1787 replies to this topic

[CoolColJ]

Meat ant queen - Iridomyrmex purpureus 14mm queen
20mm test tube, cotton double chamber setup - heatcable
10 eggs
 
Here we go again, back to 10 eggs..

[CoolColJ]

Spring 1st October 2018
 
Rhytidoponera sp2, green 7-8mm queen - gold gaster iridesence
16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, cardboard floor substrate.
5 eggs

Laid another egg
 
 
Rhytidoponera sp3, green 7-8mm queen2 - purple/blue gaster iridesence - large downturned gaster tip
16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, cardboard floor substrate.
4 eggs
 
The same

correction queen1 has 5 eggs!

click to enlarge





--

Pics of the second queen

This is the other one I found in my yard. Same size, but she has a purple and sometimes blue iridescence on her gaster as opposed to gold.
But look at that gaster shape! She must be a different species



look at the gaster tip, which drone wouldn't want a piece of that!?

[CoolColJ]

Colony update - Spring 2nd October 2018

Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant) 10mm queen
heat cable - Atom C nest inside circular outworld
9 workers, 11 cocoons, some large larvae and a stack of small larvae and eggs

11 cocoons now, and the 9th worker has eclosed since the photos below were taken yesterday
And 2 more look ready in a week's time maybe. And a nice stack of eggs and small larvae!
Newer workers do look larger, which you can see nursing the brood in the pics below.

click to enlarge



Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen
refillable gypsum plugged test tube connected to outworld - heatcable
1 minor worker, 13 brood

Not too much change, but brood is a little bigger.
Even with the heat cable these girls are so slow!


Melophorus sp.- black orange 7-8mm queen
Acrylic founding nest
2 eggs. 1 worker
 
I think she still has only 2 eggs, Hard to see them

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

40 workers, first major larvae/pupa

Getting there, but major pupa hasn't started to go brown yet
Largest of the lot though




Pheidole Colony B - Pheidole sp, all black 8mm queen
 heatcable
30+ workers. 1 Major. 1 major pupa

second major pupa is about to eclose this week!
And it does look bigger than the first....




Pheidole Colony C - 2x Phediole sp. red head/black body 7mm queens
heatcable
25-30 workers - lots of brood, major pupa

Major pupa going brown!




Polyrhachis rufifemur 9mm queen
 
2 eggs, 1 nanitics, 1 small Camponotus larvae

Not much to report, but the Camponotus larvae still around is crazy

 
Pheidole Colony D - Pheidole sp. red, dark gaster 7mm queen
cotton double chamber setup - heat cable
6 nanitics - lots of brood




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

Queen 1 - heat cable - 7 nanitics, clump of brood
16mm test tube, double chamber setup, exposed to light
9 nanitics

Fast growth, still keeping the lead over the Colony above with 9 nanitics
I thought they might be a different species to the queen above, but now I know they are for sure... just look at that gaster




Pheidole Colony F - Banished Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm queen - originally a partner of Pheidole Colony A
heatcable
4 Nanitics, small clump of brood

Slowly ramping up, but still far slower growth than the red Pheidole.
Couple of brown pupa though.
 


Pheidole Colony G - 3x Phediole sp. red head/black body 8-9mm queens
heat cable
small pile of larvae and eggs

1 nanitic

 

Not much to show, but the second nanitic should eclose today.

 

 

Rhytidoponera aspera Gamergate colony
20mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, cardboard floor substrate.
7 workers - 2 maybe more as Gamergate queens, 1 drone

 

No eggs yet

[CoolColJ]

Spring 2nd October 2018 - Queen update

Camponotus consobrinus 16-17mm - black thorax colour scheme
in Minihearth
No eggs
 
Still no eggs. 1 month into spring now.


Pheidole sp, light red head, dark red body, 6-7mm
I have her in my double test tube modded setup, with a polystyrene foam chamber entrance
in red test tube rack
clump of brood, a few pupa
 
Still no nanitics yet, and yet she has had pupa for a few weeks already, while the other queen I captuted at the same time, on the heat cable has 9 nanitics already.
That speaks volume of how cold it is still, when the pupa won't even eclose.
 
 
Pheidole cf antipodum 15mm queen
in magnetic glass top gypsum founding nest
 
60?  brood
 
Still pondering about wether to move her to a test tube and heat cable to get her brood moving along!
 
