1787 replies to this topic

[CoolColJ]

Polyrhachis rufifemur 9mm queen
16mm test tube - heat cable
1 nanitic, 1 medium larve, 6 small larvae/ hatched eggs, 1 medium Camponotus larvae

 

Boy these 2 are really active when heated, and fast.

The queen and the nanitic take turns minding and feeding the brood.

 

The 3 grains of red dirt in the test tube have been placed ontop the raw honey in the 3D printed dish

 

 

Pheidole Colony B - Pheidole sp, all black 8mm queen
16mm test tube - 16mm test tube - polystyrene double chamber setup - heatcable
50 workers. 1 majors, 1 super major?, big stack of brood, third major pupa

 

Finally got them to fully move into the new test tube.

Putting the bright LED torch on them, with styrofoam on the other side to reflect the light, plus the vibration of handling their test tube caused the queen to run to the new test tube.

Once she moved the rest of the larvae and workers soon followed, within a few minutes

[CoolColJ]

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, 8 brood boost larvae

 

Yikes, down to 8 larvae, from the 28 I gave her...

 

I'm not even sure she has 12 eggs anymore either, I see 1 egg.. for now..

[CoolColJ]

Might have a Myrmecia fulvipes queen coming... if so I'll probably sell my remaining Myrmecia nigrocincta queen if I do end up having her.
 
I was saving up for a M.fulvipes with 1-2 workers from Ant keeping Depot.
Just worried I might be stuck with a queen that would constantly eat her brood.
 
Unlike my M.nigrocincta queens that have been great, laid 9-10 eggs and don't care if I even look at them
 
 

Edited by CoolColJ, November 5 2018 - 1:23 PM.

[CoolColJ]

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.
 
Gamergate colony still has around 30 brood, none were eaten or died.
First cocoon has been spun!
Quite a dark brown colour, looks different from R.metallica cocoons.

I will take it and give it to my R.aspera queen

Edited by CoolColJ, November 5 2018 - 3:29 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Spring 6th November 2018

Meat ant queen - Iridomyrmex purpureus 14mm queen
20mm test tube, cotton double chamber setup - heatcable - red film
27 eggs
 
She sure has laid a lot of eggs, up 5 from the 22 I thought she had, but they are just not hatching even when heated

 

 

[CoolColJ]

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, 1 brood boost cocoon, 3 Brood boost larvae

Damn, only 3 larvae left from the 28 I gave her...
I think I see some eggs on the water dam, but less then the 12 she had at one stage, not sure.
Test tube is dirty from the mess the larvae left

So that was a fail of a brood boost
I don't think the queen fed them or moved the food so the larave could feed themsleves


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.
 
A whole bunch of larvae seem to be starting to spin cocoons.
I see partial threads and stuff

Also on brown gunk against the water dam, I see little critters crawling over it!
These are bigger than the mites on ants, very easily seen with legs, crawling about like small spiders.
Not sure where they came from, either the ants or the larvae.
Possibly some type of garbage eating critter....

Edited by CoolColJ, November 6 2018 - 2:29 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Pheidole Colony B - Pheidole sp, all black 8mm queen
16mm test tube - 16mm test tube - polystyrene double chamber setup - heatcable
70 workers. 1 majors, 1 super major?, big stack of brood, third major pupa
 
Damn I under estimated how many workers this colony has - I thought around 50, well it's closer to 70!
And there looks to be 15 pupa about to eclose.

I have to open the test tube up inside a fluon lined container to feed them.
Really should move them to a formicarium, but I might sell this colony soon...

click to enlarge

Edited by CoolColJ, November 5 2018 - 6:21 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Sold the above colony

[CoolColJ]

She's on the way to me

Looks like a Myrmecia fulvipes, but it could be a Myrmecia fulviculis.

The difference being the tip of the gaster, if it's gold it's the later.

And M.fulvipes belongs to the mandibularis group which should be toothless, but you can see she does have some teeth on her mandibles

 

click to enlarge

[CoolColJ]

Camponotus suffusus bendigensis 17-18mm queen1
20mm Test tube - heat cable - red film
1 egg - raw honey dish

Whoop she finally laid a new egg since recovering!
Had fed her a termite alate nymph a week ago.
She keeps it in her mandibles

She had been staying away from the heat cable since recovering.
Standing against the water dam.
Today she has her gaster ontop the heat cable, so she is no longer scared.

[CoolColJ]

Spring 7th November 2018
 
 
Pheidole antipodum 14mm queen 2
16mm Test tube - heatcable
4 pupa, 12 eggs
 
You saw how much brood she had before, now there is only 4 pupa left, and they all look like majors...
She did lay some new eggs.

[CoolColJ]

Turned my heat cable off for now, with my room hitting 27-28C degrees no need for it


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

Looks like she may have laid her first egg!
But it does look a bit chewed up, and she is standing right at the test tube entrance, guess she likes it dry....


Rhytidoponera cf aspera queen 8-9mm queen
16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, and cotton double chamber setup - in small outworld
1 egg, 3 brood boost larvae, 1 brood boost cocoon

Yikes, she only has 1 egg of the 12 she once had, and only 3 brood boost larvae of the 28 I gave her.
She may be infertile.
We will see what happens when that cocoon I gave her ecloses.
Otherwise I will release her...


