209 replies to this topic

[FeedTheAnts]

I have decided to group all of my journals together into one, better late than never. As a quick overview I have: Formica pallidefulva(Abdo-lemons), Formica subsericea, and Crematogaster ashmeadi. Also as an update on my Formica subsericea, nearly all of the pupae have eclosed and the colony is way larger now. This queen has had a very successful first year, there are 15-18 nanintics and still more pupae!

 

Edited by TennesseeAnts, June 19 2018 - 4:29 PM.

[FeedTheAnts]

Update:

Caught two Large Crematogaster queens. I can't make heads or tails of what species they are, or the species of my young colony, because they all look the same, except for size. I'm sure that they are a different species than my young colony, so I'll keep them. I think I'll boost them both with brood of the colonies that live around here, even if they aren't the exact same species.

[FeedTheAnts]

Update:

While anting I found another Crematogaster cerasi queen in her founding chamber, this is now my third queen of this species I've caught this week and she has laid eggs in her test tube. The others seem to be waiting till after hibernation to lay eggs.

[FeedTheAnts]

I caught this little mantis nymph the other day and put it in the Abdo-lemons tank to be a tank mate

The Abdo-lemons themselves are becoming pretty inactive due to hibernation coming up, despite the fact that it is nowhere near cold. My F.subsericea are doing awesome as well, and also are my Crematogaster ashmeadi.

[FeedTheAnts]

These pics are a few days old, just posting to give an idea of how large the colonies are now

Still nothing from the Abdo-lemons, they have completely closed off their nest and never come up. Hibernation is really creeping up I guess. 

The Crematogaster workers are getting very large as each new generation ecloses, I'm beginning to think the queen might be a small one for her species, the workers are unproportionally large.

This pic does not show all the workers, at least ten are out of the pic.

 

Edited by TennesseeAnts, April 6 2018 - 3:33 PM.

[FeedTheAnts]

Update on Crematogaster colony

A lot of workers have eclosed since last update, and now there are a lot of the larger ones as opposed to the nanitics. The brood pile is still growing and they show no signs of slowing down for hibernation. I've hooked them up to a cute little outworld and took them out of the bucket they were sitting in. Connectimyrmex has kindly given me the name for this colony, they are now called the Valentine Soldiers.

 

Edited by TennesseeAnts, April 6 2018 - 3:34 PM.

[Connectimyrmex]

No problem!

[FeedTheAnts]

It turns out the Abdo-lemons wanted to forage one last time before hibernation. Yesterday they opened up their nest with a huge hole and ate two large crickets

[Chicken_eater100]

Who the heck is abdo-lemons?

[FeedTheAnts]

Who the heck is abdo-lemons?

That is the name of my yellow Formica colony. I named them that because their Abdomens look like lemons. Sorry if you don't like my humor, it was the first thing that came to my mind.

[Chicken_eater100]

Oh, I thought it was the snail. It pretty funny once you get the joke.

[FeedTheAnts]

Oh, I thought it was the snail. It pretty funny once you get the joke.

Ya, that snail kinda photobombed

[FeedTheAnts]

Update:

The Valentine Soldiers are now out of hibernation! I simply moved them into my house(which stays a constant 72-75 degrees), but once it is summer then they will be moved back into my garage for some summer heat. Left in hibernation are a colony of Camponotus cromaiodes, and of course the Abdo-Lemons. I'm going to be moving the Camponotus inside in a week or two, and I have not yet decided what to do with the Abdo-Lemons and their terrarium. I'll probably leave them in the garage until its summer. 

 

Just in case you've been following for a while, the Formica subsericea colony in the AntsCanada Hybrid Nest are no longer in my care. Also, the Camponotus cromaiodes colony is new, I got it 2 or so months ago, and never mentioned it, so I currently have three ant colonies.

 

On another note, the Abdo-Lemons terrarium is now completely different looking......again.

I had reason to have to basically dig around in there tank again and took the opportunity to refurbish a bit, and it looks pretty good if I do say

Edited by TennesseeAnts, April 6 2018 - 3:35 PM.

[MegaMyrmex]

Pictures, man! Also how's the mantis? It's a female carolina mantis and am curious if she laid eggs...

[FeedTheAnts]

Pictures, man! Also how's the mantis? It's a female carolina mantis and am curious if she laid eggs...

The Mantis died after laying an egg case on a rock that I then put outside.

 

There are now about 25 workers, they are currently in a very basic setup, just a plain small bucket with an oil barrier.

This is my new Camponotus colony

Edited by TennesseeAnts, January 29 2018 - 5:56 PM.

[FeedTheAnts]

Well, they are back into hibernation... they weren't being active and didn't want anything to do with even there favorite foods. I want to play it safe and just keep them in the garage until it warms up naturally. I'll update again in probably March. That may be when it starts to warm up

[Connectimyrmex]

I'm still so proud of my Valentine Soldiers nickname 

[FeedTheAnts]

Update:

The ants are out of hibernation again. This time I am heating them with a heating lamp as they are in my house, which only stays at 73-75 degrees. I don't intend on ever keeping them in my garage again in the summer like I did last year. Today I bought three beautiful cube containers made out of crystal clear acrylic or Plexiglas(I'm not really sure). They are all different sizes. The largest one I will be turning into a little planted terrarium for my Centipedes. The other two I turned into outworlds for my Crematogaster and Carpenter ant colonies, and they look great.... just wait till I decorate them! The Crematogasters are currently in the process of moving into a hybrid nest of mine. 

I'll upload pics tomorrow, I just don't have time tonight.

Edited by TennesseeAnts, February 17 2018 - 5:16 PM.

[Jadeninja9]

Update:

The ants are out of hibernation again. This time I am heating them with a heating lamp as they are in my house, which only stays at 73-75 degrees. I don't intend on ever keeping them in my garage again in the summer like I did last year. Today I bought three beautiful cube containers made out of crystal clear acrylic or Plexiglas(I'm not really sure). They are all different sizes. The largest one I will be turning into a little planted terrarium for my Centipedes. The other two I turned into outworlds for my Crematogaster and Carpenter ant colonies, and they look great.... just wait till I decorate them! The Crematogasters are currently in the process of moving into a hybrid nest of mine. 

I'll upload pics tomorrow, I just don't have time tonight.

Are you sure you should be heating them right out of hibernation?

[FeedTheAnts]

 

Update:

The ants are out of hibernation again. This time I am heating them with a heating lamp as they are in my house, which only stays at 73-75 degrees. I don't intend on ever keeping them in my garage again in the summer like I did last year. Today I bought three beautiful cube containers made out of crystal clear acrylic or Plexiglas(I'm not really sure). They are all different sizes. The largest one I will be turning into a little planted terrarium for my Centipedes. The other two I turned into outworlds for my Crematogaster and Carpenter ant colonies, and they look great.... just wait till I decorate them! The Crematogasters are currently in the process of moving into a hybrid nest of mine. 

I'll upload pics tomorrow, I just don't have time tonight.

Are you sure you should be heating them right out of hibernation?

 

I'm not heating them just yet, I'll wait till tomorrow to start adding heat. It would be okay if I started right off the bat anyways because the last couple of days they were hibernating it wasn't very cold, so they had already warmed out of hibernation slightly.