1787 replies to this topic

[Rstheant]

Ok, CCJ, I have to give you this. You are officially declared, one of the fastest journal updaters. Like, almost nobody has to ask you for updates. Keep up the good work

[CoolColJ]

Ok, CCJ, I have to give you this. You are officially declared, one of the fastest journal updaters. Like, almost nobody has to ask you for updates. Keep up the good work

 

I update as I see it,  as the dates are important to me

[CoolColJ]

Came back anting just after sunset.

 

Only found a 16-17mm Camponotus consobrinus queen, and that was after a back tracked a few metres, if I had not done that, I would have missed her

Not interested in keeping her, but what can you do?

 

One of the more feminine and elegant looking Camponotus species. Even the workers

 

click to enlarge

 

 

[CoolColJ]

Summer 28th December 2018
 
 
Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen
refillable gypsum plugged test tube connected to outworld - heatcable
3 minor workers -  1 large, 1 medium, 1 small cocoon, 2 large larvae,  1 medium, 1 small, 12 eggs.
 
I can see a worker half emerged from one of the medium sized cocoons
She's like half out of the cocoon, and nobody helping her...
I'll just preempt the third worker
 

Edited by CoolColJ, December 28 2018 - 12:56 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Summer 29th December 2018
 
 
Pheidole Colony H - Pheidole sp, light red head, dark red body, 6-7mm
16mm test tube, styro foam chamber entrance - heatcable
7 workers, small clump of brood

I think they had up to 10 workers or so last night, then I dropped in a live termite alate and later a small drone that were buzzing around my room...
I thought the colony was old enough and with enough workers to take it them down quickly, but I was wrong!
The queen ran out of inner chamber and hid under the feeding dish and the workers moved all the brood to her.

This morning they are back inside, and I see a dead termite and drone outside, so they did kill them eventually, but with some casualties
2-3 or dead workers, but I also see maybe 2 newely eclosed workers that haven't started moving yet.
So they have either 7 or up to 9 workers now


Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen
refillable gypsum plugged test tube connected to outworld - heatcable
3 minor workers - 1 large, 1 medium, 1 small cocoon, 3 large larvae, 1 small, 12 eggs.

LOL that newly eclosed medium sized worker is still half in her cocoon, moving around like that!
Why won't the other two workers help her out of it?!

[CoolColJ]

Meat ant queen - Iridomyrmex purpureus 14mm queen
16mm test tube - heat cable
6 nanitics, 5 pupa, 7 larvae, 10+ eggs

6th nanitic has eclosed, and the 7th not far off, maybe by tonight.
These girls grow so fast, those two pupa were white 2 days ago.
They are the same size as many Camponotus minor workers, but grow as fast as Pheidole minor workers and other similar small ants!

Edited by CoolColJ, December 28 2018 - 3:13 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Workers don't seem to have the red thorax you'd expect
Gave them a cricket head and the workers are still going nuts tearing it apart

Edited by CoolColJ, December 29 2018 - 2:09 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Pheidole Colony G - 2x Phediole sp. red head/black body 8-9mm queens
16mm test tube - heat cable
70 workers, 1 major - second major pupa, 2 major larvae lots of brood
 
Holy crap this colony has exploded in growth. I thought they had 50 workers, umm more like 70!
22 to 70 in a month :0

click to enlarge


second major pupa has a huge head


first major acting as replete


Brood pile is getting crazy

[CoolColJ]

Summer 30th December 2018
 
Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen
refillable gypsum plugged test tube connected to outworld - heatcable
3 minor workers, one worker half in a cocoon - 1 naked pupa, 1 large, 1 medium, 1 small cocoon, 3 large larvae, 1 small, 12 eggs.

That medial worker is still half stuck in a cocoon
She is already darkening, and yet no others help her out.
They acknowledge and communicate with her, but just carry her cocoon around and dump it together with the rest of the brood...

And a larvae pupated without spinning cocoon. Hopefully it will live and survive to be a worker

[CoolColJ]

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

 

Second major has eclosed

Third major larvae started pupating yesterday,

Fourth and fifth major larvae already in the works.

[CoolColJ]

Colony update - Summer 30th December 2018

Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant) 10mm queen
Atom C nest inside circular outworld - tip ofheat cable pressed against side of nest
35+ workers, 10+ cocoons, 16+ larvae, 20+ eggs

Just under 40 workers now!


Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen
refillable gypsum plugged test tube connected to outworld - heatcable
3 minor workers, one worker half in a cocoon - 1 naked pupa, 1 large, 1 medium, 1 small cocoon, 3 large larvae, 1 small, 12 eggs.

That medial worker is still half stuck in a cocoon
Why won't they help her out?!


Melophorus sp.- black orange 7-8mm queen
Acrylic founding nest - heatcable
1 worker. 4 cocoons, 3 eggs

Still waiting on these next few crucial cocoons to eclose


Polyrhachis rufifemur 9mm queen
16mm test tube - heat cable
1 nanitic, 2 large, 2 small larvae, 5 eggs

Not much change, just 2 large larvae now
One should be cocooning soon


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



Pheidole Colony H - Pheidole sp, light red head, dark red body, 6-7mm
16mm test tube, styro foam chamber entrance - heatcable
8 workers, small clump of brood, small clump of brood

I gave them a baby wood roach that I thought was fully dead, nope it's kinda alive.
So the roach is now just sitting ontop the heat cable inside the chamber...
The workers are still too scared to take it down

edit - I did manage to grab the roach later and kill it for them


Meat ant queen - Iridomyrmex purpureus 14mm queen
16mm test tube - heat cable
7 nanitics, 5 pupa, 7 larvae, 10+ eggs

7th nanitic has eclosed.
Queen is already pumping out more eggs


Rhytidoponera cf aspera queen 8-9mm queen
16mm Test tube - in small outworld - incubator
1 worker, 1 medium larvae, 1 egg

I have them in my other incubator that hosues my feeder roaches and crickets at 29C degrees
That boosted the larvae growth quite a bit.


Camponotus suffusus bendigensis 17mm queen 2
20mm Test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
1 nanitic, 6 cocoons, 6 larvae, 1 egg - raw honey dish

She laid a fresh new egg
They completely finished the wood roach bit and honey from last week


Camponotus suffusus bendigensis 17-18mm queen 1
20mm Test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
2 nanitics, 1 large brood boost larvae, 4 small larvae, 5 eggs - raw honey dish

Dang the other brood boost cocoon has eclosed, so she has 2 boosted nanitics from the queen above
That made her a lot more relaxed, as she has laid more eggs.

I wonder if her own workers will look any different as she has much more red tint on her head and thorax than the other queen

click to enlarge - unfortunately the cotton left streaks on the glass
Workers and queen look pretty bloated so they must have sucked up a lot of honey

[CoolColJ]

Summer 30th December 2018 - Queen update


Myrmecia fulvipes, bull ant, 17-18mm queen
20mm test tube - in small outworld
1 medium large sized larvae
 
Larvae keeps getting bigger despite not seeing her feed it much!
 

Pheidole antipodum 14-15mm queens x 10
in styrofoam and heat cable incubator

All setups have a styro foam double chamber entrance

1) Triple queen - red dirt - cleared all the red dirt and heaped up it into a low wall at the middle of the test tube
huge stack of egggs and larvae
2) Triple queen - cardboard insert and aquarium filter wool water dam
big stack of eggs
3) queen with coco coir - moved all the coco coir against the cotton dam, wicking the water into it
big stack of brood - 1 pupa, 34 larvae,50+ eggs
4) Queen with red dirt - moved the red dirt to block up the double chamber entrance
small clump of 15+ eggs
5) Queen - bare test tube
big clump of eggs and some small larvae
6) Queen - bare test tube, former partner of queen 6
huge stack of eggs and some small larvae
 
setup 1 has some large larvae now, all 3 queens on good terms
Setup 2 still with no larvae....
Queen 3 has a pupa, and 34 larvae!
Queen 4 has a tiny amount of eggs
Queen 5 laid a few weeks after queen 4, and has more eggs and a few small larvae!
Queen 6 with the big stack of eggs rivalling queen 3, and some small larvae already. And she also laid after queen 4.

Queen 5+6 used to be a dual queen, glad I separated them. Doing much better as solo queens.

I wonder why the other setups still do not have larvae, since they all laid in the same week...

queen 3 - there is one pupa there under a larvae




Iridomyrmex species - dark red head/throax, iridescent bronze gaster, 10-11 queen
16mm test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
30 brood - 7 pupa

She has 7 pupa!

click to enlarge



 
 
Camponotus cf nigriceps 19mm queen 1
20mm test tube, in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
10+ eggs
 
she laid more eggs
 

Camponotus cf nigriceps 18mm queen 2
20mm test tube, in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
no eggs

still no eggs

 
Camponotus aeneopilosus aka golden tail sugar ant - 12mm queen
16mm test tube - styrofoam double chamber setup - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
12 small larvae


Camponotus consobrinus 16-17mm queen 1
20mm test tube, in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
5 eggs

Sweet she laid some eggs after I moved her into my incubator

Edited by CoolColJ, December 30 2018 - 3:22 AM.

