90 replies to this topic

[Mettcollsuss]

4-29-18

Okay, looks like I forgot about this journal for a bit. They never really used the dirt box for more than an outworld, so I disconnected them and kept them in a tube for a few more weeks. I then moved them into a THA Inception Chamber. They have also had a massive population explosion and are now well over a hundred workers strong. I feed them a small to medium mealworm every other day plus the occasional fruit flies, and I keep a sugar source in the outworld at all times. They have grown super fast on this diet, and seem healthier than ever. They have a massive brood pile, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mettcollsuss]

4-30-18

So, Tetramorium like grape. Good to know. I gave them a slice of grape for the first time and they are swarming it.

[Mettcollsuss]

5-13-18

These ants are actually much longer lived than expected. The nanitic batch has been dying off the past few days and the last of the nanitics and brood boost workers died today. That means they lived to be just under 9 months old, which is much more than the said 1-2 months.

 

They've started to send out almost half the colony to swarm the outworld every morning and don't stop until I give them food.

[Mettcollsuss]

5-17-18

Okay, so sad news time. 

I thought the ants dying was just the nanitic batch dying off, but over the past week, every day I find more dead in the outworld, including freshly eclosed ants. They are now at only a dozen or so workers and 50 or so pupae. I'm trying to move them back into a test tube and get the situation under control, but they are being stubborn, as usual. If anyone knows what might have caused this, please let me know.

[Mettcollsuss]

5-18-18

I got them to move into the test tube. Hopefully no more die off.

[Mettcollsuss]

6-13-18

I caught 5 more of these queens today. I found them floating in a fountain. I fished them out and let them dry off. They showed no signs of life for about 15 minutes. At that point, I decided that they must truly be dead and put them in vials to take home and preserve (or maybe feed to my other colonies). About five minutes later, one of them began to stir slightly, and the rest soon after. There were dozens more queens and males floating in the fountain, but I had used up all my ant-catching vials. They still have their wings but have otherwise been acting fertile.

 

The large colony is now attached to an Ant-Topia Large Outworld and has recovered nicely. They are at around 100 workers and 50 or so brood (my estimate from the last update was WAY off).

[Mettcollsuss]

6-14-18

Caught somewhere around 20 more of queens today...  (I'm too lazy to count them all)

Edited by Mettcollsuss, June 14 2018 - 5:15 PM.

[AntsAreUs]

RIP test tube or container supply.

[Mettcollsuss]

6-14-18 (Again)

Okay, so I've been wanting to experiment with pleometrosis for a while, and now that I have all these new queens, I can. I am aware that there is a fair chance of failure (mine probably will fail since they are likely all unmated), but that's what experimenting is for.

 

Anyways, I got the 20+ queens housed, with around 13 in one and 10 in the other. The queens are huddled together to dense that I can't get an accurate count. They are acting fine. No signs of aggression or anything. I'll update when something happens.

[Mettcollsuss]

6-20-18

Update on my pleometrosis colonies.

 

Colony 1

12 queens, about 150-200 eggs. No aggression yet.

 

Brood Pile

 

 

Colony 2

9 queens. About 100-125 eggs. No aggression yet.

 

Brood Pile

[Dotdispenser]

Tar Heel Ants had an absolutely terrible batch of hydro stone (what he previously used to make his formicariums).

The symptoms include:

Droopy antennae, slow or even no movement, no feeding, and eventual death.

The formicariums that proved problematic were ones made from August 2017 - January 2018.

[Mettcollsuss]

Tar Heel Ants had an absolutely terrible batch of hydro stone (what he previously used to make his formicariums).
The symptoms include:
Droopy antennae, slow or even no movement, no feeding, and eventual death.
The formicariums that proved problematic were ones made from August 2017 - January 2018.

I don’t think it was the nest, as they had been living in it for several months with no problems. I think the most likely option was that I accidentally fed them a piece of fruit that had pesticides on it. Bad mistake on my part.

[Mettcollsuss]

7-6-18

Nothing new to report on the large colony. Both the pleometrosis colonies have pupae now. No signs of aggression from colony 1. I haven't observed any active hostility in colony two, but I did find pieces of a queen shredded to bits.

[AURA]

any update?

[Mettcollsuss]

any update?

My normal colony is doing fine. Going on 600+ workers with almost as much brood. Expecting a population boom soon.

 

Pleometrosis colonies continued as expected. Queen numbers continued to dwindle. Once each colony got down to a few queens, I split them. I was left with three two queen colonies and one three queen colony. Of the three dual queen colonies, one had both queens die, one is left with one queen, and one still has both. The three queen colony still has all three queens and I'm not seeing any aggression among them.

[Kaelwizard]

Update?

[Mettcollsuss]

Update?

Yeah, sorry it's been so long. Actually just a few days after I posted the last update, both queens died. One was spread-eagled in the outworld and dragged around for several hours. The second died in the test tube, but they were still licking her body and she died in an alive-looking position, so it took me a bit to realize she was dead. They are now at 70ish workers and in an AA Acrylic Founding Nest. I put them up for sale and already have a buyer. I now only have one colony left with two queens.

[Joehostile85]

5-13-18
These ants are actually much longer lived than expected. The nanitic batch has been dying off the past few days and the last of the nanitics and brood boost workers died today. That means they lived to be just under 9 months old, which is much more than the said 1-2 months.

Honestly I don’t know where people came up with this 1-2 month life expectancy for worker ants. It actually makes no sense at all, but seems to be believed by the majority of ant keepers. If ants only lived 2 months than how could they survive a 5 month hibernation? Not to mention that may not even be sustainable if a worker takes 1-3 months from egg to worker that would mean it takes longer for them to be born than they live for.

Anyway my Lasius neoniger workers that I have in my parasitic claviger set ups are now 13 months old. I noticed a couple have died recently, but the vast majority are still alive and they are about to go into a 5 month hibernation. I guarantee they are not all going to die during hibernation so I would put their life expectancy at minimum 18 months. You’ve got tetramorium workers at 9 months old, I’m fascinated to see if anyone else has been able to get an accurate life Expectancy for other species.

Edited by Joehostile85, October 30 2018 - 5:16 AM.

[Mettcollsuss]

haha, I keep forgetting I have this journal. About a month ago I moved the large colony to an AntKit Acrylic nest + large AntTopia outworld, and they are really doing well in it. They're only occupying the two chambers closest to the sponge, but they have a ton of larvae. They're at 700-800 workers, and keep growing.

[ANTdrew]

Nice! So you’re not hibernating them? Are you heating them, too?