1787 replies to this topic

[CoolColJ]

regarding the the gypsum founding nest I moved my second antipodum queen into here - http://www.formicult...e-20#entry97873

 

 

I temporarily removed the casing from my Ebay humidity meter's probe, and was able to insert it into one of the ports in the gypsum nest

And it eventually read 99% humidity vs a 35% room humidty.

I last watered it on Sunday, 4-5 days ago.

 

I did the cotton glove finger thing I mentioned about, squirted a full syringe of water into a petri dish lid and and bent the cotton finger +stuffed cotton wool wick into it, and it sucked up all the water within 10 mins.

Right now this wick is completely dry as the nest sucked all the water from it.

 

There was already water in the nest, so it is over saturated in water

 

When I did the above the queen noticed the rise in water levels, and started to move around and explore the other parts of the nest.

And she also stood up peeking into the area where the glass lid and nest meet, as the water tends to get wicked there and spread through out the glass contact areas.

Maybe she wanted to drink the water there.

 

I will do another reading on Sunday, and another a week later, so I get an idea of how long the water lasts

Not hard to do right now as there is only a queen on the opposite side of the nest.

 

Yeah the antipodum queen moved from the centre chamber to the end part of the right side of this pic

 

 

This gives me the option to put cotton wool into the port close to her for water, which also blocks out the light

Maybe a short plastic test tube connected later on for water and hydration, or even sugar/honey water

Edited by CoolColJ, July 27 2018 - 5:53 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Went to the pet store to get some pin head baby crickets, but all the stock was all dead already... they get them in on Thrusday, so 2 days later now...

So opted for small sized crickets.

 

Hmm they pretty much respond to the same feeding setup as the feeder wood roaches I'm breeding

Goldfish pellets for protein, sliced open grape, and a cotton wool soaked in water sitting in a milk crate lid (better than the test tube of water I initially used)

 

I could tell these crickets are dying of thirst as they wet straight to the water and sucked on it for ages, and the sliced grapes.

Pretty cute seeing these crickets stand on tippy toes to suck at the water or climb on top another one to do so

The crickets also grabbed a Goldfish pellet each, nice small size fits perfectly in their mouths

 

Need to gutload them before feeding my ants

 

Will replace their egg crate they came in with partially squashed toilet rolls - more room for them, and more space to place the food.

Not breeding these, but keeping them alive till I feed them all to my ants, instead of freezing them

And gut loading them for extra food yield.

Edited by CoolColJ, July 27 2018 - 6:07 PM.

[CoolColJ]

I put my dead Pheidole antipodum queen beside one of my dead Camponotus suffusus queen bodies, and her thorax and gaster are just about dead even in length and almost in size.

Only the suffusus has a larger head.

 

15mm vs 18mm of one of the largest Camponotus species we have here

Has to be the largest Pheidole in the world...

 

Click to enlarge

Edited by CoolColJ, July 27 2018 - 10:04 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Winter 28th July 2018

 

Polyrhachis rufifemur 9mm queen, 2 nanitics... 1 crippled, colony

 

I saw the poor crippled nanitic in the outworld today lying on her back struggling 　

I pushed her back inside the nest, and the queen eventually carried her to the back of the nest. She is still really pale...

And the Camponotus larvae I gave them weeks ago, yeah the other nanitic still carries it around, guarding and caring for it....

 

 

[CoolColJ]

Winter 29th July 2018

 

A warm day for winter, and so the ants were in a spring like foraging mood

 

 

Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant) 10mm queen, 7 workers, colony

 

So a few days ago this happened

http://www.formicult...e-21#entry98295

 

Anyway I left a small slice of cricket at their doorstep, and yeap they dragged it in - so we're on roll!

