1787 replies to this topic

[CoolColJ]

9th June 2019

Polyrhachis rufifemur 9mm queen
16mm test tube - heat cable
1 worker - 6 small larvae

So I glanced over at them today, and WTF the large larvae they had for a few months already is gone
I see some remains, which I can only assume is from the larvae...

At this rate they are never getting that next worker!
At least 4 cocoons opened early and killed, and now this larvae eaten...

Entering into second season and they still haven't cracked two workers, and the 4-5 month long brood times don't help

[YsTheAnt]

Maybe moving them into a formicarium with a natural texture will help. I have found that lots of species have a hard time pupating and succeeding on bare glass or plastic, especially species like Formica. Maybe the same is true for Polyrhachis?

[CoolColJ]

Maybe moving them into a formicarium with a natural texture will help. I have found that lots of species have a hard time pupating and succeeding on bare glass or plastic, especially species like Formica. Maybe the same is true for Polyrhachis?

Maybe, I used to have them attached to an outworld, but the last 6-8 months I had them in a sealed tube on the heat cable.
Maybe I'll move them back to the outworld, but their test tube is running low of water so I'll have to move them to a new one first

Seeing as they don't particular like or use the heat cable much, maybe a better thing

[CoolColJ]

Colony update - Winter 10th June 2019


Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant) 10mm queen
Atom C nest inside circular outworld
100+ workers, 20+ cocoons, tons of brood

I suspect growth has slowed a lot since winter dropped and I removed the heat against the side of their nest.
Still a lot of brood present at all stages.
They are still active and eat a lot. Suck up the honey even though I only ever see 5-8 worker son it at any time.

Last week they left the roach bits outside, this week they dragged it in, there is no rhyme or reason.
They also have been dumping the rubbish dump of moldy sand and stuff, that had piled up ontop the left side of the water mesh in the nest, outside against the cotton.
I cleaned it up a few weeks back and now it's grown again. I only ever see one worker doing it, but she gets the job done


click to enlarge




to the right you can see the queen and what appears to be a major used as a replete, to the left is the roach bit they dragged in yesterday




Melophorus sp.- black orange 7-8mm queen
Acrylic founding nest - heatcable
5 workers

Still no brood going into second season. They are a pain, but they are so fast and lively, so I'm keen to see their majors if they have any.




Polyrhachis rufifemur 9mm queen
16mm test tube - heat cable
1 worker - 7 small larvae

Remains of the large larvae can be seen, but they still have some small larvae, which have remained that size for months now




Camponotus suffusus bendigensis 17-18mm queen 1
20mm Test tube - heat cable
9 workers, 5 large larvae



Myrmecia fulvipes, bull ant, 17-18mm queen
20mm test tube - in small outworld
1 worker - no brood

Chilling out, they don't do much, and the queen hasn't laid in a while




Colobopsis macrocephala 9mm queen
16mm test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
5 workers, 1 large larvae

No more eggs in a while, and water is out, but the cotton remains wet.
Either I release them or I move them if they are willing





Pheidole antipodum 14-15mm queens x 4
All setups 20mm test tube and a styro foam double chamber entrance

Heat cable
Queen 10 - former partner of Dual queen setup 2
50+ workers - some large larvae, medium stack of brood
Queen 11 - former partner of Dual queen setup 2
20+ workers - small pile of brood

Queen 4 with red dirt
9 nanitics from donated brood, small clump of unhatched 4-5 month old 15+ eggs
Queen 5 - bare test tube - balled up tissue acting as a chamber in front of the styrofoam chamber entrance
200? workers - some large larvae, massive teaspoon sized brood pile


Queen 10 is doing well since her separation from queen 11. I can see eggs and one large larvae



Queen 11 has some new workers about to eclose, but the rest of the larvae that I pinched from her original colony look like mini majors, and I see no new eggs.
So if she hasn't laid since, that may be why she was attacked...unproductive or infertile...



Queen 5 is doing well, she has to be over 200 workers now or around there.
Unlike the smaller colonies that cover up the honey, this colony swarms any food I give them for a day, and then cleans out all the honey and most of the roach bit, and few workers keep at it for the rest of the week.

