161 replies to this topic

[YsTheAnt]

These colonies grow up to a couple hundred individuals at maturity, not more than 1,000 if I remember correctly.

[CatsnAnts]

These colonies grow up to a couple hundred individuals at maturity, not more than 1,000 if I remember correctly.

Thxs!

[Jadeninja9]

Eh I’ll do an update like next Thursday

[NickAnter]

Classic procrastination.

[Jadeninja9]

Update: (October 10, 2019)

 

Yes, I know that on May 29th I said I'd update this journal the following Thursday. It's been five months and to be honest since then there hasn't been much to say or currently say. The colony fell into monotony and their population has plateaued in proportion to how often I feed them so as of now there's no point in future updates. The next will probably be on the death of the colony or if/when I sell them.

 

I really don't know how much I'd price this colony so it would be appreciated if anyone who's read this journal in the past could tell me how much they'd hypothetically be willing to pay.

[EthanNgo678]

Noooo, I love your colony so much. I hope they do well in the future. I would pay around 120 without nest and out world, with nest 150. (I'm totally not cheap)

Edited by EthanNgo678, October 10 2019 - 7:35 PM.

[Jadeninja9]

Noooo, I love your colony so much. I hope they do well in the future. I would pay around 120 without nest and out world, with nest 150. (I'm totally not cheap)

Thank you!

[TennesseeAnts]

OK Ethan. You can have them if you continue the journal.

[EthanNgo678]

OK Ethan. You can have them if you continue the journal.

Souds good!     

[Mdrogun]

 

 

Repletes?
Those are huge majors though.

A replete is any worker designed to act as living food storage right? Yeah, they are pretty huge.

Repletes are usually found in the honeypot species such as Mrymecocytus or Prenolepis. They are also stationary; they don’t move a lot. These could be workers with distended gasters, showing the tissues and food inside.

 

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I have read, any worker that serves as a food storage is considered a replete. However, in most species the line between regular worker and replete is not clear, as they look and behave very similar. For that reason, most antkeepers refer to repletes as in those of Honeypot/false Honeypot ants. The scientific definition for replete is (I think) a moving food storage (or something like that).

 

If I'm not mistaken, the majors of Camponotus colonies do have repletes, but not nearly as profound as said species. But there are exceptions. See Camponotus inflatus.

A replete is a specific caste of worker, and very few genera and species have them. Myrmecocystus have true repletes, as well as Camponotus inflatus. Prenolepis imparis does not have true repletes nor does Camponotus hyatti. The act of a worker being full of liquid is not what makes a replete a replete.

Edited by Mdrogun, October 11 2019 - 3:58 AM.

[Jadeninja9]

Update: (February 2nd, 2022)

 

So, it's been over 2 years since the last update. Bad news... they died... Nah, just kidding. They're still alive but for the past 2 years I really neglected them and they have hung on by a thread. Their population fell and stayed low because I basically put them in a famine lol. I went months without feeding them once and they started to eat their brood and workers just to survive. I also just fell out of ant keeping in general for a few reasons. But my passion for the hobby is back and I really want to see my 5 year-old and first colony be where they should be at this year. I'm always bothering them now, checking in often, impatiently waiting to see growth and making sure I see workers eating the food I give them because they're really stealthy now with their foraging. It's really refreshing to see them with full gasters again.

 

They're at around 55 workers. I've fed them so little over time that the only workers they've been able to afford to produce are nanitic-sized, maybe even a little smaller. They still have majors though and I really wonder how old those are. Right now they have around 2 dozen mini larvae, no eggs lain from the queen yet, but she'll probably lay soon as long as she keeps getting consistently fed well. I'm hoping they feed these larvae more so that the next generation of workers is at least not nanitic-sized. I've been feeding them a superworm a day for about the past week and cherry jam. At first I really didn't see them eat, but I think overtime as their strength has gone back up they've been out more, plus it's winter as well so that could make them more sluggish on top of literally recovering from famine. Last year I disconnected them from their old AC outworld because it was 3 years old and disgusting and replaced it with the now discontinued AC omni-nest outworld. I had decorated it with soil and stones originally but this past week I decided to just replace everything with a tiny layer of gravel so I could observe them better and have a flat surface to feed them on.

 

I decided I wanted to move them back into a test tube setup. It was just more fun to watch them grow in a test tube and I got better pictures. Plus they're so small right now but taking up a lot of space because of their current setup. At first I was just gonna do a test tube + mini outworld but I got inspired by Nurbs to try to make a case formicarium instead. What I want to do differently though is instead of hydrostone/substrate to have a piece of finished wood that fits in the case for a foraging surface, just to look nicer and fit the carpenter ant vibe. The test tube will go inside an indentation in the wood. If I can't make it look good I'll probably just do the test tube + mini outworld setup. I also got a macro lens for my Canon AE-1 film camera, so I'm hoping that can compare to the quality of digital macrophotography and I can take some nice pictures. It's just that since it's a lot of effort to go from taking the pictures to uploading, because you have to develop and scan the film, doing that every update would be impractical lol. But here are some mediocre pictures for now of the colony's current setup and the colony itself. 

 

[ANTdrew]

I’m glad you’re back and taking better care of them.

[antsriondel]

I’m glad you’re back and taking better care of them.

agreed, hope they do well!!!!

[Jadeninja9]

Thank you guys!

[Crazycow]

Yeah I remember I did something like this a couple years ago and I neglected a colony for almost 9 months and when I came back they were down to like 20 workers. But they definitely rebounded well and had a come back. Unfortunately they died out from mites after about 6 months.


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[Jadeninja9]

That sucks man. What species were they?

[Crazycow]

That sucks man. What species were they?

Tetramorium (sorry for spelling)


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[Jadeninja9]

You hate to see it

[Crazycow]

Yeah but it was awhile ago and I have a pretty good camponotus colony now


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[Jadeninja9]

Update: (April 12th, 2022)

 

So, its been two months since the last update. Back then I was really hoping that the queen still had it in her to keep laying more eggs as she hasn't been hibernated in years. Luckily she has! She's lain more eggs, some have turned into larvae, pupae, and some have eclosed already. I'm really thankful that this colony has kept going all these years and I now have the chance to make it up to them. Might try making their new setup sometime soon now that they seem to be stronger. Thinking of starting another journal as well for Camponotus semitestaceus, anyone care about that?

 

 

 

Edited by Jadeninja9, April 12 2022 - 5:22 PM.