1787 replies to this topic

[CoolColJ]

Try forcefully dumping sand into her tube. They need it to cocoon.

 

There was red dirt in the tube, she brought it in. But she wasn't helping the larvae spin either.

[CoolColJ]

Summer 15th December 2018

 

Iridomyrmex species - 2x 7-8mm queens

16mm test tube - heat cable

 

So smaller Iridomyrmex and Nylanderia species were flying at 10-12pm here.

I just captured 4 Iridomyrmex queens for sh*ts and giggles

 

2 wouldn't play ball, so I only set up a dual queen setup.

Fed one to my R.aspera queen. And the other to my Myrmecia fulvipes queen

Edited by CoolColJ, December 14 2018 - 6:34 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Pheidole Colony G - 2x Phediole sp. red head/black body 8-9mm queens
16mm test tube - heat cable
40 workers - first major pupa, second major larvae pupating, lots of brood

 

First major pupa looks pretty brown, so should eclose soon.

Second major larvae has fully turned into a pupa, and it's a big one

 

Having two queens seems to get rid of the lull with a single queen, where the brood arrive in waves.

Now it's just a continuous stream of workers eclosing, and even majors one after the other it seems

Edited by CoolColJ, December 14 2018 - 6:36 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Melophorus sp.- black orange 7-8mm queen
Acrylic founding nest - heatcable
2 workers. 1 cocoon, 2 medium, 3 small larvae

 

I saw they had a new cocoon yesterday!

So these girls are rolling pretty smoothly now, much faster than my other Melophorus species.

But so far all workers look about the same, so not sure if they will be as polymorphic.

 

 

Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen
refillable gypsum plugged test tube connected to outworld - heatcable
1 minor worker, 1 large, 1 medium, 1 small cocoon, 2 large, 1 medium,  3 small larvae, 4 eggs

 

I can't believe the size difference between the 3 cocoons.

The large cocoon is likely a major and much larger than the single worker.

The small one is way smaller... and the medium looks to be the same size.

A few more large larvae have appeared so things are starting to move a bit.

 

 

[CoolColJ]

Colony update - Summer 16th December 2018

Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant) 10mm queen
Atom C nest inside circular outworld - tip ofheat cable pressed against side of nest
32 workers, 8? cocoons, 10+? larvae, 20+ eggs

1 worker eclosed this week, I see a light coloured one


Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen
refillable gypsum plugged test tube connected to outworld - heatcable
1 minor worker, 1 small cocoon, 1 very large, 1 large, 2 small larvae?, 4 eggs

Size difference between the smallest cocoon, looks smaller than the worker, and the largest of the 3.
A Major most likley

click to enlarge




Melophorus sp.- black orange 7-8mm queen
Acrylic founding nest - heatcable
2 workers. 2 cocoons, 2 large, 1? medium, 3? small larvae

Zing, two more cocoons, and 2 large larvae, plus some more I can't see.
Worker looks bloated as hell, no wonder they never touch the food I feed them...




Polyrhachis rufifemur 9mm queen
16mm test tube - heat cable
1 nanitic, 2 large, 2 medium, 2 small larvae, 2 hatched egg, 3 eggs

1 large larvae looking ready to cocoon soon.
Man I need that next worker soon, after that last coocoon was opened too early and the previous nanitic was bron crippled!
The current nanitic could be dead within a few months...


Pheidole Colony G - 2x Phediole sp. red head/black body 8-9mm queens
16mm test tube - heat cable
40+ workers - first and second major pupa, lots of brood

Second major pupa is up, just sitting on top the first one which should eclose any day now
I still think the queens look like different species...




Pheidole Colony H - Pheidole sp, light red head, dark red body, 6-7mm
I have her in my double test tube modded setup, with a styro foam chamber entrance - heatcable
6 nanitics, small clump of brood

Some pupa showing now

[CoolColJ]

Summer 16th December 2018 - Queen update


Meat ant queen - Iridomyrmex purpureus 14mm queen
16mm test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
7 pupa, 3 medium larvae, 30+ brood

7 pupa after a month in the incubator.
I reckon nanitics this week!
Still tons of brood

click to enlarge


Queen is so chunky and muscular



Rhytidoponera cf aspera queen 8-9mm queen
16mm Test tube - in small outworld - heatcable
10+ eggs/small larvae, 2 brood boost cocoons
 
I've been seeing her carry the 2 cocoons outside into the corner of the container.
And then back after a few hours. I think she is warming them up.
She must consider her outworld safe


Camponotus suffusus bendigensis 17-18mm queen1
20mm Test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
1 hatched egg, 2 eggs  - raw honey dish
 

Camponotus suffusus bendigensis 17mm queen 2
20mm Test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
16 brood - 6 cocoons - raw honey dish

6 cocoons after 6 weeks in my incubator, soon to be 7.
I will definitely donate 2-3 to the queen above, who still only has 3 eggs.. need to get her going before winter lands...




