Pheidole Colony A's brood pile near the heating cable - looks like 3 pupa will eclose by Sunday
At this rate they will be over 20 workers by the end of next week!
click to enlarge
Edited by CoolColJ, June 26 2018 - 11:37 PM.
Pheidole Colony A's brood pile near the heating cable - looks like 3 pupa will eclose by Sunday
At this rate they will be over 20 workers by the end of next week!
click to enlarge
Edited by CoolColJ, June 26 2018 - 11:37 PM.
Current ant colonies -
1) Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant), Melophorus sp2. black and orange, Pheidole species, Pheidole antipodum
Journal = http://www.formicult...ra-iridomyrmex/
Heterotermes cf brevicatena termite pet/feeder journal = http://www.formicult...feeder-journal/
Winter 28th June 2018
Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm queen - Pheidole Colony A
The brood mound continues on
I see 3 more pupa ready to eclose tonight and 2 more tommorrow!
Still plenty of larvae and eggs to keep it up as well
I'll do a worker count tommorrow
click to enlarge
Pheidole sp, all black 7mm queen - Pheidole Colony B
Another pupa to eclose tommorrow.
One pupa left, two large larve on this brood pile near the heat cable, and a few more back on the cotton
But tons of eggs and small larvae.
Queen has been staying near this brood pile and heat cable today
2x Phediole sp. red head/black body 8mm queen - Pheidole Colony C
Heat cable is like steroids for ants in winter... situation as of tonight, two nanitics have eclosed since 4 days ago, one more should tommorrow,
and I counted 5 larger larvae and over 40 brood. And they only had 10 odd 1.5 weeks ago
Current ant colonies -
1) Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant), Melophorus sp2. black and orange, Pheidole species, Pheidole antipodum
Journal = http://www.formicult...ra-iridomyrmex/
Heterotermes cf brevicatena termite pet/feeder journal = http://www.formicult...feeder-journal/
Winter 29th June 2018
Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm queen - Pheidole Colony A
I counted 17 workers, so a gain of 8 workers since a week ago!
Much more workers hanging around the brood pile, near the heat cable, today
And a lot more traffic to and from the queen to this brood pile, ferrying brood back and forth.
I can see a difference in worker size now, the regulars are about 1mm longer and bulkier.
Still pretty small even then, at around 3mm tops
Considering the brood and worker increase they seem to be less interested in eating, and when they do, much less than before...
I did see a few workers sip on the raw honey for a bit a few days ago, but now they are starting to dump rubbish on the raw honey.
They have this messy area in the middle of the test tube - it's probably their toilet
I'll probably move this colony to the Inception Chamber when they get over 30 workers.
That's if I decide to keep them, that is... have to see how well the dual and triple queen setups do first.
Pheidole sp, light red head, dark red body, 6-7mm queens
Queen 1 - moved her to a fresh test tube setup, as her old one had a mold spot (likely from her poop...)
Easy, as she has no eggs yet, and she walked across to the new test tube when I opened her current one up.
Kept the the same double cotton chamber setup she had before.
Will do the same for the eggless Camponotus consobrinus queen, as her test tube is running lower in water.
And tomorrow I'll be picking up some white Aquarium filter sponge to use in place of cotton wool for the test tube dams, since they do not mold.
So her setup will be the first to use it.
All these eggless queens will not lay till spring which is a good 2+ months away.
So I have time to try things out.
And I will switch them all, just before then, to fresh test tubes and founding nests where applicable, as I have at least one nest incoming
----
Strongly considering letting the banished Pheidole queen go loose. She is not getting anywhere with her current 4-5 eggs, and she is not laying anymore, while still eating a lot, and also needing me to babysit her, unlike a freshly mated claustral queen
Edited by CoolColJ, June 29 2018 - 3:25 AM.
Current ant colonies -
1) Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant), Melophorus sp2. black and orange, Pheidole species, Pheidole antipodum
Journal = http://www.formicult...ra-iridomyrmex/
Heterotermes cf brevicatena termite pet/feeder journal = http://www.formicult...feeder-journal/
I was snooping around the tennis court down the road tonight
Welp I didn't see anything apart from this lone consobrinus worker (medial?) under a lit area, pretty big at 11-12mm. It wasn't a waste of time, since I never knew I had consobrinus around here as I never see them!
Saw some nest entrance holes with dirt in the concrete cracks of the tennis court main building pavement
Maybe I can introduce this worker to my eggless queen later on
Edited by CoolColJ, June 30 2018 - 4:12 AM.
