17 replies to this topic

[StayLoki]

Amanda. New York. Prenolepis imparis, "the winter ant"

This journal officially begins on March 1st 2018, but I suppose it's origins date back to November of the previous year.
I usually get myself a small present, to myself for Christmas, (yea, selfishness is one of my many endearing qualities, you'll see) and I was thinking an ant farm. I remember back then thinking a light up gel one, to put on my desk or on a shelf in the bathroom to watch well brushing my teeth HAHAHAAAA
I Googled some diff models and watched some videos...I remember this one in particular stealing my ❤...

I laughed, I cried, ok ok maybe not but its worth 10mins *if this guy is on here, I'd love to be friends

So inevitably I came to the part about the ants. I remember as a kid ordering them with my dad, when they came in the mail, and then watching them die over 4mons. Older now, after studying Veterinary Medicine and having conservation biology mold into my persona as easy as breathing, ordering some workers or snatching them from outside to slowly die with no purpose seemed..well..f_*&d up.

So I got to wondering how people did it? Ya know, "weird ant farmers"

And so began the wormhole of nuptial flights, mating seasons, colonies, and larvae and pupae and queens, and borrows and stuff I still don't understand...

It kinda went on the backburner, as I could longer 'just order a gel farm or uncle miltons' morally. But the ants stuck with me, and I found watching videos of them working and scurrying around..relaxing lol

Fast forward to petsitting the last day of February 2018.
I was walking my clients dogs through the back field she owns and was noticing what looked to be burrow entrances. I thought they could be bugs or beetles and saw a few where I thought nahhh that's a snake entrance lol but then I saw one with some freshly moved dirt, like an ant hill and when I looked closer I saw a little ant worker testing the temps with his antenna.. I had nothing with me, but figured I'd bring a shovel and container with me next time. Getting her into a test tube my first time, and all her workers and stuff seemed unrealistic to me out in the field so I opted for the container, shovel, spoon, get her the workers and eggs etc method.
I didn't even expect to find them again in the afternoon, but there it was. I sort of overturned it, and she was right there, looking shocked and pissed lol in the split second I thought of flipping it back over and leaving them, but it was going to snow that night, some crazy nor-easter despite it being 39° and as I just exposed them I just suddenly spooned her and all the workers I could see
I gently sifted thru, looking for eggs or any larvae but found nothing. And watched and sifted and picked up any stragglers. It really appeared to be just her, 12-15works, and the male, as you'll see later.
I got lucky as I did not overturn a large complex nest of active ants, and obviously my little guys don't seem to bite, THANK GOD

I walked back with the dogs, gave the ants a chunk of raw honey, took some pictures of my terrified queen, and thought 'Oh no. NOW WHAT'

Edited by StayLoki, March 4 2018 - 8:48 AM.

[StayLoki]

I remember reading a post on here, and forgive me, I can't remember where or who said it, but it was something along the lines of 'catching your first queen is an amazing experience everyone should experience'. That's exactly how I felt. Like having a kid or something. Like I'd just snatched her out of a nursery and I'd do anything to keep her alive. (although they would have been just fine without me.. humans are funny)

Anyway, literally within the first few minutes of bringing them inside and starring at her, I thought 'i need to join a forum asap'
So even if you think I'm crazy, at least I did one thing right so far

I posted a frantic is she even fertile noobie question, which you can read here..
http://www.formicult...oobie-question/
(Although I'm fairly certain she is now, as I caught her with her mate and I'm hoping eggs come.)

I obviously realized I didn't even know what she was so I posted in ID for help.
Here's her original mugshot which ultimately got her ID'd

SHOUT TO Ant_Dude2908 for ID'ing her and I hope you can help me keep her alive in the future . he he

I've pretty much done nothing but read up on Prenolepis imparis since.
The ants were small when I caught them but they gorged and swelled their abdomens with the fresh honey. I could clearly see a few replete workers, which u can kinda see here

hence the false honeypot ant also.
I'm still in awe at the clear/golden gasters and I hope to have better pictures for u guys when I start using my digital cam w/macro

[Ants4fun]

Did this queen have wings?

[StayLoki]

She does.
Is she gonna die and I should stop my adventure now? Lmao
She does but the male was with them. And i had the lovely ex. of watching him die last night. Photos of mr.sperm donor are coming and I was hoping she'd rip them off soon and start laying. (Also read something about them breeding but staying in nest til next season so I'm thinking my chance are good?)

Edited by StayLoki, March 4 2018 - 9:50 AM.

[Ants4fun]

This species will only mate when they have a nuptial flight outside the nest. Sorry, but you only captured a fragment of a colony. They will most likely not reproduce.