Aphaenogaster longiceps 12-13mm queen2
16mm test tube - heat cable
20+ eggs, 2 brood boost pupa and 2 larvae

One really dark pupa and one half dark.
Dark one under the queen that should eclose tonight, queen is cleaning her now
I see some mold on the left side test tube surface, but the aquarium filter wool I use won't go moldy




Myrmecia fulvipes, bull ant, 17-18mm queen
20mm test tube - in small outworld
1 egg
 
No change

Pheidole antipodum 14-15mm queens x 11
in styrofoam and heat cable incubator

All setups have a styro foam double chamber entrance

1) Quad queen - red dirt - cleared all the red dirt and heaped up it into a low wall at the middle of the test tube
huge single stack of eggs
2) Triple queen - cardboard insert and aquarium filter wool water dam
stack of eggs
3) queen with coco coir - moved half the coco coir against the cotton dam. The other half remains where she pushed it, up against the styrofoam double chamber entrance
big stack of eggs
4) Queen with red dirt - moved the red dirt to block up the double chamber entrance
small clump of 15+ eggs
6) Queen - bare test tube
small clump of eggs
7) Queen - bare test tube, former partner of queen 6
3 eggs?

Whoo, queen 6 finally moved into the inner chamber and has laid a small clump of eggs
Didn't check the other queens, but all setups have eggs now.
Still wanting to split a single queen off the quad queen setup.


Iridomyrmex species - dark red head/throax, iridescent bronze gaster, 10-11 queen
16mm test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
30 eggs

Whoa she has over 30 eggs now after a week in the incubator!

 

 

Camponotus nigriceps 18-19mm queen
20mm test tube, in styrofoam and heat cable incubator

 

No eggs yet...

 

Camponotus aeneopilosus aka golden tail sugar ant - 12mm queen
16mm test tube - styrofoam double chamber setup - heatcable
12 eggs/small lsarve

 

Eggs looks to have hatched into small larvae.

She keeps carrying her brood to the front chamber and hangs out there for a few hours and then moves back...

 

Iridomyrmex species, 2x 7-8mm black queens

16mm test tube - heat cable

 

After just 1 day and exposed to light they have 8 eggs already

Edited by CoolColJ, December 15 2018 - 11:54 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Summer 17th December 2018 - Queen update

Pheidole Colony G - 2x Phediole sp. red head/black body 8-9mm queens
16mm test tube - heat cable
1 major, 40+ workers - second major pupa, lots of brood

First major eclosed last night - it's the largest one I have seen of all my colonies for a first one.
Biggest head, and over 50% of the queen's length.
They usually get larger after the first one.

She's getting filled up already and being used as a replete, at least while she is young

 

click to enlarge

 

 

[CoolColJ]

Aphaenogaster longiceps 12-13mm queen2
16mm test tube, aquarium filter wool - heat cable
1 worker, 20+ eggs, 1 brood boost pupa and 2 larvae

 

Hooray a worker has eclosed from one of the brood boost larvae!

I hesitate to call it a nanitic, but it's probably also not full size

 

Way smaller than the queen. 5-6mm

 

Will either sell or release them, not interested in keeping these

[CoolColJ]

Nice and productive night tonight.... but it looks like I missed the nigricep flights, as when I turned up there was no activity at the nests... at around 8:30pm

 

I walked down the road towards a known Camponotus nigricep nests and spotted one alate with one wing 5m up road!

She removed the other wing in my capture tube. This is a big one, 2cm it looks like.

Then later down the trail 5m up from another nest location, I spotted a polyrhachis and was trying to capture her to study, and then suddenly a wingless nigricep alate came running up the tree towards me - had I not stopped to look at this poly I would have missed her!

This one looks shorter and thinner than the first one...

 

As I was about to get into my car, I decided to turn on my torch at max brightness and sit it on the parking curb, which borders bushland.

Within minutes all kinds of drones, alates and termites can swarming around the torch!

Next time I'll bring along that portable blacklight from Ebay and hang a white sheet on my car!

This was around 9-9:30pm

 

LOL a R.metallica, C.humilior and C.consobrinus worker came along to grab some drones for a snack

 

Saw a few Anonychomyrma alates
I wasn't sure if any were mated, and I waited around 20 mins to see if they would mate.

 

I captured 3 of what looks like Colobopsis alates - orange with a greenish striped gaster under lights

Don't think mine are mated, and I wasn't sure which drones were theirs.

So I let them go, later, back at home

 

Next time I will blacklight into a funnel and container, so drones and alates alike will be captured together in a neat package!

 

There was a lone C.nigricep drone I think or consobrinus, so he missed the action

[CoolColJ]

The two captured Camponotus nigricep queens -

first one is 19mm, the second one is 18mm.

First one looks noticeable bigger and chunkier, with a lighter coloured gaster, like the majors I have seen.

