1787 replies to this topic

[CoolColJ]

The Iridomyrmex sp. reburrus? ants covered all the raw honey on wax paper, and sugar water in the feeding dish with dirt.... strange..

 

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Melophorus - 16th April 2018

 

Yes! The only cocoon finally eclosed after 3 weeks while I was sleeping

 

But it must have been fairly recent as the queen is constantly following her and cleaning her. Cute.

Totally white, I'll try and get a pic later.

She is about the same size as the current largest worker. There is one smaller one, and one even smaller nanitic

 

So far, it takes 2.5 weeks from egg to larvae and 3 weeks in cocoon phase for them to eclose, while being fairly warm.

Let's see how long from larvae to cocoon for the next two. 2 months total at a guess. Pretty slow growth, like my Strobe ants and some Camponotus.

And the queen only lays in batches of two once in a while...

 

I know they can have majors at around 8-10 total workers, so that's a plus

Edited by CoolColJ, April 15 2018 - 6:07 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Interesting, Melophorus got a third larvae overnight, so the two eggs were hidden somewhere.

And boom a larvae appears from nowhere, they must grow ridiculously fast to go from egg form to a 3-4 times larger larvae overnight.

So I'm expecting a fourth larvae soon. And one larvae is already a lot larger, looking like it might spin a cocoon soon.

 

Pic of the eclosed worker, appears to be a medium sized one.

You can see her cocoon skin to the top right. The larger skin belong to a larvae I fed them - found two of these in my front yard surrounded by a lot of medium sized black Iridomyrmex pavement ants.

Interesting 3 dots on her head

Yes test tube is filthy, but I think it's due to baby powder on the outside

 

click to enlarge

Edited by CoolColJ, April 16 2018 - 2:06 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Some more pics - The queen seems a lot happier since this new worker has eclosed. What a cutie! They interact a lot and stay together

 

click to enlarge

 

 

family portrait

[CoolColJ]

Iridomyrmex sp. reburrus? 16th April 2018

 

First pupa developed overnight.

Lets us see how long before it ecloses

And a clump of eggs

 

Edited by CoolColJ, April 15 2018 - 9:44 PM.

[Leo]

Are strobe ants very timid?

[CoolColJ]

Are strobe ants very timid?

 

They have good eyesight and are skittish so will dash away from any nearby movement.

Fast and not aggressive ants.

So far my ants, being a young colony are fairly timid

 

Look at how they can see a hand coming, most ants apart from bull ants as well, would get squashed.

https://www.flickr.c...mis/15217625177

 

How they move in the wild

 

This vid looks like it's at low frame rate, but that's how glitchy they move

https://www.flickr.c...57648158829126/

 

 

Edited by CoolColJ, April 15 2018 - 10:20 PM.

[Leo]

The ants with the best vision here are H.venator. I have a few, very aggressive.

[CoolColJ]

I caught a baby roach 2 weeks ago, and left in one of my ant capture vials.

I thought I was gonna evenually feed it to my ants, but forgot about it... through the heat, zero water and food and it's still alive...

 

I just squirted a tiny bit of water in the vial and it drank the water.

Dropped a piece of chicken meat from one of my ant outworlds and it's eating it now

 

LOL

Edited by CoolColJ, April 17 2018 - 2:57 AM.

[CoolColJ]

So my red headed Iridomyrmex have completely blocked off the entrance to their small nest, with enough dirt to form 2 small entrance tunnels.

 

When I opened my Strobe ant's Atom C nest, one of the workers eventually started to try pluck sand from the Atom C nest walls and try and stack them on the entrance opening, So I partially blocked it up with cotton wool, and this stopped.

My Melophorus were also piling dirt along their test tube entrance, but being dry soil it didn't stack too well. So tonight I thought I would just stick a balled up cotton wool about half the size of the test tube entrance.
After a bit, the workers started dragging all the red reptile dirt inside the nest and pile it up against the cotton to seal up the gaps better.
Later I added a chopped up transparent straw as a entrance tunnel.

 

I guess the ants just want to feel comfy and protected.

Maybe this is the condition the Melophorus need to start laying more eggs!

 

 

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A few days ago my Iridomyrmex sp. reburrus? covered all the honey, sugar water with dirt.

last night i gave them more raw honey and placed another piece of chicken on the foil.

This morning both are totally covered and hidden in dirt as well...

