1787 replies to this topic

[CoolColJ]

Colony update - 27th May 2018

 

Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen
 
No eggs, no brood, and just 1 regular worker and a nanitic.
Their cotton and test tube is dirty and mold infested.
Yet the queen happily sits on it. Makes me wonder if this is what killed all the larvae..,

Will likely move them to a new test tube or a new founding nest soon.
May go back to non outworld setup, colony is just so small and they rarely venture out.

click for largers




Melophorus sp.- black orange 7-8mm queen

No eggs. 5 workers
They don't touch the food I give them.


Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant) 10mm queen
 
5 nanitics
No change on the 3 cocoons
 
 
Camponotus humilior
 
3 nanitics, 1 egg.
No change and I haven't seen that 4th nanitic that escaped since I last saw it

I may have a buyer for them, if not, they will most likely get released.

 
Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm
 
9 nanitics. Doesn't look like any more pupa are ready to eclose this week, but still a lot of brood
Their cotton is starting to mold on the right side, the rubbish/toilet side, and they shifted all the brood to the left side glass.
Dirty nest, and you can see all the rubbish they dump on the leaked honey



 
Pheidole sp, all black  7mm
 
3 nanitics, and it looks like two pupa are ready to eclose this week, and 5 more in the coming weeks.
Nest is getting hard to see inside, it's just so dirty and smeared.

 

 

Polyrhachis rufifemur 9mm

 

No eggs, 1 cocoon, 1 nanitic

Either she is still settling down, or she will lay when spring arrives

Nanitic is sitll very passive and just stands over the cocoon, while the queen is the guard dog and forager - a role reversal compared to claustral ants

 

Edited by CoolColJ, May 27 2018 - 6:11 AM.

[CoolColJ]

27th May 2018 - Queen update


Banished Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm

2 eggs, look like she ate one of them.
Don't know if 2 will be enough to carry her to workers, but I may brood boost her from her original colony she was banished from.
A few larvae, and maybe 2 pupa if I can get close, which is not likely right now.



Pheidole sp. red 7mm

8 eggs, up one from last week, maybe 9.
When I first checked up on her, I saw the eggs on her back!
"Now where did I last put my eggs...."
Ha, I had to flip the test tube around and make her fall down and drop the eggs. Otherwise I don't think they will get seen

click for larger


 
Iridomyrmex sp. 7-8mm
 
Into week 8, wonder when the large larvae will turn pupa



 
2x Phediole sp. red head/black body 8mm
 
Much the same as last week
 
 
3x Phediole sp. red head/black body 8-9mm
 
Some medium sized larvae now.
My impression is there is less brood here than the amount of eggs I saw a few weeks back.
  
 
Camponotus consobrinus 16-17mm
 
No eggs

Pheidole sp, light red head, dark red body, 6-7mm
 
Queen 1 - no eggs
Queen 2 - no eggs
 

[CoolColJ]

Got this cheap and simple nest. It holds about 4 full syringes of water at the bottom.

While the water doesn't touch the nest, it should hydrate via evaporation

 

The nest always feels cool and damp to the touch.

I don't think it's gypsum, as it feels powdery like clay.

I have a gypsum nest and it feels much harder.

 

Lid with mesh opening up top.

Chamber network covers all 4 sides

Looks like it will hold a lot of ants as a result.

 

I might put one of my Pheidole colonies in it eventually.

 

 

I might try putting some cotton in the water tank area

 

 

There was a bit of condensation buildup in this nest after adding water to the tank for a few days, but it's since cleared up.

The nest feels damp and cool to the touch, at the top surface.

 

Putting in my Ebay humidity meter, I get a a 90+% reading in the top outworld section vs 54% outside the nest in my room.

And probably higher in the chambers deep inside the nest

 

Even though the water does not touch the nest material, but the evaporation by itself seems sufficient.

Water tank also does not evaporate all that quickly, so a full tank should last weeks.

Edited by CoolColJ, May 27 2018 - 7:24 PM.

[CoolColJ]

What the hell
 
The 4th humilior worker disappeared again... she was there earlier in the day... I highly doubt she died and was eaten that quickly.
The last time she disappeared, she showed up again a day later...
 
I looked through the whole test tube and even pulled the cotton out, zip, no sign of her.
Just strange all round!
 
So I am thinking of releasing these ants over the weekend.
 