Current ant colonies -
1) Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant), Melophorus sp2. black and orange, Pheidole species, Pheidole antipodum
Journal = http://www.formicult...ra-iridomyrmex/
Heterotermes cf brevicatena termite pet/feeder journal = http://www.formicult...feeder-journal/
Found these 13 Polyrhachis ammon under a rock, with 1 larvae.
I can't tell if there is a queen there, they all look so similar.
Boy they sure do love their raw honey, they have been sipping it for the last 40 mins straight! if there is no queen i will return them, and they would have had a nice honey meal for the trouble
some videos here - low quality
https://www.instagra.../p/BkrTe51AwjD/
click to enlarge
Edited by CoolColJ, June 30 2018 - 9:13 PM.
Current ant colonies -
1) Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant), Melophorus sp2. black and orange, Pheidole species, Pheidole antipodum
Journal = http://www.formicult...ra-iridomyrmex/
Heterotermes cf brevicatena termite pet/feeder journal = http://www.formicult...feeder-journal/
Don't think you have a queen. Queens are a bit more bulky and have a smaller head in comparison to its thorax.
Don't think you have a queen. Queens are a bit more bulky and have a smaller head in comparison to its thorax.
I went back to look for a queen, no sign of one
I have them all in a test tube now, so it will make it easier to examine with 30x magnifying glass, but a queen should be obviously larger.
They are all pretty big though, each one is larger than my Polyrhachis rufifemur queen.
I turned over more rocks while there, and uncovered these large black camponotus with yellow legs. Majors with big heads and large queen like gasters, around 12-13mm.
Possibly a colour morph of C.nigriceps, as they look like C.lownei but way larger.
I exposed some large larave, possibly majors or alate larvae. I took some to give to my C.suffusus
Right now, the suffusus workers seem scared to approach the foil of larvae
Edited by CoolColJ, June 30 2018 - 11:07 PM.
Current ant colonies -
1) Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant), Melophorus sp2. black and orange, Pheidole species, Pheidole antipodum
Journal = http://www.formicult...ra-iridomyrmex/
Heterotermes cf brevicatena termite pet/feeder journal = http://www.formicult...feeder-journal/
Edited by CoolColJ, July 1 2018 - 5:29 AM.
Current ant colonies -
1) Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant), Melophorus sp2. black and orange, Pheidole species, Pheidole antipodum
Journal = http://www.formicult...ra-iridomyrmex/
Heterotermes cf brevicatena termite pet/feeder journal = http://www.formicult...feeder-journal/
Edited by CoolColJ, July 1 2018 - 4:17 PM.
Current ant colonies -
1) Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant), Melophorus sp2. black and orange, Pheidole species, Pheidole antipodum
Journal = http://www.formicult...ra-iridomyrmex/
Heterotermes cf brevicatena termite pet/feeder journal = http://www.formicult...feeder-journal/
Edited by CoolColJ, July 1 2018 - 8:17 PM.
Current ant colonies -
1) Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant), Melophorus sp2. black and orange, Pheidole species, Pheidole antipodum
Journal = http://www.formicult...ra-iridomyrmex/
Heterotermes cf brevicatena termite pet/feeder journal = http://www.formicult...feeder-journal/
Edited by CoolColJ, July 1 2018 - 8:55 PM.
Current ant colonies -
1) Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant), Melophorus sp2. black and orange, Pheidole species, Pheidole antipodum
Journal = http://www.formicult...ra-iridomyrmex/
Heterotermes cf brevicatena termite pet/feeder journal = http://www.formicult...feeder-journal/
Winter 2nd July 2018
2x Phediole sp. red head/black body 8mm queen - Colony C
third nanitic eclosed today, and she is put on brood nursing duties.
The other two nanitics are starting to wander away from the queens and explore a little more, but haven't started to move to the foil of raw honey and almond to forage yet
They did drag the small Camponotus larvae I gave them last night and the queens have been nibbling on it, but I still see it there, looking intact
If the queens remain together after the next few workers, then there is a good chance the colony will remain dual queen for the long haul.
Iridomyrmex sp. 7-8mm
The queen finally recognised the presence of the heat cable last night.
She was wandering around the area, and finally moved some brood on it.
But it was like she couldn't decided wether she liked the heat or not and keep jostling them back and forwards
She moves rather quickly, much like the skittish and erractic black Iridomyrmex ants in my back yard
Today she finally moved 75% of the brood ontop of the heating cable and she herself would sit there as well at least for a few minutes before moving back.
