13 replies to this topic

[Volant]

Disclaimer: This is my first journal so it is most likely horrible, Any feedback would be appreciated .

6/1/17: This is the day I first found my Lasius Umbratus queen. This was my first queen so I had no idea what I was doing.
6/10/17: I added 7 Lasius Neoniger workers to my queen but by 6/11 all but 2 were killed. (I found the workers wandering outside)
6/23/17: Today, when I went to check , one of my workers drowned. So only one remains. Also I found my remaining worker biting my queens legs. I'm a bit confused, they were peaceful for 2 weeks but now the worker attacks the queen.

Pictures as of now,



I'm sort of at a standstill with my Umbratus queen, I have no clue what to do next. Should i get more workers, wait it out?



My Nylanderia sp. Queen;

6/18/17: This is the day I found my Nylanderia sp. queen. She also laid about 5 eggs on the day I found her.

6/23/17: The egg pile grew tremendously, I think she laid about 10 more eggs. Hopefully in about 5 days, the eggs hatch into larvae.

Pictures as of now,



I will most likely updated this journal on 6/30

Edited by Volant, October 7 2017 - 12:52 PM.

[VoidElecent]

Have you tried starting with Lasius eggs & brood rather than just workers?

[Volant]

For the life of me, I couldn't find any Lasius brood. 

Edited by Volant, July 14 2017 - 4:54 PM.

[Volant]

My Lasius Umbratus queen:

 

7/6/17: I was walking around and stumbled upon a  Tetramorium sp E. delate. I only have two test tubes ( one containing my Nylanderia sp. queen and one with my L. Umbratus). I have always wanted to keep a Tetramorium colony so I made the hard choice of  releasing my Umbratus queen. Also my attempts at introducing workers didn't go well and I feel like if I kept her any longer, she would of died.

 

 

My Nylanderia sp. queen:

 

As of 6/23/17 nothing major happened.  I'm starting to get concerned about her eggs, it has been 19 days and I can't see any larvae. I'm pretty sure that she laid more eggs than before but other than that nothing much.

 

 

My new Tetramorium sp E.

 

I'm super exicted to have this queen! I caught her on 7/6/17. For the whole day she just kept trying to escape and running away.  I was starting to get worried  until I saw 4 tiny white eggs at 7:35 PM on 7/7/17. In the pictures you can see 4 eggs, as of then she laid 2-3 more. After I took the pictures, she started bringing the eggs together into a pile.  I'm quite sure that she is fertile due to this behaviour.  I didn't expect the eggs to be so small, its cute in a way.

 

( If you look closely enough you can spot 2 eggs below the queen and 2 above the letters ASU)

 

[Volant]

Nylanderia sp. Update: 

 

On  7/11/17, I did a quick check up on my queens. Luckly my Nylanderia sp. queen finally had larvae. For some reason the larvae appear yellowish , not sure why. 

 

On 7/14/17, I found about 4 or 5 more larvae. The original couple of larvae have gotten bigger. Also there is a random larvae all the way on the otherside of the test tube. I haven't seen the queen even look at the larvae, so i'm guessing she "forgot". I plan on moving the larvae closer to the queen using a cotton swab. But I want to hear your guys opinion first. 

 

 

 

Tetramorium cf. Caespitum Update:

 

On 7/14/17, She has laid a lot more eggs and everytime I went to check on her she would pick up the eggs and try to move to the dark.  She is super caring  . I completely forgot to mention this before, but when I captured this queen, I guess I injured her left antenna. It doesn't affect her that much, so I assume that  she will be fine. ( In the pictures you can see the tip of her antenna gone) Other than that nothing much happened , I expect her to have larvae soon.

 

 

[Volant]

Nylanderia sp. queen Update:

 

On 7/21/17, I checked up on my queens. For my Nylanderia sp. queen I spotted a couple of "peanut" shaped brood. They don't appear to be larvae, so I assume that they are pupae. I don't see any limbs/eyes so I can't be 100% sure. Only time will tell. Other than that, I feel like there are more larvae than last time. I hope she gets workers in a week or two.

