs! I just had to get a picture of how weird it looks when the eggs are together. 

 

Edited by Aaron567, June 1 2018 - 7:20 AM.

[Nathant2131]

I still can't get over those eggs.

[Mettcollsuss]

I still can't get over those eggs.

Same!

[MegaMyrmex]

Naked pipae? Don't most formicine ants have cocoons?

[Aaron567]

Naked pipae? Don't most formicine ants have cocoons?

 

The majority do. But some don't

[Aaron567]

November 5, 2017

 

Just a short update, these are still doing great. There are 7 workers and multiple pupae (from the previous batch of eggs in the last update) that are about to eclose. And the queen is nearly wingless now. There's just a tiny piece of wing left. 

 

Edited by Aaron567, June 1 2018 - 7:21 AM.

[JackPearl]

Awesome colony! I've been doing some research, and I'm convinced that I have a colony of Colobopsis in my area. What part of what season is June? For example, if it's mid summer I'll wait until mid summer here to look. Obviously I'll try and find some more exact times, but they should be a rough estimate

[Aaron567]

Awesome colony! I've been doing some research, and I'm convinced that I have a colony of Colobopsis in my area. What part of what season is June? For example, if it's mid summer I'll wait until mid summer here to look. Obviously I'll try and find some more exact times, but they should be a rough estimate

 

I catch a lot of them around early summer.

[JackPearl]

Awesome colony! I've been doing some research, and I'm convinced that I have a colony of Colobopsis in my area. What part of what season is June? For example, if it's mid summer I'll wait until mid summer here to look. Obviously I'll try and find some more exact times, but they should be a rough estimate

 
I catch a lot of them around early summer.

Sweet! I think the species near me are Grasseri or Vitrea, regardless, both are jet black.

[Aaron567]

Unfortunately, the colony is not doing so well right now. They got up to 21 workers at one point, and then I had to move them because the water reservoir in their test tube was completely dry. I moved them into a piece of vinyl tubing which I would then hook up to their new test tube, but they did not want to move into the new test tube so they have been staying in the tubing for over a week now.

 

Colobopsis enjoy small spaces because they nest in hollow twigs in the wild so them nesting only in the thin tubing was not a surprise to me. After being in the vinyl tubing for a few days, I noticed a worker had died. At the time I figured it might just be an old nanitic. Just a few more days pass, and several more workers had died which concerned me. I began to think about what they could be dying from. They have hydration, they have food, they have an outworld, they have oxygen, and these are not old workers dying. To this day, eight of the 21 workers have died, putting the colony down to 13 workers. They also have no brood because most of it hatched into workers and the rest of the couple eggs and small larvae mysteriously shriveled up and died as well.

 

Today I decided to move them out of the vinyl tubing because I don't know what else could be killing them. Maybe they liked living in the tubing but didn't know it was letting out deadly fumes? I have no idea. But I just knocked the colony out of the tubing and into a new test tube setup. I guess I will provide them with constant sugar water and just hope that no more workers die and that the queen lays some eggs. I am also pretty sure that this species has a short and mild hibernation where I live so I took them off of their heat cable just in case they want to hibernate or something..

 

I will try my best to get them back on their feet.

 

A picture from today.

Edited by Aaron567, December 22 2017 - 10:47 AM.

[MegaMyrmex]

One of my dream species, nice colony!

[Aaron567]

December 27, 2017

 

Ever since I moved the colony out of that vinyl tubing and into a test tube, no workers have died. They are still at 13 workers. Yay!

 

It looks like they also may have started hibernating since I took them off their heat cable. I have not seen any workers foraging for days, and they are just staying inside the test tube bunched around the queen. Still no brood. Maybe I can get them through the winter!

 

Pictures of them and their setup now.

 

Edited by Aaron567, June 1 2018 - 7:22 AM.

[TennesseeAnts]

I love this journal.

[Aaron567]

February 5, 2018

 

I have some good news! 

 

For almost an entire month, I set this colony's test tube on top of my mini-fridge so they would get some cool temperatures of around 60F or so. I let them stay like this, while also making sure they had sugar water in their outworld. Occasionally I saw a worker foraging but they were very inactive as they were in diapause.

 

At the end of January I took them off of the refrigerator and put them on a heat cable. They immediately began foraging more. Only one worker has died since the last update, and I know it was just a natural death this time. The colony has 12 workers now.

 

I was on a trip away from home this past weekend, and I came home yesterday to find that they finally laid two eggs! They even laid a third one today. I really missed seeing these noodle eggs.

 

Edited by Aaron567, June 1 2018 - 7:23 AM.