Cricket bit is a hit

click to enlarge

 

Look at that bloated gaster on the worker at the back, first time I've seen that. Probably the one eating the roach a few days ago

 

[CoolColJ]

Winter 28th July 2018

 

Polyrhachis rufifemur 9mm queen, 2 nanitics... 1 crippled, colony

 

I saw the poor crippled nanitic in the outworld today lying on her back struggling 　

I pushed her back inside the nest, and the queen eventually carried her to the back of the nest. She is still really pale...

And the Camponotus larvae I gave them weeks ago, yeah the other nanitic still carries it around, guarding and caring for it....

 

 

The three stooges and a baby Camponotus

 

click to enlarge

[CoolColJ]

Winter 29th July 2018

Pheidole antipodum? 15mm queen
 

There is hope, my other Pheidole antipodum has laid 4 eggs!

 

In the second pic - I noticed this green discharge when she was in a test tube just before I moved her into this gypsum founding nest.

And I see it again in the new nest... it might be her poop fluid.... the one that died did not have this

 

This queen is quite adorable, with her slow deliberate moves
 

click to enlarge

 

Edited by CoolColJ, July 29 2018 - 12:35 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Winter 30th July 2018

 

Camponotus humilior 9-10mm queen
30 donated larvae - on heating cable

 

Into third week - closer to 20 larvae left, so she has eaten a few, and some have died.

Looks like 2 are spinning cocoons, but she has also laid 3 eggs of her own, busy girl

 

click to enlarge

[CoolColJ]

Colony update - Winter 30th July 2018

Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant) 10mm queen

7 nanitics, at least 10 larave
All workers look bloated from the recent feasts


Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen
1 minor worker, no brood. 

Queen is restless, while the worker finally dragged in the piece of wood roach I left at the door, and has been munching on it.


Melophorus sp.- black orange 7-8mm queen
No eggs. 5 workers

 
Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm queen
 
Around 30 workers, 1 major semi pupae, at least three major larvae in line
4 worker pupa to eclose by tommorrow

Filthy test tube, the cotton gets sucked as the water level goes down, dragging all the gunk across the test tube...
There are like 5 workers always on the first major semi pupae.

click to enlarge

 

Pheidole sp, all black  7mm
 
16 workers. 1 Major larvae

major larvae at the back, a few pupa, but nothing ready to eclose



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

1 pupa to eclose tonight, and tons of eggs, so both queens are laying.
Secondary queen still in good standing so far...

Dominant queen here, they always have striped gasters I have noticed.

 

Polyrhachis rufifemur 9mm queen
 
No eggs, 2 nanitics, 1 crippled
No changes


Camponotus suffusus 18+mm - queenless
 
7 workers, 18 brood (some foreign), 6 pupa
First of the cocoons eclosed and it's a pure suffusus minor worker I think

The pupa with visible eyes eclosed after taking these two pics





Polyrhachis femorata - triple 11-12mm queen

About 15 workers and 3 queens. A bunch of larvae
First cocoon has been spun, under my care.
And they cleaned up all the rubbish, but dumped the small bits on the water tower mesh and corner near the right hand side glass, while large bits in the outworld.
I can tell by their mannerisms they are settling in.





later on I dropped a beheaded small cricket directly into the nest, and they all jumped it. Then the sentry worker came dashing out to the outworld to check for an attack, pretty smart ant

Edited by CoolColJ, July 30 2018 - 1:20 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Winter 30th July 2018 - Queen update


Banished Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm

clump of 11-12 small larvae - heat cable
Queen is doing well, she demolishe a small cricket head a few days ago and then dumped all the debris on the raw honey


Pheidole sp. red 7mm

12+ larvae and eggs - heat cable

I can see about 3 large larvae, and the rest small ones.
Hard to see if here are any pupa


3x Phediole sp. red head/black body 8-9mm

On heating cable
A few large larvae, and I see a few scattered eggs. WTF they are starting to lay eggs again after eating over 20 of the 30+ they laid months ago...
I thought these 3 would be a model polygynous colony, I guess not.