Then tempted to dig out the Iridomyrmex bicknelli ants I let go 2 weeks ago.
And put them in the nest above to test.
Prolific, easy going, and active ants - perfect
 
I do miss them
I saw a few of the workers foraging a few days ago, doubt they find as much food as I provided them, nor the sweet taste of mountain bee raw honey
 
As to how I will do this? maybe dig their nest into a container and place the test tube there, and hope they enter, well if the queen does, then it's all good.
Ants will tend to run to the nearest hole if the nest is opened up.
 
Although I think the other 30+ brood Iridomyrmex queen I have might be a bicknelli as well, but won't know for sure till workers arrive.

Woo, I saw the missing 4th humilior nanitic just then in front of my keyboard exploring, damn they are quite fast out in the open, trapped her in a test tube and reunited her with her family.
I bet she has wild tales of adventure to share
Everyone is cleaning her now, even the queen

[CoolColJ]

I got the 30mm x200 mm version bambo tube nest today

this one
https://www.aliexpre....25a94c4dL4BsVX

It's much different from the 25mm version I got earlier, different company.
The floor layer is flat, so it's thicker and better for visibility, and large queens have more turning space.
The subtrate is finer and you get a choice of colours, I went with a fairly yellow one, and it looks more tan, yellow sand like, perfect colour to see the ants and brood.

The wall against the hydration chamber is much thicker than the 25mm one, so it should much less wet

Now to see how long it takes to spread the water, and wether it holds it too much, and if condensation builds up

So far so good, the tank holds less water, just under 2 full syringe (about the same as a 16mm test tube setup) but water spread is much slower, and so is evaporation.
The inner nest chamber gets damp but not overly wet, the thicker floor and walls help.
No condensation so far.

I am going to rinse the nest out, and we will see if the water in the inner chamber dries at all. The 25mm version doesn't, even after 2 weeks....

click to enlarge

Edited by CoolColJ, May 27 2018 - 10:56 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Camponotus suffusus

 

 

quoting someone -
 

 

Camponotus are actually pretty easy going with adopting nanitics.

If it was me, I'd leave the nanitics and brood together, keeping up routine care and feedings, and just wait for a few days to a week. Nanitics don't have much of a colony scent in the first place, but this should lessen it even more. Afterward, place their tube into an outworld shared by the other colony.

I've done something like this a couple times with Camponotus pennsylvanicus, and the two colonies always fused together without incident. First contact may LOOK aggressive, but keep in mind ants hold theirs by their mouth. Biting another ant and carrying/dragging it back to the nest is basically holding hands.

Your mileage may vary, of course.

 

I am willing to try this with my suffusus nanitics and 4 larvae when the other colony gets here. An extra 2 workers goes a long way with these large Camponotus ants during founding

They have been by themselves for a few days now, another 2 more and it should be good to go

 

One of the workers has been tugging on the cotton, and both are clumping them together and creating balls out of the strands.

For substrate? And possibly as an entrance defense structure. My Polyrhachis made something similar in their old test tube

 

They also moved the larvae to the middle of the test tube

Edited by CoolColJ, May 28 2018 - 2:38 PM.

[CoolColJ]

The above tube nest gets a thumbs up from me

 

The inner chamber's glass dried out overnight after washing it.

And no condensation issues, unlike the 25mm nest from a different company, with different design/materials

Edited by CoolColJ, May 28 2018 - 6:44 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Iridomyrmex purpureus 29th may 2018

 

Got my meat ant queen, she's about 14mm.

Black looking, but iridescent under sun/lights, hence the genus is also called rainbow ants

 

She's been cleaning herself nonstop for the last hour... must have been tumbled a bit too much on the way to me

Has a few eggs, but she hasn't gathered them together yet.

 

 

click for larger

 

 

[CoolColJ]

I got these two coming. Might be a Carebara sp. queen I've been seeking! Not sure, but worth the gamble

 

They are about 15mm, looks Pheidole like, but more swollen and way too large to be one.

 

 

 

 

[CoolColJ]

30th May 2018

 

 

Pheidole sp, all black  7mm

 

4th nanitic eclosed, and it's not moving much yet, so not so long ago. 5th one looks like it will today or tommorrow

Starting to get a little more busy.

 

 

2x Phediole sp. red head/black body 8mm

 

Water is getting down past the halfway mark in the test tube, these two were housed in a small and short test tube unfortunately, like 13mm x100mm

Wanted to move them ages ago, but since they had a lot of eggs, I wanted to wait till they had nanitics, which looks like at least a month away.