Not sure why the other 25% of the brood remains near the water side though
edit - she move all the brood back again
Edited by CoolColJ, July 2 2018 - 1:58 AM.
Current ant colonies -
1) Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant), Melophorus sp2. black and orange, Pheidole species, Pheidole antipodum
Journal = http://www.formicult...ra-iridomyrmex/
Heterotermes cf brevicatena termite pet/feeder journal = http://www.formicult...feeder-journal/
Winter 3rd July 2018
Camponotus suffusus 18+mm queen - colony
So a few days ago I flipped a rock over at a bush trail near my house and uncovered a big black Camponotus nest, black with yellow legs, yellow gaster stripes on the 12-13mm majors, possibly a C.nigriceps colour morph.
Anyway they have some larvae and I took a few of the larger ones. Dumped most of them in front of my Camponotus suffusus nest entrance.
I sorted half expected the suffusus to eat them or raise them.
But being a small colony of 7 workers and 10 larvae, they ended up being scared of the larvae
Yesterday I dumped most of the larvae directly into the nest entrance and pushed them in a little, and still the workers would freak out whenever they came close, and a sentry was always posted nearby
I sort of half figured the colony scent of the larvae would eventually diminish.
Well over night the suffusus have moved all the brood into the nest proper!
Remains to be seen if they will actually raise them. Since the original larvae owners are also big black Camponotus, it's not too far of a stretch species wise
Will post a pic of their new big brood pile later today
Edited by CoolColJ, July 2 2018 - 2:08 PM.
Current ant colonies -
1) Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant), Melophorus sp2. black and orange, Pheidole species, Pheidole antipodum
Journal = http://www.formicult...ra-iridomyrmex/
Heterotermes cf brevicatena termite pet/feeder journal = http://www.formicult...feeder-journal/
Current ant colonies -
1) Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant), Melophorus sp2. black and orange, Pheidole species, Pheidole antipodum
Journal = http://www.formicult...ra-iridomyrmex/
Heterotermes cf brevicatena termite pet/feeder journal = http://www.formicult...feeder-journal/
Edited by CoolColJ, July 3 2018 - 3:37 AM.
Current ant colonies -
1) Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant), Melophorus sp2. black and orange, Pheidole species, Pheidole antipodum
Journal = http://www.formicult...ra-iridomyrmex/
Heterotermes cf brevicatena termite pet/feeder journal = http://www.formicult...feeder-journal/
Current ant colonies -
1) Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant), Melophorus sp2. black and orange, Pheidole species, Pheidole antipodum
Journal = http://www.formicult...ra-iridomyrmex/
Heterotermes cf brevicatena termite pet/feeder journal = http://www.formicult...feeder-journal/
Edited by CoolColJ, July 4 2018 - 3:06 AM.
Current ant colonies -
1) Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant), Melophorus sp2. black and orange, Pheidole species, Pheidole antipodum
Journal = http://www.formicult...ra-iridomyrmex/
Heterotermes cf brevicatena termite pet/feeder journal = http://www.formicult...feeder-journal/
Current ant colonies -
1) Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant), Melophorus sp2. black and orange, Pheidole species, Pheidole antipodum
Journal = http://www.formicult...ra-iridomyrmex/
Heterotermes cf brevicatena termite pet/feeder journal = http://www.formicult...feeder-journal/
Edited by CoolColJ, July 4 2018 - 9:58 PM.
Current ant colonies -
1) Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant), Melophorus sp2. black and orange, Pheidole species, Pheidole antipodum
Journal = http://www.formicult...ra-iridomyrmex/
Heterotermes cf brevicatena termite pet/feeder journal = http://www.formicult...feeder-journal/
My guess is Nasutitermes fumigatus or N. dixoni. Which geographic location did you find them? As Cameron said, the soldiers shoot a sticky substance from their head which stick all over an ant. The worker termites are good food for ants. You need a king and queen to start a colony. You have some immature alates there, so they could become new kings or queens.
Edited by CoolColJ, July 5 2018 - 12:06 AM.
Current ant colonies -
1) Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant), Melophorus sp2. black and orange, Pheidole species, Pheidole antipodum
Journal = http://www.formicult...ra-iridomyrmex/
Heterotermes cf brevicatena termite pet/feeder journal = http://www.formicult...feeder-journal/
0 members, 20 guests, 0 anonymous users