Camponotus consobrinus 16-17mm

No eggs


Pheidole sp, light red head, dark red body, 6-7mm

Queen 1 - clump of brood
double chamber setup
 
Queen 2 - clump of brood
I have her in my double test tube modded setup, with a polystyrene foam chamber entrance

Didn't check up on the queens, but glancing through the red film, I see a clump of brood each.

 
Pheidole antipodum? 14+mm

The remaining queen had 4 eggs a day ago. She is looking calm and diligent.


Lioponera ruficornis/larvata 5mm

Finally settling down at the water dam
No eggs as of yesterday.


Rhytidoponera species 6-7mm
 
Right now hiding under the polysytrene dish I put the raw honey and insect bits on...
No eggs as of yesterday


Camponotus humilior

As above -
I have sold her, so no need to update

 
Iridomyrmex queens - 8.5mm - multiple test tube setups with aquarium filter dam and cotton wool chamber wall/entrance
3x singles, dual, one quad queen - two singles in red test tube rack, the rest exposed to light
Exposed to light setups on heat cable

All the setups outside on the heat cable have large piles of small larvae.
The ones in the red test tube rack appear to have nice piles as well.

Aggressive solo queen, outside, has over 30 larvae!




One of the dual queen setups

[CoolColJ]

Winter 31st July 2018

Pheidole antipodum? 15mm queen
 
Putting my LED lit jewellers loupe against the red film on the founding nest, I see about 8 eggs.
Up 4! And she's still alive!

 

 

[CoolColJ]

Winter 1st august 2018


Iridomyrmex queens - 8.5mm - multiple test tube setups with aquarium filter dam and cotton wool chamber wall/entrance
3x singles, 2x dual queens exposed to light
Exposed to light setups on heat cable


I moved the two solo queens from the red test tube rack to the heat cable.
So now all setups are exposed to light and on the heat cable.
Wanna get all queens a boost heading into spring.

Of these two solo queens new to the heat cable, that one laid a week sooner has way more brood, and larger ones at that.
Well she was a little unsettled, when exposed to light, but calmed down pretty quickly and noticed the heat cable almost immediately and moved all her brood ontop
The other queen has a smaller amount/size of brood, but she was not one bit stressed by the exposure to light.
Took her a little longer to notice the heat cable, but she too brought her brood up.
She looks to have 5 eggs, way less than the others, and she laid a week later, so may not be as fertile, but the heating cable may turn things around.

Warmth trumps all


The solo aggressive queen has quite a lot of brood, over 30 at last count, and by far the most developed, with large larvae already.

click to enlarge



The one that laid a few days later than the rest has the least amount, big difference....


One of the dual queen setups, this one had 4 queens and then 3 at one stage. A lot of brood, but no where near as developed as the solo aggressive queen....

[CoolColJ]

Winter 17th July 2018

Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm queen - Pheidole Colony A

 

First major moving into pupa stage 2 - there is always 3-5 workers on it, keeping it clean?

 

click to enlarge

 

[CoolColJ]

Winter 2nd August 2018

Polyrhachis femorata - triple 11-12mm queen, 15? worker colony

I haven't seen too many of the ants in the outworld during the day, apart from a worker than went to the raw honey at least 5 times during one day, to find feed the whole colony at a guess
But yesterday a saw one of the 3 queens in the outworld in the morning for a few hours before returning to the nest.
Sitting still for long periods, coupled with wandering around.
This morning she is outside again, staying still most of the time, but sometimes exploring around the whole outworld.

I have a feeling she may have been banished...


Camponotus suffusus 18+mm - queenless
9 workers, 16 brood (9 foreign, from a different black camponotus species), 5 pupa?

 

Another two cocoons eclosed. Upon looking at all workers, they all look like suffusus

 

 

Pheidole antipodum? 15mm queen

 

She has 9 eggs now, but dammit, I see them stuck on the top of her gaster.... I may have to open the nest up and brush them off her, if they don't fall off her....

