25 replies to this topic

[Mathiacus]

Yay. Got my colony of these big girls. Their nest in the wild was over a meter deep and about the same wide. They seem to have few chambers linked by long winding tunnels. Makes for a hard digging process. These rank number one in size but number 3 in agression out of all my myrmecia species, with the tarsata being a 2 2 and nigrocincta being 3 1. Apparently they have a more painful sting than the others too (thanks lance).

After a housing shortage I have decided to give these the outworld that is attached to my very large block and just give the block a temporary outworld. I will not bother making it too pretty as I have learned that they will just mess it up. I am not 100% positive that the queen is present but there seems to be one with wing stumps in the right place and we exhausted all of the possible hiding places in the ground. Time will tell.

As much as I like this species for their size, I highly doubt I will be collecting another colony. If I happen to see them flying ill grab a bunch for sure, but the time and energy needed to excavate them is just not worth it.

[Gregory2455]

Nice color, just like all Myrmecia I guess!

[Mathiacus]

Popcorn for scale.. ☺ I like the tarsata colour more. I just like these for their size.

[Mathiacus]

The queen has started laying eggs in this colony. No more worries about her not being present. Now I just need to house them.

[Mathiacus]

I moved them into a different container with some clean dry sand in it. I will keep them in there for a little while to make sure they are stable after the capture shock.
I ended up with lance's colony too. They had gone sticky from nasty living conditions. I managed to save about 115 but some of these will die anyway 😢 no sign of any eggs yet but I am hoping it was just the terrible conditions that kept them from being laid.

[Gregory2455]

These are my favorite of your Myrmecia.

[Mathiacus]

This is yellow bree. She is a new born. With this mark I will track her lifespan.

On to the serious stuff.

I am moving the strong colony into a block setup which will eventually be attached to a 3 foot outworld. The weaker, dying colony I have put in a 2 foot tank with a bunch of soil. I will not be able to observe them but I think it is what is best for them.

[Gregory2455]

What paint do you use?

[Mathiacus]

This was nail polish.

[Mathiacus]

I picked up the new 3 foot tank for these girls today. It came without a stand so I made one out of some stuff I had lying around.

My wife has bagged the decorating rights for the new tank. All my input is limited to drilling the hole and making the raised feeding platform.

[dspdrew]

I gotta see this.

[Mathiacus]

I have discovered a callow alate! Female! Now I just have to wait til they fly in january and I can catch a male. It would be even better if there was a male in my second colony..

[Mathiacus]

I have these girls outside in a 3 foot outworld setup. There is grass sown on the left side. They are a nocturnal species so I doubt they will be any good to watch but I am hoping to be able to get some other insect species to keep in there too. Maybe a few hundred crickets.. 😃

[drtrmiller]

I can't imagine that the indirect sunlight would be good for the developing larvae. . .but then again, I think I got sunburn once by simply dreaming of sunlight.

[Mathiacus]

Is covered terry. Had it uncovered for pucture purposes. 😃

Tell me about burning.. I'm a red head. I get moon burn!

[Mathiacus]

I now have two alate queens who have eclosed in here. I may need to dig up another colony to get my hands on some males then my captive breeding tests can begin

[Mathiacus]

Got another colony. I was not prepared 😮
They are escaping in my garage.. just the smaller ones.. i may need to burn it down.

[benjiwuf]

that's probably the safest and surest way to make sure you got them all 

Edited by benjiwuf, January 6 2015 - 1:45 AM.

[Mathiacus]

https://www.youtube....h?v=Q3GkfBGMlvY

 

 

the new colony was given the three foot outworld and the "ant mansion" block

[Mathiacus]

So far i have 9 full size alate queens tunning around in the large colony, a few of varying sizes in the medium colony plus 3 males and i have no clue aboyt the small colony as yhey are in a dirt setup. I am getting excited about the possibilities