9 replies to this topic

[Aaron567]

On July 2, 2017, I caught a Crematogaster ashmeadi queen at my black light. This was the second time I had caught one of these this year, except the first one was infertile. This new queen shed her wings just 30 minutes after I caught her, which meant that she had a good chance of being fertile.

 

July 2, 2017

 

I just checked on this queen today to find that she just laid three eggs after 12 days. I was beginning to get worried with this queen because of how long it was taking.

 

July 14, 2017

Edited by Aaron567, February 17 2019 - 8:07 PM.

[Ants4fun]

Nice find.

[FeedTheAnts]

Update? I really want to know how she's doing and if she has nanintics. 

Edited by TennesseeAnts, August 14 2017 - 11:47 AM.

[Aaron567]

August 16, 2017

 

I forgot about this journal. This queen will have her first nanitics soon. The pupae are darkening!

 

Edited by Aaron567, February 17 2019 - 8:06 PM.

[Aaron567]

August 18, 2017

 

First nanitic from yesterday! By the time I am posting this she probably has her second nanitic.

 

Edited by Aaron567, February 17 2019 - 8:05 PM.

[Aaron567]

December 27, 2018

 

The 2017 colony quickly failed. I think I went too long without feeding them. Turns out, young Crematogaster colonies tend to eat their brood and die if they go several days without food! 

 

On November 6th, 7th, and 8th of 2018, there were large C. ashmeadi flights happening. I found several winged queens in the pool and a few wingless queens while they were walking around. This species has two main flight periods each year, with one taking place in early summer and the other taking place in autumn.

 

 

I separated each queen into their own test tubes and waited a couple weeks. No eggs were laid, so I took all of them off of the heat cable and put them in a cooler area. I will probably begin heating them again in late February and see if any of them lay eggs. Hopefully that will be enough of a diapause for them. This is my first time having to do this because I usually catch them in the summer.

Edited by Aaron567, February 17 2019 - 2:34 PM.

[Aaron567]

February 7, 2019

 

Some of the Crematogaster queens died, but three are still alive. One queen is wingless and the other two still have wings.

 

I started heating the queens a few days ago and today I checked to see that the wingless queen laid her first two eggs. Yay!

 

[Aaron567]

February 17, 2019

 

I decided to give her three Crematogaster pinicola pupae from my other colony because this queen only had 3-4 eggs for a few days and I was unsure whether she would be able to make it to nanitics after not getting any food for 3.5 months.She did lay a lot more eggs after I brood boosted her, though. 

 

Here she is with her callow C. pinicola worker that hatched today.

 

[TennesseeAnts]

Update?

[Aaron567]

Update?

 

The queen died randomly