Rhytidoponera, green/gold 8mm queen
16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, cardboard floor substrate - in small wedding invite container outworld - placed in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
1 worker, 10+ brood, 9 brood boost cocoons

Hey one of the cocoons eclosed!
Eggs have hatched into small larvae

Will probably sell this one

Rhytidoponera sp2, green 7-8mm queen2 - purple/blue gaster iridesence
16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, cardboard floor substrate - in small wedding invite container outworld - placed in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
1 worker, 10+ brood, 10 brood boost cocoons

Same for this one, how uncanny
Still not all that green looking yet

Queens get a helper, which makes everything easier all round

Edited by CoolColJ, November 6 2018 - 6:17 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Rhtidoponera cf Metallica queen 1's first worker from the brood boost cocoons
She also has some larvae of her own now as well - so the incubator did some magic for the few days she was in there with >30c degree temps

click to enlarge


Queen 2's first worker also just eclosed after a few days in my ghetto incubator - pretty interesting that both eclosed at the same time,
well the cocoons did come from the same colony, but one eclosed each on the same day, crazy!
That's her cocoon on the left

[CoolColJ]

Camponotus suffusus bendigensis 17-18mm queen1
20mm Test tube - heat cable - red film
2 eggs - raw honey dish

Nice, she relaid her second egg sometime today
I might keep feeding her semi-claustral style once a fortnight.
Still have the raw honey inside the test tube all the time, on the 3D printed dish

Edited by CoolColJ, November 6 2018 - 9:46 PM.

[CoolColJ]

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

Looks like she may have laid her first egg!
But it does look a bit chewed up, and she is standing right at the test tube entrance, guess she likes it dry....

RIP - she looks like she's about to die. Found her lying on her side in a pool of pasty fluid.

The object that I thought was and egg looks like a white pasty substance. All these fluid and stuff must have come from her

Possible a parasitic death. All this time waiting - ahhh

Put her in a petri dish with a water soaked cotton with added Sunburst.

Much like I did with my suffusus queen recently - hopefully she can rebound like the suffusus queen

[CoolColJ]

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

 

Another worker eclosed, a few hours later!

 

but I have sold them, so last of the updates

[CoolColJ]

Spring 8th November 2018

Camponotus suffusus bendigensis 17-18mm queen1
20mm Test tube - heat cable - red film
3 eggs - raw honey dish

She relaid a third egg

 

 

Camponotus consobrinus 16-17mm - black thorax colour scheme
petri dish with wet Sunburts soaked cotton

 

Not looking good for her

She is propping herself up with her mandibles clamped to the cotton.

Doesn't move when I stroke her with my finger, but her antenna move a little

 

It would be easy to just get a regular C.consobrinus queen, they are common, and cheap with workers.

Plus they have started flying again already in the early mornings.

But this one has a rare colour scheme...

[CoolColJ]

Rhytidoponera cf aspera queen 8-9mm queen
16mm Test tube - in small outworld

1 egg, 2 brood boost larvae, 1 brood boost cocoon

 

Had to move her to a new test tube as there was a clump of mold near the water dam from cricket bit residue.

It was easy enough to dump her and the brood, plus the egg out into a petri dish, and she can;t climb smooth surfaces.

 

Then used featherweight forcep to move the brood, and once she held the egg in her mandibles, guided her into the new test tube.

 

Wow, she once had 12 eggs and 28 brood boost larvae.... The donated cocoon will help.

I will give all the cocoons from the gamer gate colony to her

Edited by CoolColJ, November 7 2018 - 4:53 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Got my Myrmecia fulvipes queen today!
 
Sweet little bundle of joy she is, this Myrmecia fulvipes queen, I almost want to pat and stroke her... but yeah she would sting me
So timid and docile compared to my other Myrmecia nigrocincta queens. Much less reactive to my movements.
 
She measures 17-18mm.
So not only does she look like a Camponotus suffusus bendigensis, she also measures around the same
 
I like the way she cleans her gaster, almost like a ballerina movement
She likes to crouch down, and stick her gaster into the air, while she rubs her rear legs against it

https://i.imgur.com/CT2OmpB.mp4



 
click to enlarge

 
the ballerina move

Edited by CoolColJ, November 8 2018 - 3:26 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Spring 9th November 2018
 
 
Rhytidoponera cf Metallica, green 7-8mm queen - purple/blue gaster iridescence
16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, cardboard floor substrate - in small wedding invite container outworld
2 workers, 10+ brood, 9 brood boost cocoons
 
Another worker eclosed today, the other queen that I sold also had their third worker eclose
 
This one has quite a lot of eggs as well at the bottom of the water damn/test tube.
You can see the small spider I found in my room yesterday and a cricket head...
 
I may also sell this one as well, by Monday
 
click to enlarge

 
 
Polyrhachis rufifemur 9mm queen
16mm test tube - heat cable
1 nanitic, 1 medium larve, 6 small larvae/ hatched eggs, 1 large Camponotus larvae
 
Damn the two large larvae had a growth surge this week, thanks to warm days and the heat cable.
Now are both large, but I wonder which will cocoon first, the Camponotus larvae or the large rufifemur one... ?
 
I've been giving them small pieces of cricket meat on the 3D printed dish I have raw honey on.
It sticks on the edge of the dish when wet, so they can't drag it off and get moldy etc.
And boy the queen eats a lot, I see her nibble it at all times of the day.
To feed the larvae I guess, as she is not laying any new eggs recently.
 

Pheidole Colony G - Phediole sp. red head/black body 8-9mm queens x 2
16mm test tube - cotton double chamber setup - heat cable
9 workers - small pile of brood
 
9 workers now after 2 eclosed a day ago.
A stack of pupa, so more workers to come in time for a test tube change, as the water is getting quite low.

Edited by CoolColJ, November 8 2018 - 6:06 PM.