Getting harder to see the queen. Still no larger majors since that 6mm one


That tunnel they made in the water cotton... and the floating workers that got trapped in there....

[CoolColJ]

Queen update - Winter 10th June 2019


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

Larvae still not cocooning after months


red Pheidole queen 6-7mm queen
16mm test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
clump of eggs/larvae/pupa

Some pupa, and maybe one already yellow, so expecting nanitics within a week

[CoolColJ]

Winter 14th June 2019


red Pheidole queen 6-7mm queen
16mm test tube - in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
1 nanitic - small clump of eggs/larvae/pupa

First nanitic has awoken
Probably wait for a few more workers before feeding them, or this weekend

These are the same species that I've had before

Edited by CoolColJ, June 13 2019 - 7:07 AM.

[CoolColJ]

So Pheidole antipodum queen 5's colony pushed their styrofoam chamber entrance, against the bit of balled up tissue I put at the front of the of the test tube yesterday

And piled most of the brood against it, and then today I see the queen hanging onto it, with workers riding her.

I was puzzled, but it looks like some condensation has formed and dripped down to the test tube bottom.

That styrofoam is also pretty chewed up now

 

click

 

 

Edited by CoolColJ, June 13 2019 - 7:07 PM.

[Acutus]

Thanks for all the new pics!! Especially the Strobe Ants! Don't know how I missed them!

[CoolColJ]

Winter 16th June 2019

Colobopsis macrocephala 9mm queen
16mm test tube - heat cable
5 workers, 1 large larvae

Moved them to a new test tube today as their water has completely dried out, but the cotton was still damp.

At first I had them hooked up to a new tube with a 3D printed connection, with heat cable on new tube, red film, and bright light on old one etc.
They didn't budge even after a couple of day, even with me annoying them by turning the light on and off rapidly etc, although the queen did stroll into the new tube to take a look.
In the end I just tipped the queen, larvae and 2 workers into the new end.
The queen stayed, and then the rest of the workers moved across...

Sorted!

Edited by CoolColJ, June 16 2019 - 12:10 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Winter 18th June 2019


Pheidole antipodum 14-15mm queens x 4
All setups 20mm test tube and a styro foam double chamber entrance

Heat cable
Queen 10 - former partner of Dual queen setup 2
50+ workers - some large larvae, medium stack of brood
Queen 11 - former partner of Dual queen setup 2
20+ workers - small pile of brood

Queen 4 with red dirt
9 nanitics from donated brood, small clump of unhatched 4-5 month old 15+ eggs
Queen 5 - bare test tube - balled up tissue acting as a chamber in front of the styrofoam chamber entrance
200? workers - some large larvae, massive teaspoon sized brood pile


Queen 5 back to normal after the condensation flooding above.
Although half the ants stayed at the ball of tissue at the front of the test tube and have half the brood there.
The queen moved back to the water cotton side, along with the rest of the brood near the heat cable.
With in large larvae separated from the rest with a large dark food spot in it, which could birth the largest major yet!
When I open up their test tube to feed hem next it will be chaos for sure with the brood up front....

Queen 11 laid a batch of 20 or soe ggs today, her first since her separation from Queen 10 a few weeks back.
Looks like she is OK and fertile after all.

Tried feeding antipodum some raw brazil nuts pieces. Looks like they like it.
First time trying some raw nuts, as I have only been feeding them crickets/roaches, and lately only roaches as I got rid of my cricket farm.
All Pheidole I've had do like raw nuts.

Always amazed how they know when I open up their test tube to feed them. Even if no ants are nearby, they just get super alarmed after 10 secs, and charge the entrance!
They behave very much like meat ants are are quite aggressive compared to regular Pheidole.

[TennesseeAnts]

Do you have Brachyponera chinensis in Australia? I just caught 3 queens.

[CoolColJ]

Do you have Brachyponera chinensis in Australia? I just caught 3 queens.

No, but we do have Brachyponera lutea

[TennesseeAnts]

You should get some!