 

Both are nice and clam, no running around and pulling on the cotton

Second one with the rough wing tear job

 

click to enlarge

 

Edited by CoolColJ, December 17 2018 - 5:56 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Summer 18th December 2018
 
Myrmecia fulvipes, bull ant, 17-18mm queen
20mm test tube - in small outworld
1 small larvae
 
Checked up on my M.fulvipes queen, to see if she laid more eggs... no but her single egg has hatched and grown a bit already in the 2 weeks since she laid it!
So I need to start feeding her more often.... damn these cricket eggs need to hatch already...
 
click to enlarge

Edited by CoolColJ, December 17 2018 - 9:45 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Camponotus nigriceps 18-19mm queen
20mm test tube, in styrofoam and heat cable incubator

RIP, found her dead.... sigh 2 out of the 4 found so far have died, not great survival rates so far
 
 
Camponotus cf nigriceps 19mm queen 1 and 18mm queen 2
20mm test tube, in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
no eggs
 
Moved both into my 27-28 degree incubator, thanks to space freed up from deaths...
 
 
Camponotus suffusus bendigensis 17-18mm queen1
20mm Test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
1 hatched egg, 3 eggs  - raw honey dish
 
Sweet back to 4 brood.
 
 
Camponotus suffusus bendigensis 17mm queen 2
20mm Test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
16 brood - 7 cocoons - raw honey dish
 
Another cocoon has been spun.
The first nanitic should be out about now? 3 weeks since it cocooned, and into week 7 total
 
 
Pheidole antipodum 14-15mm queens x 11
in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
All setups have a styro foam double chamber entrance
1) Quad queen - red dirt - cleared all the red dirt and heaped up it into a low wall at the middle of the test tube
huge single stack of eggs
2) Triple queen - cardboard insert and aquarium filter wool water dam
stack of eggs
3) queen with coco coir - moved half the coco coir against the cotton dam. The other half remains where she pushed it, up against the styrofoam double chamber entrance
big stack of eggs
4) Queen with red dirt - moved the red dirt to block up the double chamber entrance
small clump of 15+ eggs
6) Queen - bare test tube
small clump of eggs
7) Queen - bare test tube, former partner of queen 6
3 eggs+
 
Noticed the coir queen 3 has heaped most of the coir against the water cotton now, as opposed to half of it before.
Strange but interesting. I wonder what her motive is.
 
So far every setup has used the substrate differently
 
Quad queen setup has a carpet of eggs!

Edited by CoolColJ, December 23 2018 - 5:23 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Summer 19th December 2018

two queens made the jump to colony status this week

Will likely sell both, but may not get any buyers for the A.longiceps

Aphaenogaster longiceps 12-13mm queen2
16mm test tube - heat cable
1 worker, 20+ eggs, 1 brood boost pupa and 1 larvae

 

One of the brood boost larvae died and went moldy, which you can see at the bottom of the pics

First worker looks really small compared to the queen

Second worker should eclose tomorrow

 

See how much neater the eggs are clumped together, than with the other queen that I released.... this queen is for sure not infertile.

 

click to enlarge

 

 

Rhytidoponera cf aspera queen 8-9mm queen
16mm Test tube - in small outworld - heatcable
2 workers, 4 small larvae?

 

The brood boost cocoons finally eclosed!

And I see 4 larvae of her own, but she had over 10 eggs at one stage, so likley fed them to her larvae.

As I hardly ever see her drag the food I give her in.

Well I fed them one of the queens from the dual queen Iriodmyrmex setup

Queen stung her a lot and then dragged her back

 

Already have a buyer lined up so if I decide to sell, it's good as gone

 

 

 

Pheidole Colony G - 2x Phediole sp. red head/black body 8-9mm queens
16mm test tube - heat cable
1 major, 45+ workers - second major pupa, lots of brood

Colony is growing fast, second major pupa is starting to yellow a little.
And 3 more major larvae already well underway

video of the colony
https://www.instagra.../p/BrkQuJwFGP2/

[CoolColJ]

Let me know if this google photo video of the Pheidole colony works

https://photos.googl...khranNxMGFMNTJR

[FSTP]

the Glass on your test tubes are alwasy so clean. 

[CoolColJ]

the Glass on your test tubes are alwasy so clean.

Not really, I just moved the Pheidole into this test tube not so long ago, but the cotton is already starting to mold

[FSTP]

Maybe I'm just used to my Pogonomyrmex spp. that like to paint the ceiling with excrement.   

[Major]

Ok just popping in to thank you CoolColJ! You helped me quite a bit with my camera recommendation thread and basics on how to use my camera! I’ve gotten sooo much better in the past few months, here’s a link to a journal of mine with tons of amazing pics (best on page 3) http://mantidforum.n...-coles-mantids/

[Nare]

http://mantidforum.n...-coles-mantids/

Looks like you need to be a member to check it out... got an imgur album with those photos by any chance? I might try my hand at keeping mantids at some point in the future... but I'm curious to see what the north eastern species look like.

[CoolColJ]

yeah link doesn't work for me, says I need to be a member

--

did some anting today, didn't find any queens, but maybe tonight after this thunderstorm...

anyway


Came across a fairly large Polyrhachis ammon nest, who were heating their brood under a rock on top their nest.
If I ever need cocoons for brood boosting, I know where to go

https://www.instagra.../p/BrmN7d2lIOu/


Been seeing all these purple berries sprout up lately. Dropped some at the one of local Myrmecia nigrocincta nest

https://www.instagra.../p/BrmLbk4lhkM/

Edited by CoolColJ, December 19 2018 - 9:52 PM.