 
Meat ant queen - Iridomyrmex purpureus 14mm queen
20mm test tube, cotton double chamber setup - heatcable - red film
8 eggs
 
Queen is a tad unstable, hopefully she will stop eating her eggs for now...

Rhytidoponera cf aspera queen 8-9mm queen
16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, and cotton double chamber setup - in small outworld
7 eggs
She still hasn't left the test tube, but she has laid 7 eggs.
I might seal up her test tube and remove it from the outworld for now
 

 
triple black Iridomyrmex queens 8mm
20mm test tube
100 eggs!
 
I counted 100 eggs!
 
 
Papyrius sp. 8mm queen
16mm test tube - aquarium filter wool - red film
 
still no eggs.. I did see someone have great success using Iridomyrmex workers and brood with these queens
https://www.instagra.../p/BoTSmEhFkZN/
 
Rhytidoponera, green/gold 8mm queen
16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, cardboard floor substrate.
3 eggs
 
Rhytidoponera sp2, green 7-8mm queen - gold gaster iridesence
16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, cardboard floor substrate.
5 eggs

Rhytidoponera sp2, green 7-8mm queen2 - purple/blue gaster iridesence - large downturned gaster tip
16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, cardboard floor substrate.
4 eggs
 
Nylanderia sp. 6mm - dual queens
16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, cardboard floor substrate.
4 eggs
 
I see 3 eggs on the cardboard and 1 egg on the left side on the glass
So maybe that 1 egg belong to the new queen I added

Edited by CoolColJ, October 1 2018 - 6:13 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Spring 2 October 2018

 

Pheidole Colony B - Pheidole sp, all black 8mm queen
heatcable
30+ workers. 2 Majors

 

Second major has eclosed!

Quicker than I expected, still really pale.

She tried to wander off and 3 workers dragged her back

 

Had an opportunity to get a photo of her with the other major in view, but now she is hidden under the queen...

I think she has a larger head than the first major, and overall just bigger, but I need to see them side by side to confirm.

If so, this has to be a super major!

[CoolColJ]

Holy crap, that second major from Phediole colony B is a super major!
Didn't expect that since the majors grow so fast in this species, and only around 30 workers....
Hmmm so yeah probably won't be selling this colony - it's like hitting the jackpot since 99% of Pheidole species are bimorphic
 
click to enlarge


Hard to get a good comparison between the 2 majors as the test tube is really dirty, but you can see the head of the second major is clearly much larger

Edited by CoolColJ, October 2 2018 - 4:17 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Spring 3rd October 2018 - Queen update


Meat ant queen - Iridomyrmex purpureus 14mm queen
20mm test tube, cotton double chamber setup - heatcable - red film
18 eggs

She got her mandibles caught of the cotton again yesterday, so I removed the cotton double chamber entrance... that should stop it for good... just maybe...
I counted about 16-18 eggs, so things are getting back on track!


Rhytidoponera cf aspera queen 8-9mm queen
16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, and cotton double chamber setup - in small outworld
9 eggs

laid 2 more eggs!
 

Rhytidoponera, green/gold 8mm queen
16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, cardboard floor substrate.
6 eggs

laid 3 eggs
 
Rhytidoponera sp2, green 7-8mm queen - gold gaster iridesence
16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, cardboard floor substrate.
7 eggs

laid 2 eggs

Rhytidoponera sp2, green 7-8mm queen2 - purple/blue gaster iridesence - large downturned gaster tip
16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, cardboard floor substrate.
7 eggs

laid 3 eggs
 
Nylanderia sp. 6mm - dual queens
16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, cardboard floor substrate.
6 eggs

1 more egg each queen, one has 4 eggs, the other has 2.

[CoolColJ]

Spring 4th October 2018

Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen
refillable gypsum plugged test tube connected to outworld - heatcable
1 minor worker, 13 brood

Struggling to find a food source that a single worker can tackle that won't mold if she decided to place it against the moist end of the tube, like the cricket chunk I last gave them.
It looks like this species does like to eat small pieces of nuts. In the past they have liked raw almond.
Just then I put in a tiny piece of raw pecan, and the worker dragged it back to the brood pile


Melophorus sp.- black orange 7-8mm queen
Acrylic founding nest - heatcable
2 eggs. 1 worker
 
Gave them small chunks of red dirt substrate last week.
And worker did drag it back to the brood side of the nest, and now I see a little scatter of them on the acrylic floor.
Should help the larvae spin cocoons when the time comes

[CoolColJ]

Gave all my all ants small pieces of raw pecan.