 

Maybe it's their way of storing food and hiding it from other ants

[CoolColJ]

The crippled black Pheidole queen - 18th March 2018

 

 

Ahhh no, she tried to move to to front of the test tube and drowned in the honey, I put too much! 

I could have saved her, I saw her in the honey, but thought she was just drinking it... so I left her alone for a few hours...before checking again..

This sucks, first time seeing this species!

 

 

edit - her antenna is still moving after squiring some water on her!

there is hope, I'll put her back in the test tube and pray

Edited by CoolColJ, April 18 2018 - 12:13 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Unfortunately the crippled all black Pheidole queens dead She she tried to move to to front of the test tube and drowned in the honey, I put too much!
When I finally realized I squirted water on her, and she came too, after a bit I put her back in the test tube.
I could see her struggling, moving her antenna and the one good front leg, but she couldn't move her body.
I think the honey was starting to harden, in hindsight I should have kept squirting water on her to keep the honey moist and maybe dilute it enough for her to move.
The next day she was gone... this really sucks, as this was a species I have never seen...no queen should have gone through what she did!
 

 
She did leave over 10 eggs behind.
Since the red/black Pheidole queen did not have any eggs AFAIK, and her cotton was looking messy and starting to mold, I tipped her straight into this test tube.
She checked out the eggs, and if she doesn't eat them, she will have some black nanitics
And hopefully start laying eggs of her own

Edited by CoolColJ, April 20 2018 - 11:01 AM.

[CoolColJ]

19th April 2018 - lots of Queens incoming!

1) Sometimes you get lucky and score two all black fully healthy Pheidoles!

Pic shows one, but there are two in this test tube.


2) I also got 5 of these red headed/black body Pheidoles. I think these might actually be slightly bigger than my current par....
8-9mm, not just length, but overall bulk looks thicker.
One test tube of 3, and 2 in another.

3) Small colony of Iridomyrmex biknelli with about 10 workers and fair amount of brood. I thought my current black Iridomyrmex was a biknelli, but she is larger than this one...

6mm queen with 2-3mm nanitics
May not keep these, but they seem easy enough to keep and are quite active and cheerful ants. They eat just about anything... gave them some honey, followed by a small piece of steak I had for dinner and the workers took to it immediately



4) Camponotus humilior queen with 4 workers
So yeah I sold my previous one, but these look a little different and workers seem more active.



5) Camponotus consobrinus queen, she is rather large at around 16-17mm, and thick. Just dwarfs all my other ants

Just so chunky!

Have her in my only 20mm test tube, but I do have an even larger one for swaps if needed.

This pic makes her look shorter length wise than she appears in person.

 

 

 

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With so many queens, I let go the smaller red Pheidole. Dug a little chamber for her under a brick in my backyard and put her in there.

Pretty much where I found her.

Who knows maybe I grab her back again if she has a brood the next time I check on her

Edited by CoolColJ, April 19 2018 - 1:58 AM.

[CoolColJ]

I put some raw Macadamias in my Strobe Ant's outworld a few days ago just to see, not really expecting them to eat it.

Just then I noticed a nanitic munch on a small piece in the outworld.

 

And when I look inside their Atom C nest, I see a few small chunks on the water tower next to the queen

There small chunks of it scattered in a trail from where I put it on the foil.

 

Didn't expect just 3 nanitics to be able to break it down, well now I know!

 

Interesting.....

Edited by CoolColJ, April 19 2018 - 2:20 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Iridomyrmex reburrus? - 20th April 2018

 

One nanitic died ontop of the water wicking tile in the nest, bad spot.

And the queen started munching on her dead body.

Hopefully the remains get moved elsewhere.

 

Meanwhile the 2 remaining nanitics are running all over the outworld trying to climb up the walls, one should be helping out the queen...

There is one pupa which should be a full sized second gen worker.

And a lot of brood, so things should be ok

 

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Checked up on that red Pheidole queen I released yesterday, and placed under a brick in a small chamber I made.

She had dug a small tunnel, an inch down from my chamber, I could just see the tip of her gaster down there.

I'll get back to her in a few weeks time

 

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I fed a wild Pheidole colony of the same species as some of my queens, and they love that greasy Pizza Hutt potatoe gem!

I didn't expect that, one more thing to add to their already large menu

 

 

Edited by CoolColJ, April 20 2018 - 2:09 AM.

[CoolColJ]

20th April 2018

 

Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant) -

 

Another cocoon-less nanitic eclosed, still a little pale looking.

So 4 nanitics now.