These two will most likely get released or sold - already have enough of this Pheidole species as is, and these queens are the smallest of them all.

I could just open the test tube and embed it into soil and cover it up, which the nanitics will dig out of when the time comes.

 

Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen

 

Pondering moving these poor ants into my Mini Hearth. Nice little set and forget nest, with zero moldy cotton issues.

Can set up one nest mate for their drinking water, leaving the outworld space for a food bowl.

That will free up one outworld, but the Mini Hearth sure has a bad chemical smell....

 

 

Camponotus humilior

 

Good, the single egg hasn't been eaten, since they ate the last three.

Still pondering about releasing them. Even as a large colony, with majors, these ants are boring.

They are nocturnal, and even at night don't do much of anything

 

see 5min 6secs

 

-

 

Iridomyrmex purpureus (meat ant) + C.consobrinus

 

These two queens are fairly large and look almost the same size.

And both seem to like it pretty dry, settling in the middle of the test tube. The meat ant queen with her eggs there as well.

Meat ant queen is constantly cleaning herself, haven't seen her sit still.

 

I've seen a video of a very large consobrinus colony that has a bare glass outworld and a plastic box turned on it's side as a nest, with zero hydration, which shows just how dry they like it.....

 

 

-

 

Camponotus suffusus - colony 2

 

My 5 worker Camponotus suffusus colony should arrive today.

I am planning to put the into my Atom C nest set inside a circular outworld.

Either I fill it up with white sand or red dirt. If red dirt then I am considering filling the interior of the Atom C with red dirt, as it not only photos better, but their eggs and brood can be better seen.

Also saves them plucking sand from the walls...

 

After that, I'll wait till the weekend to try and introduce the two surviving nanitics and brood from the dead suffusus queen

Edited by CoolColJ, May 29 2018 - 5:03 PM.

[CoolColJ]

31st May 2018

 

Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen

 

Moved them into my Mini Hearth

They wandered the outworld for quite a while.

Then the queen entered, explored and left the nest area twice.

And she didn't like it... she, a nanitic and a minor worker are still in the outworld hanging out behind a small fake plant.

 

I have made a red film cover for the front glass panel, so it should be "dark" to them.

 

The nest has a very strong chemical smell, even after a rinse and airing for a few days.

Much like when I first got my Type 2 Atom C nests.

I thought this nest was a Type 3 and didn't have these smells?

 

So she must notice the smell... or it's maybe too big for her liking inside.

 

Might have to transfer them into one of the two Chinese made refillable, gypsum walled, chamberless tube nests I received this week.

Much like a test tube except no cotton to mold, refillable, and does not get as wet as a cotton and leak.

Will most likely fill the tube with red dirt, and either use the included outworld with red dirt, or their current old one.

 

 

 

Camponotus suffusus - 18mm queen - colony 2

 

Got them yesterday.

5 nanitic workers, and some brood, but hard to tell how much as the test tube they were in was dirty and covered with red dirt at the back.

It was dry as well, but they were Blu tacked inside a small container, with a water test tube connected via a external grommet opening.

Seems safer for the ants being transported like this actually, no chance of water leaks, and enough buffer space for them to not get smashed.

 

I moved their test tube into a small circular outworld with red dirt and an Atom C inside (also lined with red dirt), kinda like a TarHeel Ants Inception Chamber.

Added some Byformica water and Sunburst feeders to test.

They haven't tried sampling either yet

Fed them a medium sized wood roach, which they enjoyed.

 

So far they have remained in their small waterless plastic test tube nest. Workers have explored around, but not entered the Atom C yet.

They have also dumped a lot of red dirt from inside the test tube, out into the outworld

 

Most likely expose them to sunlight today to force them to move.

My Camponotus aeneopilosus died in this Atom C nest and the large Melphorus queen didn't like it either and moved out, when she could.

It doesn't have a strong chemical smell anymore, so maybe it's haunted....

 

This suffusus queen doesn't have half the personality of the recently deceased one, RIP, I will always cherish her memory... just glad I have pics and videos of her to do so.

Although this new one might be slightly larger than the dead one's 18mmm length.