Pheidole all liked it.

And one of my Rhytidoponera queens - the blue/pruple gaster girl also loved it
Then again Rhytidoponera are general scavengers


Rhytidoponera sp2, green 7-8mm queen2 - purple/blue gaster iridesence - large downturned gaster tip
9 eggs

 

She laid 2 more eggs!

Edited by CoolColJ, October 3 2018 - 10:24 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Pheidole Colony C - 2x Phediole sp. red head/black body 7mm queens
heatcable
25-30 workers - lots of brood, major pupa

 

First major pupa looks ready to eclose in a few days time.

Second major larvae is already well advanced as well, looks ready to pupate soon.

[CoolColJ]

Pheidole cf antipodum 15mm queen
20mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam - heat cable

80+  brood/eggs

Moved her back into a test tube, so I can get a heat cable on the brood to get them to develop... and I counted 80+ eggs !
All time record for a single queen

It's going take some time for her to settle and group up all the brood.
Her traction in the test tube seems poor.

I don't need her to lay any more eggs, just mind them till they eclose.. so any stress from the move is not a big deal, hopefully


triple black Iridomyrmex queens 8mm
20mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam - heat cable
100 eggs

Moved them onto  heatcable as well, and they noticed straight away.

Moved themselves and all the brood directly on top the heatcable which is around 30+ degrees at the point of contact

These girls love heat on their brood, more so than my other ants, apart from Melophorus

Edited by CoolColJ, October 4 2018 - 1:23 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Spring 5th October 2018


Pheidole cf antipodum 15mm queen
20mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam - heat cable

80+  brood/eggs

She looks settled in the test tube now
Although things didn't turn out the way I expected... I imagined she would gather all her brood up into a big ball like she did in the Gypsum nest, and sit on the heat cable.
But she instead put 66% of the brood, spread out along the the test tube surface where the aquarium filter wool meets the test tube, and a few scattered on the bottom half of the water dam.
Then she constantly tries to pull on the wool to tease it into shape, but it doesn't work like cotton wool...

And the remaining eggs are scattered all over the test tube floor..!

Sigh, it's not like discarded eggs will be needed, but it's still annoying to see

 

Rhytidoponera aspera Gamergate colony
20mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, cardboard floor substrate - in tupperware outworld with red dirt
7 workers - 2 maybe more as Gamergate queens, 1 drone

No eggs

 

6 days on, Drone is still alive!

Still no eggs as far as I can see.

The workers have tunneled into the cotton plug, and pulled some of it as substrate

So moved them to a  tub and tubes setup.. but the drone can scale the walls for sure... maybe I remove him.... but for now I'll keep the lid shut

 

 

[CoolColJ]

Meat ant queen - Iridomyrmex purpureus 14mm queen
20mm test tube, cotton double chamber setup - heatcable - red film
20+ eggs

 

Looks like we are good to go, she is still laying eggs, over 20 now, and has them sitting right on the heat cable.

And no longer getting her mandibles tangled on the cotton, since I removed the cotton double chamber entrance setup, and hence getting stressed out and eating her eggs

 

Now to see how long it takes to her first worker when heated

Edited by CoolColJ, October 4 2018 - 10:10 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Spring 6th October 2018
 
Pheidole Colony C - 2x Phediole sp. red head/black body 7mm queens
16mm test tube - heatcable
25-30 workers - 1 major, lots of brood, second major larvae
 
Woohoo their first major eclosed last night.
It's quite small, and looks different colony B's first major.
Remains to be seen if it will have a dark red head like the queens.
 
Will post a pic later today
 
Their test tube is getting low in water, probably only 1-2 months left in it, but I will most likely sell this setup before then

Edited by CoolColJ, October 5 2018 - 9:07 PM.

