14 replies to this topic

[Diesel]

11-20-17

I got this colony about 5 weeks ago from a GAN Farmer.colony was about 25 or so with small pile of brood. I loaned the colony to a school for educational purposes. Although the colony didn't grow in numbers due to a die off they still fared quite well. I got them back 2 weeks ago. The brood has nearly tripled in size. This colony is going to triple in size by xmas. Then they will go into hibernation.I will post some pics the best I can take with my phone.

Edited by Diesel, November 21 2017 - 6:38 AM.

[Diesel]

[Diesel]

[Diesel]

11-21-17

Still having issues with them eating a carb in their diet. no seeds or sugars. I've tried sugar water,honey,syrup on bread, apples and applesauce,grapes. I'm worried that they will get protein toxicity as i read from another post i made. the only thing i havent tried is nectar which is back ordered until January.

Edited by Diesel, November 21 2017 - 6:39 AM.

[noebl1]

FWIW, I have a queen and nanitic (believed to be A. picea) that went into hibernation a couple weeks ago.   Once the first nanitic eclosed shortly before hibernation (she developed quite a bit ahead of the rest of the brood), I put in some Sunburst soaked into a cotton ball.  The queen probably fed for a good 15-20mins on it.  I never observed the first worker feeding on it before hibernation, but obviously not something I watch 24/7.

Edited by noebl1, November 21 2017 - 6:54 AM.

[Diesel]

thanks Noebl1. i would jump all over the nectar if it wasnt back ordered so long. i just don't want to stress the workers to the point where they die.

[Diesel]

[Diesel]

11-27-17

These guys seem to be adjusting quite nicely. in fact the queen has laid 3 more batches of eggs which i estimate to be around 40-60 in total. the larvae are growing as well. they are not brown but i do see a line in all of them that kinda resembles a vein. is this normal? all my other larvae from other colonies were concealed so i never got a real close up. still not taking any carbs. but protein every 3 days has them quite lively. the only thing i can say is they move the brood every night in and out of the test tubes. i hydrate 1 part they move. then i hydrate another part they move. i hate that they can't get settled into 1 part of the nest. however the test tubes are literally 2 inches from where they are during the day and they move into them at night. temp and hydration remains constant.

[AnthonyP163]

You might already know this, but Aphaenogaster do not have social stomachs, so they need some sort of substrate to soak in sugar, and bring it back to the nest.

[mbullock42086]

Try mixing sugar into something fatty like bacon grease  that ought to trick em into eating sugar

[Diesel]

They didn't want anything to do with the bacon grease sugar combo. However I did get them to consume a sugar source but not much of it. I make my own concoction of sugar water,honey & applesauce soaked cotton ball. They place sand on it and take it away later. Queen likes to move back n forth between the two test tubes.

[Diesel]

12-1-17

 

well it took some experimenting and i finally got them to eat a sugar source that i can whip up in a second when needed. my many attempts failed but i saw some light with the last batch i made that had sugar water,apple sauce & honey mixture. they seemed to be interested but did not take any back to the nest. i tried apples in the past and maybe it was just the variety i used that they did not care for. this time i cut them into thin strips like a toothpick and dropped them in. at first they placed dirt on them but after that they were biting small pieces off and carrying them back. I'm hoping htis is a long term food i can use and have also thought about pears. time will tell.

[Penguin]

12-1-17

 

well it took some experimenting and i finally got them to eat a sugar source that i can whip up in a second when needed. my many attempts failed but i saw some light with the last batch i made that had sugar water,apple sauce & honey mixture. they seemed to be interested but did not take any back to the nest. i tried apples in the past and maybe it was just the variety i used that they did not care for. this time i cut them into thin strips like a toothpick and dropped them in. at first they placed dirt on them but after that they were biting small pieces off and carrying them back. I'm hoping htis is a long term food i can use and have also thought about pears. time will tell.

 

Sounds like you are doing good, you could also try all of the apples (regularly) available in your supermarket to see which ones they like best and create a rotation off of those so they don't get "tired" of the same apple as food.

[rdurham02]

They didn't want anything to do with the bacon grease sugar combo. However I did get them to consume a sugar source but not much of it. I make my own concoction of sugar water,honey & applesauce soaked cotton ball. They place sand on it and take it away later. Queen likes to move back n forth between the two test tubes.

I've noticed my own colony of Aphaenogaster doing the same behavior with using sand to carry sugars into the nest.

[Diesel]

12-26-17

 

these gals have headed into hibernation. still doing very well. gave them a bunch of live fruit flies which they hunted with ease. i got a nice picture of the queen in the test tube. i caught her drinking water before i sent them to sleep. I'm going to miss them while they are in their inactive sleep mode.  Tip check your local Pet Smart for fruit flies around the crickets. they can probably even order them for you if you ask. the clerk told me that they usually have to write them off because no one buys them. my ants went nuts over them. picture to follow. see you in April girls