1787 replies to this topic

[CoolColJ]

Are you going to keep a few?

Might keep 1, for now, but if a good trade comes my way, this one might be gone.
But I can always find more of these, since my area is covered with their nests.

Will be using the money gained from selling them to maybe get a Myrmecia fulvipes later on
A smaller species, Camponotus sized

[DaveJay]

You should find heaps later in the season, according to the Gamergate site Myrmecia flights start in February so what you're finding now would be queens that have overwintered and are now waking up and foraging.

[CoolColJ]

You should find heaps later in the season, according to the Gamergate site Myrmecia flights start in February so what you're finding now would be queens that have overwintered and are now waking up and foraging.

Which are actually the best ones to get as you can see they lay eggs easily and the weak ones would have died by now

Edited by CoolColJ, October 27 2018 - 7:20 PM.

[DaveJay]

That's very true, and also why initially I bought queens with 4 to 6 workers, much better odds of survival. All I'm hoping is that people start buying my scorpion kits so I can buy more from you, last time I listed them I sold 9, this time all I'm getting is "tyre kickers".

[CoolColJ]

Spring 28th October 2018

Camponotus suffusus bendigensis 17-18mm queen
Petri dish with wet sugar water cotton
no brood

Well she's not dead yet!
She is standing upright, unlike last night.
Not quite normal I think.... but she just may bounce back... not putting my hopes too high though

She appears to be recovering. And judging by her gaster bands she must have been sucking up all the sugar water from the cotton over night
But she ain't quite normal yet.
Will put her back into a test tube later today, and into the ghetto incubator

[DaveJay]

See, this is what I was wondering about, at this time of year most of the queens found will be from last year, maybe foraging or relocating for some reason. Therefore they may have already laid eggs, have larvae or even raised nanitics and be in need of both protein and sugar because the nutrients stored in the thorax (muscle) has already been used up. With queens from nuptial flights it's a different story, but perhaps it's natures' way, use the stored nutrients to lay eggs and feed larvae but should they fail to mature the queen either has to eat or she will die.

[CoolColJ]

See, this is what I was wondering about, at this time of year most of the queens found will be from last year, maybe foraging or relocating for some reason. Therefore they may have already laid eggs, have larvae or even raised nanitics and be in need of both protein and sugar because the nutrients stored in the thorax (muscle) has already been used up. With queens from nuptial flights it's a different story, but perhaps it's natures' way, use the stored nutrients to lay eggs and feed larvae but should they fail to mature the queen either has to eat or she will die.

With semi claustral queens it should make no difference. They have to forage anyway.
And once they have workers they don't forage themselves, so if you catch one outside, they only have brood.

But this Camponotus queen should be fully claustral unless she was taken from a colony...if so without her workers she may as well be doomed.

Edited by CoolColJ, October 28 2018 - 12:46 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Colony update - Spring 28th October 2018

Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant) 10mm queen
heat cable - Atom C nest inside circular outworld
16 workers, 4 cocoons, 25+ larvae and eggs

Lots of brood, can't count them anymore
See more workers in the outworld ally day now, at least 2-3.
Some sit on the heat cable itself


Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen
refillable gypsum plugged test tube connected to outworld - heatcable
1 minor worker, 20 eggs/ first insta larve, 1 medium larvae

After that disaster with double wrapping the heat cable around the tube causing the water to leak and drown the worker,
things are back on track. Lucky I was able to scrape the worker out and revive her by drying her out.
Took her 30mins to come to fully, but they can live under water for 24 hours.

At least these is one medium size larvae now.


Melophorus sp.- black orange 7-8mm queen
Acrylic founding nest
2 large sized larvae. 1 worker
 

Pheidole Colony B - Pheidole sp, all black 8mm queen
16mm test tube - cotton double chamber setup - heatcable

40+ workers. 1 majors, 1 super major?, big stack of brood, third major larvae pupating

I put in a cotton double chamber in this week.
Didn't help much, a lot of workers still hang out in the front part of the test tube.
Getting harder to feeder these girls.

Test tube is getting low on water. I should move them into a formicairum or at least attach an outworld...
but will try and keep test tube for a while longer



Polyrhachis rufifemur 9mm queen
16mm test tube connected to outworld via grommet
1 nanitic, 2 small larve, 5 eggs, 1 medium Camponotus larvae
 
Wooo, queen laid another 2 eggs!
And the Camponotus larvae continues to grow, and appears well fed
You can see 2 eggs have hatched.

click to enlarge



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 - heatcable
13 nanitics, decent amount of brood, lots of pupa



Pheidole Colony F - Banished Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm queen - originally a partner of Pheidole Colony A
16mm test tube, double chamber setup
10 Nanitics, small clump of brood, first major pupa

Fresh test tube. Currentky removed from heat cable.
I may release them.... but they have a bunch of workers about to eclose.
And I think I see their first major pupa!