 

Nanitics are still pretty big, and feisty and energetic unlike 95% of Camponotus ants

 

 

 

I am going to attempt a nanitic and brood merge over the weekend. Hope the nanitics get accepted

Edited by CoolColJ, May 30 2018 - 7:53 PM.

[CoolColJ]

1st June 2018
 
Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen
 
Having quite the adventure getting them to move into a nest of my choice...
They didn't like the Mini Hearth as per above.

Spent time preparing that tube nest above with red dirt, used the included outworld with red dirt, feeders etc.
Then had to figure out how to get them from the Mini Hearth outworld into this.
In the end I just used my featherweight forceps to grab the queen and drop her in and the two workers ran up the forceps, which I then dropped
The queen found the tube nest and liked it, went to the end and settled down.

But the workers for some reason could not find her, and settled in the outworld next to the foil of raw nuts peices.
The few times they ventured into the test tube, they only stayed at the open end, even when i blocked them in.

In the end I moved them all back to their original outworld, larger so easier for me to do stuff.
Figured if I took out the tube nest grommet from it's original outworld it will fit into the larger outworld's grommet space, 15mm vs 16mm test tube
And it did.

Now the queen wandered around but seems to have found the tube nest to be too wet as more water had leaked out onto the red dirt inside.
She peaked inside a few times and left.
So they stayed in the outworld for a night.

I also have a small water feeder test tube, with only 1.5 cm of room from the opening.
And it turns out the queen likes that small area better, out of all the options and has settled inside....
The two workers have followed suit

What can you do?!

The small test tube area does have the advantage of being able to kick them out easier if needed and clean etc

And get the queen to eat for herself by dropping the food right in front of the tube.

[CoolColJ]

1st June 2018

 

Banished Phediole sp. queen red head/black body 9mm

 

She had 2 eggs, after eating one earlier.

Up to now she only had a foil on honey in her nest and a small piece of raw macadamia, which she has chewed up into smaller pieces dumped in front of the foil.

 

Gave her a large chunk of wood roach.

Much to my surprise, she found it and dragged it to mid test tube.

A day later had eaten most of it and dragged the remains back to the foil, plus some shell peices.

 

I think she laid more eggs after this, clump looks larger, will confirm later.

No more need to brood boost

I'll just keep feeding her some protein every 2 weeks.

 

 

Camponotus suffusus - 18mm queen - colony 1+ 2

 

So it turns out all the cotton pulling of the queenless colony's two nanitics is to create these cotton balls for use as substrate.

They placed one ball over the 4 larave.

But since cotton is hairy and light it keeps moving around so the worker has to continually adjust.

 

Colony 2 of a queen and 5 nanitics, are still in their dirty and empty test tube in the circular outworld.

Even after exposing them to sun for half a day, they haven't moved out into the Atom C nest.

I don't think even a worker has set foot into it..

They just hug the walls out the outworld and go past, so I need to rearrange things.

While also being able to access the water tower hole with a syringe, which is just badly placed and designed, on the side angling up.... although bending the syringe needle a bit decrease the amount of space needed to do so.

 

At least the workers seem to have found the Sunburst in the small Byformica feeder, and liked it.

I saw a worker stick it's head into the holes, with legs dangling, and struggling, sucking it.

These are large ants, so the holes are kinda on the small side for them.

Edited by CoolColJ, June 1 2018 - 5:06 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Melophorus nest situation...

 

click for larger

 

Suffusus nest situation

 

Water feeder is too tall, so the ants can get to the top and bypass the fluon barrier, so will need a different one

 

Edited by CoolColJ, June 1 2018 - 3:37 AM.

[Leo]

#chinese products

[CoolColJ]

#chinese products

 

Only some

 

The outworld for Melophorus is locally made for a local ant E-shop, it has a sliding magnetised lid, but it does make a horrible noise and vibrations that the ants hate, and sliding causes scratches on the lid....

The water and small feeders are by Byformica.

The suffusus nest is a TarHeel ants Atom C, although I have seen some Chinese copies.

 

But then again all the raw materials are probably from China anyway

Edited by CoolColJ, June 1 2018 - 10:55 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Four days on, and those two Carebara queens still haven't arrived her yet, but according to tracking they have at least checked into my state, so I should get them on Monday,.

So much for express post..... lucky they are claustral queens and it's cold now.

 

I'm starting to think these are Pheidole Antipodum queens

 

Video below

Queen ants captured on May 28th by a friend. Last minute flights by ants before winter sets in most likely.