[CoolColJ]

I just tested a heat cable inside a small enclosed 10x5 inch styrofoam box, with a lid, kinda like a mini esky

I cut 2 slits to allow my heat cable to run into and inside, perpendicular to the box, hugging the walls and floor

With an ambient of 20 C degrees
My 15w 3m long heat cable heats the the air inside to 25 degrees, just about ideal

Inside a sealed test tube, with the heat cable touching the open end, it reaches 27 degrees near the water damn, pretty close to ideal
It hits 32 degrees right where the heat cable is

If I pop the lid open, temps drop 2 degrees across the board

So your standard test tube sitting on the same heat cable, out in the open, never really gets much over 26 degrees at the point of contact and much less everywhere else with the same ambient temp

--

currently have a few test tube of queens in it to test

1) Triple queen Iriodmyrmex with 100 eggs, this species takes 4.5 weeks with open air heat cable setup at it's fastest
2) Rhytidoponera sp2, green 7-8mm queen2 - purple/blue gaster iridesence - 16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, cardboard floor substrate. 9 eggs
3) Rhytidoponera, green/gold 8mm queen - 16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, cardboard floor substrate. 6 eggs
4) Nylanderia sp. 6mm - dual queens - 16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, cardboard floor substrate. 13 eggs

Yeah the Nylanderia queens laid a few more eggs

I found it interesting the 3 Iridomyrmex queens went all the way to the open side end where the heat cable hits 32 degrees!

Edited by CoolColJ, October 6 2018 - 6:19 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Pics of Pheidole colony C's first major. Smallest so far...
You can see the second major larvae already pupating in the background









look at the worker carrying the big clump of eggs - colony is about to explode!

Edited by CoolColJ, October 7 2018 - 3:43 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Colony update - Spring 7th October 2018

Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant) 10mm queen
heat cable - Atom C nest inside circular outworld
10 workers, 10 cocoons, some large larvae and a stack of small larvae and eggs

10th worker eclosed sometimes this week, didn't expect that, so 11th should be soon.

Also don't know why it took me this long to figure this out, but I fed the end of the heat cable into the expansion port of the outworld and placed it against the side of the atom C nest.
As opposed to just touching the side of the outworld before...
Just needed to plug up the gaps with cotton wool.
That should boost temps by quite a bit!


Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen
refillable gypsum plugged test tube connected to outworld - heatcable
1 minor worker, 13 brood

not much change so far, despite being heated....


Melophorus sp.- black orange 7-8mm queen
Acrylic founding nest
2 larave. 1 worker
 
She only laid 2 eggs, and is down to one worker, but her brood is developing a lot faster than my other Melophorus sp.
Already into medium sized larvae after 3 weeks!
I gave them a chunk of red dirt and the worker happily dragged it back and broke off pieces and spread it around the acrylic nest

I can see what looks like a clump of small larvae, next to the 2 medium sized ones, but can't say for sure.
Umm maybe choosing white for this nest was not such a good idea after all...good for ants... bad for brood...



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

40 workers, first major pupa

Major pupa still white. I can see the second major larvae already forming.
Tons of brood, quite a big mini tower of pupa building up, I can barely see the major pupa now!
This batch should get the colony over 50 workers


Pheidole Colony B - Pheidole sp, all black 8mm queen
 heatcable
30+ workers. 2 majors, second one is larger, super major?

Second major is darkening. Yet she isn't used as a replete unlike the smaller first one.
Note the big wall of larvae on the cotton!




Pheidole Colony C - 2x Phediole sp. red head/black body 7mm queens
heatcable
30 workers - 1 major, 1 major larvae pupating

Tons of brood.




Polyrhachis rufifemur 9mm queen
16mm test tube connected to outworld via grommet
3 eggs, 1 nanitic, 1 small Camponotus larvae
 
 
Pheidole Colony D - Pheidole sp. red, dark gaster 7mm queen
cotton double chamber setup - heat cable
8 nanitics - lots of brood
 
gained 2 more workers, steady as she goes.
These red Pheidole really like to put their brood on the cotton, as opposed to using the heat cbale like the black ones..


 

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

Queen 1 - heat cable - 7 nanitics, clump of brood
16mm test tube, double chamber setup, exposed to light
9 nanitics

Note the crushed nuts the queen grinded down on the bottom left




Pheidole Colony F - Banished Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm queen - originally a partner of Pheidole Colony A
heatcable
8 Nanitics, small clump of brood

Hey she had a big jump in workers, up from 4 last week.
5 pupa, so more workers soon.
 



