42 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

3-17-2018
 
I traded a few queens of various species with YsTheAnt for 13 Prenolepis imparis queens. These queens were found in the afternoon on 1-31-2018 in Cupertino, California.
 
I was told most of them didn't lay eggs for the first month or so, but some of them do have small piles of eggs now, and looking at them under a microscope, I can see they are turning into larvae, so that's good.
 
I put three of them in some #4 Dirt Boxes, five in small starter formicariums, and the rest in test tubes.
 

 

[EthanNgo678]

Any pupa yet? I heard they are slow growing. So i'm wondering.

[Civz]

How are these girls doing for you? I'm founding 7 in test tubes right now, started about a month after yours

[anttics]

these are fully coastal queens. if so how can they still lay eggs and eat no food for 2 months. it's amazing.

[Civz]

They feed off the muscles they no longer need for flight. It’s pretty neat!

[anttics]

it surprises me that a queen can make appear out of thin air 5 or more nanitics ants. with out any food in a month. never heard of one for 2 month in claustral stage.

[sirjordanncurtis]

Update?

[YsTheAnt]

They probably don't have anything more than larvae yet. Mine don't have pupae, and they are at the same state as his. These are so slow growing...

[sirjordanncurtis]

I haven't been able to find any journals of people who report completely successful colonies past the first year

[Apex]

update? My prenolepis have larvae!

[sirjordanncurtis]

Hm... mine seem to have moved their eggs around a lot. I'm kind of mad, because I found that a wild colony already had nanitics

[dspdrew]

Update 5-19-2018
 
One of these queens finally got its first worker.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
I have another queen that is not far behind. As for the rest, a couple have some eggs, but nothing else.

[MegaMyrmex]

Nice! All of my queens still have eggs...

Edited by MegaMyrmex, May 19 2018 - 11:35 AM.

[dspdrew]

Update 6-27-2018
 
A couple weeks ago, all these queens decided to lay a bunch more eggs, almost all the same day too.
 

 

 
 
I now have two colonies with workers, and a few more with lots of brood.

[Superant33]

Nice pics

[YsTheAnt]

These make huge 'repletes' if you give them hummingbird nectar, one of my colonies has one that has a gaster twice the size of it's body.

[EthanNgo678]

updater?

[sirjordanncurtis]

How did the ones in dirt formicaria do?

[dspdrew]

Update 8-24-2018
 
I'm down to three colonies and one queen that has not produced anything. The three colonies are doing pretty good, with the largest having about 20 workers.
 
This colony finally dug a tiny tunnel up to the surface where they found a liquid feeder. As you can see, they've all gorged themselves with sugar water.
 

 

 

 

 

 

[YsTheAnt]

I have successfully combined colonies of these, might want to give it a shot. No garuntees it'll work though.