Pheidole Colony G - 2x Phediole sp. red head/black body 8-9mm queens
16mm test tube - cotton double chamber setup - heat cable
7 nanitics - small pile of larvae and eggs

Another 2 nanitics eclosed this week.
Starting to ramp up.


Rhytidoponera aspera Gamergate colony
20mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, cardboard floor substrate.
7 workers - 2 maybe more as Gamergate queens, 30+ brood boost larvae.
 
Gees the brood eats a lot, all those 6 termite alate nymphs from a few days ago are all gone!
Gave them some dried meal worms to test, they have taken it so far.


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, plus second cotton chamber entrance - heatcable
2 nanitics, clump of brood, 3-4 pupa.

not much happened this week
I have added a cotton chamber entrance so there are 3 chambers now.

[CoolColJ]

Spring 28th October 2018 - Queen update

Camponotus consobrinus 16-17mm - black thorax colour scheme
20mm Test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
No eggs

Moved her from Minihearth into test tube and my ghetto incubator


Pheidole antipodum 15mm queen 1
20mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
10+ eggs



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

Into week 3 for 8 of the brood. Still no obvious larvae yet


Rhytidoponera cf aspera queen 8-9mm queen
16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, and cotton double chamber setup - in small outworld
12+ eggs, 25 brood boost larvae

She discarded another 2 brood boost larvae


Rhytidoponera, green/gold 8mm queen
16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, cardboard floor substrate - in outworld
10+ eggs, 9 brood boost cocoons

1 cocoon died and went moldy
You can see the termite on the right




Rhytidoponera sp2, green 7-8mm queen2 - purple/blue gaster iridesence
16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, cardboard floor substrate - in outworld
10+ eggs, 11 brood boost cocoons




Nylanderia sp. 6mm - 5 queens
16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, cardboard floor substrate - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
100? eggs/brood

2 big stacks of brood with some large larvae already.
I will release them soon.


Camponotus suffusus bendigensis 17-18mm queen
no brood

currently recovering in petri dish


Camponotus suffusus bendigensis 17mm queen 2
20mm Test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
4 eggs


2x Aphaenogaster longiceps 12-13mm queen
16mm test tube - heat cable
5+ eggs, about 13 brood boost larvae

Things going well.






3x Pheidole, red, darker gaster 7mm
16mm test tube - heat cable

Formerly quad queen setup is now a triple.
The 4th queen died... she was standing upright dead against the entrance cotton
I didn't even notice until I opened the test tube up.

Moved them out of my incubator and onto heat cable.




3x Myrmecia nigrocincta 20mm queens

Queen 1 - tub and tubes - 4 eggs - SOLD
Queen 2 - sealed test tube - 10 eggs
Queen 3 - sealed test tube - 7 eggs
Queen 4 - sealed test tube - 7 eggs

Will move queen 2 into a tub and tubes setup tomorrow.

Edited by CoolColJ, October 28 2018 - 8:13 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Spring 29th October 2018

Myrmecia nigrocincta, bull ants, 19-20mm queens x3
 
Queen 1 - tub and tubes - 6 eggs - SOLD
Queen 2 - tub and tubes - 10 eggs
Queen 3 - sealed test tube - 7 eggs
Queen 4 - sealed test tube - 8 eggs
 
Since yesterday, Queen1 laid 2 eggs, final update as I'm posting her off tomorrow!
Queen4 laid an egg

Moving queen 2 into the tub and tubes setup Queen 1 vacated.

After a bit she came out and found the raw honey dish and is now sucking it up.

Fed the other queens in their test tubes

The 2 queens I found last Thursday, I'll be sending off tomorrow.
Both have laid eggs already - 1 and 2 eggs respectively - settled already after 4 days - thanks to the great hospitality here

Edited by CoolColJ, October 30 2018 - 6:02 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Camponotus suffusus bendigensis 17-18mm queen1
20mm test tube - heat cable - red film
no brood

She was standing with wobbly legs yesterday, a bit more upright today.
Still quite weak though

I moved her back into a 20mm test tube, and she is currently chilling on the water dam cotton.
Put in a 3D printed dish of raw honey and a piece of cricket on a foil.
She hasn't touched either, but at least she has the option to do so.
She's already full of mineral fortified sugar water anyway.