 

edit - opened the top of the nest, thank you magnetic glass top, and brushed the eggs off her gaster.

yeah she freaked out, and she spent a while looking for her eggs, but she did eventually find and gather them all.

Edited by CoolColJ, August 2 2018 - 1:48 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Pheidole Colony C - 2x Phediole sp. red head/black body 8mm queen - 8 workers,

 

The rare moment when both queens attend the brood at the heat cable. At 8 workers, and 4 more to eclose tomorrow.
The furthest any of my multi queen Pheidole colonies have gotten so far, and the only true polygynous one.

But the next 4 workers will be a stepping stone.

 

These two are 7-8mm and look obviously much smaller/thinner than the other queens of the same colour scheme I have, where they range from 8-9mm.

Might be a different species.

Dominant queen with the large gaster bands

 

click to enlarge

[CoolColJ]

This is the only footage of Pheidole antipodum super majors on the net, an Aussie only Pheidologeton type species, and it's grabbed from a Chinese only stream site at 240p

At least until I get my colony off the ground

 

 

be sure to switch to 240p as YouTube defaults to 144p for some reason....

 

 

 

Quick estimate puts the largest super major at close to 4x the size of the minors which are 3mm, so around 12mm for the super majors. More or less Carebara affinis size

Edited by CoolColJ, August 2 2018 - 2:22 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Pheidole antipodum? 15mm queen - in magnetic glass  top gypsum funding nest

 

Queen has been pulling and gathering from the cotton plug in the port closest to her.

I was using this to wet to give her drinking water, but she seems to be using it for substrate I think.

 

Perhaps I should have lined the gypsum nest interior with the white sand that is also in the foraging area.

But that would make the eggs hard to see, or the red dirt I originally had put in there.

 

She may have moved her eggs into the area in front of the port.

I can't see it where it normally is, but can see a vague outline of something just beyond the focusing range of my 30x jeweller's loupe in front of the cotton wool port....

 

 

The nest interior still reads 99% humidity after 2 weeks

Edited by CoolColJ, August 3 2018 - 12:53 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Winter 4th August 2018

Polyrhachis femorata - triple 11-12mm queen, 15? worker colony

So one of the 3 queens has been spending a fair bit of time in the outworld, away from the rest, wandering around like she wants to get out.
As of yesterday she has been in the outworld of the MiniHearth all the time.

If this remains the case over the next few days, then she has been banished from the colony...
So I will then remove her and place her in a fresh test tube.

I have been wanting to sell this colony, so I guess it will be sold as a dual queen one, instead of a triple



Pheidole antipodum? 15mm queen
 
I can see one egg as of yesterday afternoon.
So she has eaten the other 8....

[CoolColJ]

Winter 5th August 2018

Polyrhachis femorata - triple 11-12mm queen, 15? worker colony

One of the three queens is till staying in the outworld.
Right on the Byformica mini liquid feeder, filled with water.
I guess the humidity there acts like a nesting spot of sorts

So I will move her to a fresh test tube setup.
Then sell the remaining colony as a dual queen one.


Pheidole antipodum? 15mm queen
 
She had one egg last night.
A quick peek into the nest through the red film, while the queen had moved off, reveals 5 eggs.
So she laid more while I was sleeping.

Perhaps brushing the eggs off her gaster a few days ago, when they were stuck there, damaged them so she ate all but one.

Edited by CoolColJ, August 4 2018 - 4:40 PM.

[CoolColJ]

I saw the femorata queen described above, in this position in the outworld for quite some time today, upon closer look she seemed to be gnawing on the liquid feeder

Later on I found her on her back struggling, looking like she was dying
I put her in a double chamber test tube I had around, 16mm, I wanted to put her in a 20mm test tube later today, but I guess I waited too long.

She struggled in, and still remains alive, sitting partially on the double chamber cotton entrance

click to enlarge

Edited by CoolColJ, August 4 2018 - 11:52 PM.