[Rstheant]

Dang man! Most of my ants grow slowly ..

[CoolColJ]

Dang man! Most of my ants grow slowly ..

You need heat, 27-28c degrees is where they grow the fastest while being a safe temp.
Off course in the tropics at around 30 degrees, they grow super fast

Even then the fastest species are around 4 weeks, and my slower Camponotus are 2 months when heated

Double those times at 24 degrees, and triple at 22.
Brood won't even pupate under 22

Edited by CoolColJ, December 30 2018 - 6:02 PM.

[YsTheAnt]

Pogonomyrmex likes it well over 30c in many cases, so while 27-28c is great for lots of species, some may prefer higher or lower temperatures.

[CoolColJ]

Pogonomyrmex likes it well over 30c in many cases, so while 27-28c is great for lots of species, some may prefer higher or lower temperatures.

yes but 27-28 is a safe temp with leeway, all ants will still grow relatively fast at these temps.
I always factor in a 2 degree margin of error for temp measuring accuracy.

Once my laser heat measuring thing arrives I'll get a better idea of temps in different areas

[CoolColJ]

My first two batches of baby feeder roaches were born yesterday after a couple of days of constant 29C degrees in my new larger incubator

 

 

Summer 31st December 2018

 

 

Camponotus suffusus bendigensis 17mm queen 2
20mm Test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
2 nanitics, 5 cocoons, 6 larvae, 1 egg - raw honey dish

 

Second nanitic eclosed!

fed them their second meal and queen and 1 worker seems eager to eat.

While the other nanitic keeps an eye on the brood.

Light doesn't bother them anymore, so almost time to take them out of the incubator, but I will wait till a few more cocoons eclose first

 

So both suffusus queens now have 2 workers each, but this one has far more cocoons/brood.

And should enter winter with at least 10 workers hopefully

Edited by CoolColJ, December 31 2018 - 12:19 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen
refillable gypsum plugged test tube connected to outworld - heatcable
2 minor workers, one worker half in a cocoon - 1 naked pupa, 1 large, 1 medium, 1 small cocoon, 3 large larvae, 1 small, 12 eggs.

 

This morning I saw they had pulled the medial worker that was half stuck in a cocoon out.

One of the workers was cleaning her gaster when I noticed this, but she looked a bit damaged.

 

And now she is dead

Her gaster looked broken... dammit this colony needs all the workers it can get!

Edited by CoolColJ, December 31 2018 - 2:35 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Summer 1st January 2019

Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen
refillable gypsum plugged test tube connected to outworld - heatcable
2 minor workers, one worker half in a cocoon - 1 large, 1 medium, 1 small cocoon, 3 large larvae, 1 small, 12 eggs.
 
Naked pupa may have been eaten and discarded...

The third medial worker may still be alive, but she's crippled in any case

A large larvae has started pupating, hopefully it spins a cocoon

 

 

Melophorus sp.- black orange 7-8mm queen
Acrylic founding nest - heatcable
1 worker.5 cocoons, 2 eggs?

 

A 5th cocoon has been spun.

Still no sign of the other 4 eclosing yet, and it's been a while.

 

 

[CoolColJ]

Did some blacklighting tonight just after sunset and got orange Colobopsis are flying in.
Colobopsis macrocephala I think.
I grabbed 3 alates, grabbed a bunch of drones that gathered, which are hopefully theirs and dumped them into the same tube.
 
Although my blacklight tube died, and I ended up using my torch
The drones started landing around 9:15pm, so just after sunset, and then the alates arrived at 9:30pm.
A few termites also buzzed in.
As per usual R.metallica workers came and feasted
 
Pixel 2XL phone pics of ghetto soda bottle blacklight trap - HDR+, Night Sight (turns night/dark into Day/lit) and then lit by torch
 
click to enlarge

 

 
 
Threw them into the same test tube as they are flying and should mate, but the 1 alate and all the drones look sluggish and half dead
Not feeling lucky, probably none are mated...
 

Edited by CoolColJ, January 1 2019 - 6:55 AM.