[CoolColJ]

You should get some!

they don't seem all that interesting

[VoidElecent]

Your Pheidole antipodum are stunning. Do you have any plans for a formicarium?

[TennesseeAnts]

You should get some!

they don't seem all that interesting

They're actually pretty cool. They are termite specialists, with interesting foraging habits, multiple queens, and colonies get pretty big, at around 10,000 workers. Careful though! They have a sting.

Edited by Ant_Dude2908, June 18 2019 - 5:49 AM.

[ponerinecat]

B. lutea are pretty different from chinesis. Look at the queen to worker size ratio.

[CoolColJ]

Your Pheidole antipodum are stunning. Do you have any plans for a formicarium?

I have Tarheel ants Inception chamber that has been unused since I got it last year, so I will likely put one colony in there.
Although I'm not sure the queen will fit in some parts of the nest....

 

One colony will be just in a simple tub and tube setup eventually, until they get larger.

The colonies can get big fast from what I saw of another person's colony, using up a few test tubes worth of space in less than a year.

[CoolColJ]

Winter 18th June 2019


Pheidole antipodum 14-15mm queens x 4
All setups 20mm test tube and a styro foam double chamber entrance

Heat cable
Queen 10 - former partner of Dual queen setup 2
50+ workers - some large larvae, medium stack of brood
Queen 11 - former partner of Dual queen setup 2
20+ workers - small pile of brood

Queen 4 with red dirt
9 nanitics from donated brood, small clump of unhatched 4-5 month old 15+ eggs
Queen 5 - bare test tube - balled up tissue acting as a chamber in front of the styrofoam chamber entrance
200? workers - some large larvae, massive teaspoon sized brood pile


Queen 5 back to normal after the condensation flooding above.
Although half the ants stayed at the ball of tissue at the front of the test tube and have half the brood there.
The queen moved back to the water cotton side, along with the rest of the brood near the heat cable.
With in large larvae separated from the rest with a large dark food spot in it, which could birth the largest major yet!
When I open up their test tube to feed hem next it will be chaos for sure with the brood up front....

Queen 11 laid a batch of 20 or soe ggs today, her first since her separation from Queen 10 a few weeks back.
Looks like she is OK and fertile after all.

Tried feeding antipodum some raw brazil nuts pieces. Looks like they like it.
First time trying some raw nuts, as I have only been feeding them crickets/roaches, and lately only roaches as I got rid of my cricket farm.
All Pheidole I've had do like raw nuts.

Always amazed how they know when I open up their test tube to feed them. Even if no ants are nearby, they just get super alarmed after 10 secs, and charge the entrance!
They behave very much like meat ants are are quite aggressive compared to regular Pheidole.

 

 

turns out they didn't eat much of it.

Some of the setups broke it up into small pieces and used it as substrate

My largest colony stacked the bits against the exit cotton, as well pieces of styro foam....

 

The colony also flipped and moved the styro foam chamber entrance with large chunks of it chewed off.

Looks like it was in the way of where they wanted to place some of the brood so they moved it

They now have a third of the brood with the queen on the water side of the heat cable, with quite a few workers sitting on her back.

Another third under the flipped styrofoam, and the rest sitting on the balled up tissue paper I placed at the front.

 

They also placed a large amount of substrate against the exit cotton and ontop of the food dish.

Just a ton of tissue paper, styro foam and other stuff in one big blob that blends into the exit cotton!

Guess they don't like the airflow coming from there.

Things will get interesting when I have to open up the test tube to feed them this weekend.

 

And the water is getting quite low and draining fast since they dug into the cotton and formed an air bubble in there.

So almost time to move them as well.

Edited by CoolColJ, June 19 2019 - 4:24 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Winter 22nd June 2019


red Pheidole queen 6-7mm queen
16mm test tube - heat cable
5 nanitics - small clump of eggs/larvae/pupa

Took them out of my incubator to feed, and I now see 4 more nanitics.
Quite an explosion

Keeping them outside on the heat cable for now
I'll probably release them, not really interested in keeping them long term

Edited by CoolColJ, June 21 2019 - 6:28 PM.