 

Apart from their slow 2 month growth, things seem fairly straight forward.

Have a few eggs and brood in all stages of development.

2 more nanitics from the initial batch left to eclose.

 

 

Iridomyrmex biknelli

 

Looks like 2 of the workers died, I can only count 8 now. And I see a few body parts on the cotton wool...

They have plenty of brood and they grow fast, easy to feed and like eating, so I'm not concerned.

I've been feeding them bits of dinner everynight and they respond, unlike most of other ants.

Edited by CoolColJ, April 20 2018 - 2:36 AM.

[Canadian anter]

Cotton is too wet in your Pheidole tube.

[CoolColJ]

Cotton is too wet in your Pheidole tube.

 

I wanted to move them but they already have some brood, so best to wait till nanitics eclose

[CoolColJ]

21st April - mega update
 

 

Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant)

 

4 nanitics, I think one cocoon, a few large larvae and a few eggs

Slow, but steady progress.

Hard to tell how often the queen is laying eggs, due to the sand of the Atom C nest, that's why I hate white sand inside formicariums

 

not the best pic... having issues getting a good photo of these gals

 

click for bigger

 

 

Melophorus sp. (furnace ant)

 

The new comer seems to have the food storage chores judging by her bloated gaster and her constant feeding of the queen

Meanwhile a worker and two larvae gorge of the mosquito I slapped yesterday... still no new eggs though

And no sign of the two eggs that should be larvae now, I guess the queen ate them...

 

 

 

Iridomyrmex reburrus?

 

Down to two nanitics after the death of the third, which the queen ate leaving no bodyparts!

But a lot of brood, and two pupae, plus a few eggs

They keep covering up all the honey and sugar water give them with dirt

 

 

 

Camponotus humilior

 

No eggs, with 4 nanitics

 

 

 

Iridomyrmex bicknelli

 

Cheerful ants. Lost 2 workers, but one pupa is close to eclosing, and a few more pupae

Lots of brood and eggs.

I keep these girls uncovered most of the time, they don't care either way.

 

You can see the bodyparts of the dead workers on the left

 

Edited by CoolColJ, April 21 2018 - 2:17 PM.

[CoolColJ]

21st April - Queen update

 

Pheidole sp. red with darker/black gaster - 7mm

 

I think she ate some of the dead black Pheidole queen's eggs after I dumped her into this test tube, since her one was getting moldy

But she still has some eggs and maybe some of her own?

There is one egg on the left and something in the cotton there as well

 

click for bigger

 

Iridomyrmex sp. 7-8mm

 

What a beasty, egg laying machine!

After 3 weeks, over 30 eggs and some are have become small larvae

 

 

2x Phediole sp. red head/black body 8mm

 

The queens like each other and lots of eggs, over 40

 

 

 

3x Phediole sp. red head/black body 8-9mm

 

Three friendly queens that like and feed each other.

Noticeable larger than the above queens, since I have have them next to each other.

Not just in length, but girth and gaster size. I think they are the same species, but who knows

They have some eggs

 

 

 

2x Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm

 

Slightly larger than the above, and even bigger gaster. Largest Pheidole yet

Queens love each other and attend the brood together.

Lots of brood and cute pupae ready to eclose

 

 

 

Camponotus consobrinus 16-17mm

 

No eggs yet. Have a foil of honey in her tube.

See how big she is vs the 9mm humlior queen!

 

 

 

2x Pheidole sp, all black  7mm

 

They are both hanging out on opposite sides of the test tube.
Unlike the many other multiple Pheidole queen setups I have which all hang out close to each other, and feed one another etc.
I saw a leg on the test tube ceiling, and upon examining the photos I took today, the one of the entrance side is missing a leg...
AFAIK They are the same species. The one on the water side is definitely all black.

 

They have some brood and one pupa is getting close to eclosing, the brown one.

 

Should I separate these two Pheidole queens?

 

 

[CoolColJ]

Well I have separated the legless Pheidole queen in the above post (at the bottom), along with a few brood on her side with a wet cotton bud into a new test tube.

At first she was sticking to the entrance side cotton, and moving the brood around placing them at even intervals from the entrance cotton to the middle of the test tube.

But this morning she is near the water side cotton, along with all the brood, which appear to be at pupa stage.

And she is curled over cleaning her gaster, so she is most likely going to be laying more eggs.

She has 7 pupae, enough to get her started

Edited by CoolColJ, April 21 2018 - 1:39 PM.