Heat cable for warming about an inch away from her

Edited by CoolColJ, October 28 2018 - 8:05 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Camponotus consobrinus 16-17mm - black thorax colour scheme
20mm Test tube  - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator

No eggs

 

Took a quick peek at her, and she has pulled a bunch of cotton out and layed it across the test tube as substrate...

Edited by CoolColJ, October 28 2018 - 8:12 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Pheidole antipodum 14mm queen 2
16mm Test tube - heat cable
10+ pupa, over 40 brood

It begins... 1 pupa has turned yellow

And since the workers are yellow anyway, it will be hard to tell how much yellow is needed before the pupa actually ecloses

There are over 10 pupa now, so I can't even bothered counting them all

 

[Major]

Just wanted to pop in to say that your Nylanderia thing could very well possibly be Stigmacros.

[Major]

Just came back from a productive hour and a bit, anting at a local bush trail, where I caught 5 queens!
When I arrived and headed to the track I saw an alate fly past me, so I followed and see where she landed and captured her, bag one winged R.aspera.
Will drop the drone I have with her to make sure she is mated.
Then took a circuit around the tennis court, and found a Myrmecia nigrocincta queen!
Further down the trail I found another.
Then saw bunches of ants having nupital flights hovering around in the air like mozzies.
There was a small 6-7mm brown red species that when landed, seem to be holding what looks like eggs in their mandibles
Kept going and found another Myrmecia nigrocincta queen.
On the way back to my car through a short cut retreading the earlier path I found another queen where I had just been!
 
So that's 4 Myrmecia nigrocincta queens today, and 6 total in the last week

Also, those little egg things are probably fungus pellets. Means there's a fungus growing sp.in your area. They take a bit of fungus from their colony so they can use it to start a new nest.

[CoolColJ]

Just came back from a productive hour and a bit, anting at a local bush trail, where I caught 5 queens!
When I arrived and headed to the track I saw an alate fly past me, so I followed and see where she landed and captured her, bag one winged R.aspera.
Will drop the drone I have with her to make sure she is mated.
Then took a circuit around the tennis court, and found a Myrmecia nigrocincta queen!
Further down the trail I found another.
Then saw bunches of ants having nupital flights hovering around in the air like mozzies.
There was a small 6-7mm brown red species that when landed, seem to be holding what looks like eggs in their mandibles
Kept going and found another Myrmecia nigrocincta queen.
On the way back to my car through a short cut retreading the earlier path I found another queen where I had just been!
 
So that's 4 Myrmecia nigrocincta queens today, and 6 total in the last week

Also, those little egg things are probably fungus pellets. Means there's a fungus growing sp.in your area. They take a bit of fungus from their colony so they can use it to start a new nest.

I've been told they are pregnant mealybugs that the ants attend for sugars

Edited by CoolColJ, October 29 2018 - 2:08 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Spring 30th October 2018

Pheidole antipodum 14mm queen 2
16mm Test tube - heat cable
10+ pupa, over 40 brood

Brood is starting to go brown, so getting close to eclosing!
More pupa have developed, and you can see at least one small nanitic major/soldier pupa - the large headed one at the top in the pic below
Pretty amazing, I don't think there is another species that has majors in the first batch!
 
You can see how small the workers are, even the major, compared to the queen
 
click to enlarge

Edited by CoolColJ, October 29 2018 - 3:51 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Camponotus suffusus bendigensis 17mm queen 2
20mm Test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
5 eggs

 

She laid another egg. One of the brood looks like a first insta larvae

[CoolColJ]

Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen
refillable gypsum plugged test tube connected to outworld - heatcable
1 minor worker, 15+ eggs/ first insta larvae, 1 large larvae, 3 medium larvae

 

A couple of days ago there was only 1 medium larvae, and just like that there is 1 large and 3 medium!

It's like the brood stays as eggs for a couple of months and then overnight transform into larvae

 

click to enlarge

[CoolColJ]

31st October 2018

 

Pheidole Colony B - Pheidole sp, all black 8mm queen
16mm test tube - cotton double chamber setup - heatcable

40+ workers. 1 majors, 1 super major?, big stack of brood, third major pupa

 

The third major larvae has finished pupating, so it should eclose soon.

It is larger than the first one, bigger head, but not sure if it's larger than the second one