The first 3 on the far left are I believe Pheidole Antipodum queens and measure 15mm and bulky.

What she is sending me.

There is a Camponotus nigriceps queen in the middle test tube, and she is one of the larger species we have here.

So you can see how big and bulky these antipodum queens are!

 

Much larger than regular Pheidole queens, and are unique to Australia.

I think they have more in common with Carebara ants, and have similar multi size majors and soldiers castes.

So an amazing find for me!

 

 

 

 

3m, 4mm, 5-6mm and 9mm workers and majors

http://www.antwiki.org/wiki/images/f/f6/Pheidole_antipodum%2C_Brigadoon%2C_Western_Australia._Farhan_Bokhari_%283%29.jpg

 

 

http://www.antwiki.org/wiki/images/5/5c/Pheidole_antipodum_queen_with_workers%2C_Wandering%2C_Western_Australia%2C_Farhan_Bokhari.jpg

Edited by CoolColJ, June 1 2018 - 3:57 PM.

[CoolColJ]

2nd May 2018

 

Camponotus humilior

 

Queen laid another egg today, actually saw her curl over, so that's probably when she did it. So back up to 2 eggs now.

Didn't think they lay around this time with winter approaching, but if she, she must be content.

Still have them Blu tacked out in the open on my desk, with just a small piece of red cellophane drapped over on one side, but they are still exposed to light.

This works better than having them covered up and exposing them to check up, and freaking them out.

And the Blu tack greatly reduces test tube vibrations when placing food in.

 

A constant, consistent environment is what they like.

 

Still deciding on wether to release them or not....

Edited by CoolColJ, June 2 2018 - 4:16 AM.

[CoolColJ]

3rd June 2018

 

Camponotus suffusus - colony 2

 

So a few days ago I put my Camponotus suffsus test tube into my Atom C nest and circular Empire of Ants outworld setup, (like a poor man's Inception Chamber) hoping they would move, since it's moldy and empty of water, but the cotton is damp.

Constant light exposure, and half a day of direct Sun couldn't get them to budge.

And when the workers did explore they would just walk past the Atom C entrance without entering.
At least they did drink from the feeders.

 

Well last night just before I went to bed, I saw a worker finally enter the Atom C nest, after a minute she returned to the test tube and started carrying larvae one at a time into the nest, until all 7 were in.

Although she did get lost a few times during each trip...
She must have told another worker about it, and later on another worker came to look over the larvae.
But the rest stayed in the test tube.

 

Then another worker came and took the larvae back to the test tube one at a time. At the same time the original worker, took the larvae from the test tube back into the Atom C!
This kept on for a while, but I had to go to sleep...

The nest morning, I removed the foil covering the nest and I see this... they finally moved in.

Sometimes you just need patience, something I need to ingrain into myself when it comes to ants

They also dumped some of the white sand that the Atom C has on the walls etc, outside

 

click to enlarge

 

5 workers and 7 larvae

 

[CoolColJ]

Thanks to suggestion from somone on Reddit I successfully merged 2 nanitics and 4 larvae from my Camponotus suffusus queen that died recently, to another one with 5 workers that had just moved into an Atom C nest.
 
I waited a week after removing the queen's dead body, so that any colony scent would be greatly diminished.
 
Then I dumped them into the outworld, near the nest entrance. The larvae came out easily enough, but the 2 nanitics had a larvae each in their mouths and I had to use a small paint brush to coax them out.
At first they were confused for a while, but eventually they entered the nest, one with a larvae in it's mouth.
 
click to enlarge

 
The first newcomer nanitic encountered the queen upon entering and started feeding her, while 2 of her workers looked on angrily, but the queen was happy
 

 
Then the one with the larvae entered
 

 
she placed the larvae on the brood pile
 

 
then fed the queen as well, it seems this is the way to please someone
 

 
Later on there was some mild biffo with one of the larger workers (regular vs nanitic I think) and one of the newcomer nanitics. Some leg grabbing etc, and that Camponotus angry body jerk
 

 
Queen came over to break it up, and the newcomer nanitic fed one of the workers. It's almost like this is the way to beg for mercy or something
 

 
-
 
Queen is now happy, she has 7 workers and 11 larvae
 


 
-
 
some happy queen pics
 

 

Edited by CoolColJ, June 2 2018 - 11:36 PM.