 

 

 

Tetramorium cf. caespitum queen Update:

 

 On 7/21, I checked up on my queens. My Tetramorium queen, had her first couple of larva   .   They are quite small, i'm hoping she get bigger larvae or maybe some pupae by the end of the week. Other than that, the egg count grew since last time.

 

[Volant]

Tetramorium cf. Caespitum Queen Update:

 

 On 7/28/17, I did my weekly check-up on my queens. My Tetramorium queen has larvae! They are still whiteish so I'm guessing it will take a week or two for them to enclose. For some reason, my Tetramorium queen has her brood spread out instead of in a pile. 

 

On 7/29/17, I checked on them again due to my lack of good pictures. Nothing major has happened.

 

( Really hard to see but if you look very close you can see the dark gaster of a pupae)

 

Nylanderia cf. Flavipes Queen Update:

 

 On 7/28/17, I checked on my Nylanderia queen.. The larvae in last weeks pictures has darkened. Now most of the larvae have turned into pupae. 

 

 On 7/29/17, I checked on her again. And.... 

  

She was her first worker!!   I was beyond exicted to see this. Also I can't beleive how small the worker is. For the most part the worker just stays still and doesn't do anything. But luckly I  managed to get a picture of trophallaxis between worker and queen.

 

Edit: She just had her second worker!

 

 

 

Edited by Volant, July 30 2017 - 4:06 PM.

[Volant]

 Tetramorium cf. caespitum Queen Update:

 

 On 8/4/17, I checked on my Tetramorium queen.  I found around 3 darkened pupae and a bunch more white,pale pupae. I'm guessing that she will have workers within this week. I also found eggs within the brood pile.

(I apologize for my dark pictures)

 

 

 Nylanderia cf. flavipes Queen Update:

 

 On 8/1/17, I gave this colony their first meal (honey water) . They absolutely loved it!

 

 On 8/4/17, I did a quick worker count and there are about 11 workers with more pupae, I can't wait to see how large this colony gets.

 

 

[Nathant2131]

The Nylanderia are really cute! I wish this genus was more abundant around here.

[Volant]

Nylanderia sp. colony update:

 

 On 8/6/17, I was observing this colony when I noticed something weird, 3 workers were "pinning" down the queen as two workers kept trying to rip of the queens wings. After a while they stopped.

 

 On 8/7/17 around 8:00 AM, I did a quick-check up on this colony. Everything was fine.

 

 On 8/7/17 around 9:00 AM, I saw that the queen was on her side, curled up ( Dead) and workers were draging her around ( They are still doing that).  There were peices of her wings all around the test tube. Could it be that  the workers killed the queen accidentally?

Edited by Volant, August 7 2017 - 6:56 AM.

[lucas3431]

I was just reading that workers will actually kill a Queen if she does not accept social orders (Ants Law).

 

Been selfish, laying to many eggs or not laying enough eggs can trigger this...apparently   .

 

I'm not sure if this relates to your situation.

[Volant]

I was just reading that workers will actually kill a Queen if she does not accept social orders (Ants Law).

 

Been selfish, laying to many eggs or not laying enough eggs can trigger this...apparently   .

 

I'm not sure if this relates to your situation.

 Your definitely right about this. The workers just beheaded the dead queen .

[Volant]

Tetramorium cf. Caespitum:

   

      Well, It's been two months without any updates. A lot has happened since then. Shortly after my last update, the colony had It's first worker.  Over the two months, nearly 40 more workers enclosed. I started feeding the colony 1 fruit fly and some honey every week and over time they started to eat 2 flies a week. I also tried giving them a pumpkin seed. My colony seemed to hate it. My colony also seems to be less and less active, they aren't as exicted to get food, I'll most likely hibernate them in the coming weeks.

 

( Really bad picture, I justed wanted to show the size)

[Will230145]

Has anything happened since?