[StayLoki]

So the next day I had to work but I brought some test tubes home, with absolute intentions of getting her into the test tube.
It went horribly.
She booked it into the dirt nest they've been working on for her...obviously comfortable hiding in there even tho she liked to sit on the side of container all day....
So I gave up. Outsmarted by an ant, and just placed the tt in over night hoping she'd just move in.

[StayLoki]

This species will only mate when they have a nuptial flight outside the nest. Sorry, but you only captured a fragment of a colony. They will most likely not reproduce.

Awe man

I'm hoping they did mid-feb. We had temps in the low 40s...so yea we'll see

Edited by StayLoki, March 4 2018 - 10:23 AM.

[StayLoki]

3/3
Desperate to get them into test tube and out of the dirt, I just went for it. Trapped her on the side of the container and waited her out until she tested the glass forever and went in...
Took me an hour to get all her helpers in..found (the male) twitching/dying in the dirt pile and idk I just put him there too

[StayLoki]

3/4
'Male' was twitching and spazzing. Like I know its just ant but I felt so bad for him. Its bittersweet, like I got them into tt with only one casualty(lol) but then I got to just watch him die all night...
He was on his back a lot when it peeked, twitching away.. At one point he crawled off toward dry cotton and seemed to give up. She came over and started standing over him and cleaning herself and ripping at his wings.. no remorse man, like ha ha I killll'd you.

Hope they mated tho and she'll rip her wings after she's done with his lol

Edited by StayLoki, March 4 2018 - 10:31 AM.

[StayLoki]

Is digging/fluffing the cotton nesting behavior? Or is she just trying to get out ?? lol

[noebl1]

I hate to be a downer, but it's going to fail as I really doubt you got any reproductive queens (@Ants4fun is right).  P. imparis digs *very* deep nests, and probably impossible to find the founding queen; check out the nest casting at the bottom of this link as an example: Prenolepis Imparis

 

 

From what I am finding, P. imparis is also not a great starter species for beginners, as the majority of people don't seem to be able to get them to lay their second season.  (So far myself included)

 

Also as @Ants4fun says, I also don't believe I've seen any evidence in articles of males/females mating unless during nuptial flights, not to mention breeding within the same colony.  The good news is if you are set on P. imparis, the flight shoulds be happening VERY soon as you live in NY if I read the first post right  (usually the first 70/80F degree days of the season prompts flights.)  I suspect you found them so close to the surface as they've started foraging and this season's alates are coming up to the surface in prep for flights.

 

Shortly after P. Imparis the Camponotus flights start around the end of May up here in the Northeast too.

Edited by noebl1, March 4 2018 - 11:01 AM.

[T.C.]

Yes, If I had to take a guess, she is infertile. A mistake I made as well when I first started.

Edited by T.C., March 4 2018 - 12:43 PM.

[AnthonyP163]

I used to dig into Tetramorium nests after finding a few queens, then get tons of "colonies", just to realize they were probably infertile.

[StayLoki]

It wasn't a nest. It was a burrow. On a well walked/mowed regularly path around a field. I didn't over turn a nest with a bunch of queens or drones or a million workers and take them lol .
I like to think they meet up under the super moon a few weeks ago. She liked his swagger instantly and started digging a burrow with him on her back. And they hunkered down on their honeymoon to avoid some light snowfall, then a nice warm day, things going good, until I came along and overturned them...
...but hey, I'm a romantic

Edited by StayLoki, March 4 2018 - 5:24 PM.

[StayLoki]

Maybe they were just getting ready to leave.. That would suck. Ill guess ill have to look for more queens (any) when they're out soon (she was just what I found) and see what happens with her..

Edited by StayLoki, March 4 2018 - 5:36 PM.

[RhodyAnts]

StayLoki, look for the first 2-3 days in the mid 60's. They'll probably fly on the most humid one and start right about noon time. I'm just a little north of you and it's looking like it might still be a few weeks until they fly. Be prepared for a long wait for your first workers. It took 75 days for mine to go from egg to worker. You might as well lock them away and forget about them for at least 2 months. also they really don't like the heat and will stop laying if they get much above 75. They are pretty hardy though and you'll at least get a first batch of workers out of them.

Edited by RhodyAnts, April 7 2018 - 2:59 PM.

[sirjordanncurtis]

It is noted however, that many Prenolepis queens mate on the ground after the nuptial flight rather than in the air. This wouldn't explain the number of workers though...

[Rstheant]

Tthe nest of prenolepis in CA are made of dirt, covered in ant saliva, and it is unbelievably soft!