Pheidole Colony G - 3x Phediole sp. red head/black body 8-9mm queens
heat cable
small pile of larvae and eggs
2 nanitics
 
They have 2 small piles of brood now. 1 on the cotton with 1 of the queens, and the two nanitics. While the other two queens and some brood stay on the heat cable.
Strange divsion.... but this is the first time the queens have used the heat cable, after all this time.
 
 
Rhytidoponera aspera Gamergate colony
20mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, cardboard floor substrate.
7 workers - 2 maybe more as Gamergate queens, 1 drone
 
No eggs yet, and the drone is still alive after a week!
 

Edited by CoolColJ, October 7 2018 - 10:46 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Spring 7th October 2018 - Queen update

Camponotus consobrinus 16-17mm - black thorax colour scheme
in Minihearth - heat cable
No eggs
 
heated her a few days ago, still no eggs....


Pheidole sp, light red head, dark red body, 6-7mm
I have her in my double test tube modded setup, with a polystyrene foam chamber entrance
in red test tube rack
clump of brood, 3-4 pupa.
 
She should get nanitics soon, but may need some heat to do so.

 
Pheidole cf antipodum 15mm queen
20mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam - heat cable - red film
 
80+  brood/eggs
 
Moved my Pheidole antipodum queen back to a test tube so I could heat her up without excess condensation forming, and get her long overdue brood to develop.
Well it didn't go as planned, and she has scattered her 80 odd eggs everywhere... some are pretty much written off...
There might be a chance she is infertile... bad mother skills.. scattered brood, eggs that don't develop, apparently these are the signs...
I may be able to get another queen with brood in 2 weeks time - fingers crossed. 



 
Meat ant queen - Iridomyrmex purpureus 14mm queen
20mm test tube, cotton double chamber setup - heatcable - red film
20+ eggs
 
Some eggs looked to have hatched, after a week of her finally not eating them.


Rhytidoponera cf aspera queen 8-9mm queen
16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, and cotton double chamber setup - in small outworld
9 eggs

She still hasn't left the test tube to forage 

 
triple black Iridomyrmex queens 8mm
20mm test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
100 eggs!

Ambient in incubator reads 27 degrees, so it'll be 29 on water end and 32 on the other end.
I am expecting workers in 3 weeks time!
 
 
Papyrius sp. 8mm queen
16mm test tube - aquarium filter wool - red film
 
still nothing
 
Rhytidoponera, green/gold 8mm queen
16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, cardboard floor substrate - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
6 eggs

Placed in incubator, but may remove soon, as I think it suits claustral queens better.
 
Rhytidoponera sp2, green 7-8mm queen - gold gaster iridesence
16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, cardboard floor substrate.
7 eggs

Rhytidoponera sp2, green 7-8mm queen2 - purple/blue gaster iridesence
16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, cardboard floor substrate - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
9 eggs

Same deal as queen in incubator above
 
Nylanderia sp. 6mm - dual queens
16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, cardboard floor substrate - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
13 eggs
 
Placed in incubator. I expect these girls to grow fast.

One large pile of eggs on left side against test tube surface, another batch of 3 on carboard substrate

[Leo]

No she is probably fertile. In my experience with carebara castanea which looks similar to pheidole antipodum. When in test-tubes (or stressed) they tend to mess up their brood and trample all over it. They are very finicky about humidity and light. They also tend to eat as fast as they lay when unhappy with their surroundings. I can't really say I'm an expert cuz every carebara castanea I have had so had so far have died.

[CoolColJ]

No she is probably fertile. In my experience with carebara castanea which looks similar to pheidole antipodum. When in test-tubes (or stressed) they tend to mess up their brood and trample all over it. They are very finicky about humidity and light. They also tend to eat as fast as they lay when unhappy with their surroundings. I can't really say I'm an expert cuz every carebara castanea I have had so had so far have died.

Well I know they can be raised in a test tube which is why I had no issue moving her back in, as one other person has a big colony of these raised from a test tube and then tube and tubes setup. No substrate.
And another has 3 queens with brood now in bare test tubes.

I just need that first worker and all will be much better

Edited by CoolColJ, October 7 2018 - 4:16 PM.