460 replies to this topic

[Lazarus]

First Queen find for the year.

Yet another C. Novae.
Better than nothing I guess.

Hope others have had better luck.

[ANTdrew]

Dang, man!

[Nare]

Found dozens upon dozens of Stenamma cf. brevicornis queens.

Found three or four Lasius spp. parasite queens, probably umbratus-group.

Found a Camponotus sp. male So very close. Knowing my luck they've either already flown and I've already missed them, or else they won't fly until June. Fingers crossed they fly tomorrow, but again knowing my luck...

[CANant]

Late last night this little beauty caught my eye in the garden. She’s another Camponotus Pennsylvanicus. Hope she’s fertile. I don’t really want two of the same so I may sell or trade her later once she has some nanitics.

She had already removed one wing when I found her and she removed the other while I was setting up her test tube.


All settled in her founding chamber.

[Nare]

Found a beautiful Camponotus pennsylvanicus queen at 10:45 PM today in midtown Toronto. Was eaten alive by mosquitos and kept finding big black stag beetles that look like pennsylvanicus. queens at a distance, so it was nice to finally end the night on a high note.

[Lazarus]

Another day. Another C. Novae.

I was heading out for a queen scouting walk and she was right on the wall of my house. Easiest catch ever.

Edited by Lazarus, May 27 2020 - 1:42 PM.

[CANant]

Last night we were too busy to clean up from dinner so this morning I started to clean and get this I found another Pennsylvanicus queen in my frying pan!! Poor girl was covered in oil. I am glad she got stuck in there because I don’t want a nest of camponotus loose in my house! Eek!
She is cleaned off as best as I can and settling into her new home..a luxurious oil free test tube. She must have been thirsty because she took a long drink of water. Hopefully she makes it.

[ANTdrew]

Wow, from the frying pan... into the test tube.

Edited by ANTdrew, June 4 2020 - 10:52 AM.

[Lazarus]

With my aquarium vivarium setup on hiatus until I can find a way to make the glass lid I thought it was high time I got around to converting a smaller tall acrylic box I had sitting around into a nest.

 

As the base was square I found a smaller square container to insert so as to keep the ants closer to the perimeter. I found a perfectly sized plastic container and filled that in with rocks so as to make the whole nest nice and heavy and less susceptible to tip overs. Next I cut out most of the lid top and glued in a 100 micron mesh for aeration. I was sure to keep a few millimetres inside clear of glue or mesh so that the container's top edge can fit in when lid is on.

 

I then glued in two neodymium magnets inside just below where the dirt line would be so that I could then attach easily removable light blockers which I made from two folded pieces of cardboard, attaching opposite poles of similar magnet on one of the cardboard pieces. As the cardboard without the magnets is placed under the one with the magnets, the magnets hold both cardboard pieces in place. (I made sure to test the magnet strength beforehand).

 

The last thing I did was bore a hole for vinyl tubing.

 

Here is a 'disassembled' view:

 

And here is an assembled view:

 

I attached it to a small nest of one of my Camponotus Novaeborancensis colonies and after a few hours of venturing out into this new space they started digging. I had pre-bored what I thought would be a nice hole for them, but they filled that one up and dug into two opposing corners. Hopefully they move in once large enough to accomodate their brood.

[CANant]

That’s awesome Lazarus!!

[Nare]

Caught 2 Camponotus novaeboracensis and 1 Camponotus cf. herculeanus up north around 9:00 PM today. No rain recently, it's been around 30C, sunny, and cloudless for several days. As for Toronto, it seems possible there may be one more Camponotus flight sometime tomorrow given today's rain and tomorrow's supposed sun, but we'll see.

[lmbfisherman]

We caught numerous camponotus which I believe were pennsylvanicus around 10.  I wasn't properly prepared (this was up north at the cottage) unfortunately my cat decided too eat 4 of them and left parts around.  (They were in pop cap bottles with cotton at the top.)  5 died unfortunately on the way down (kept them as safe as I thought it would be in our trailer. So 1 survived, we put her in a test tube with her 4 eggs and is now put away.  This was last week.

 

Tonight 7 Tetramorium queens, they had their nuptial flight around 7pm tonight.  I could've caught more but I ran out of containers, plus my wife just doesn't get it.  I didn't want her to get too upset!  I'll probably keep 1 and will sell off or give away later if they get their first workers.  

[Lazarus]

After a fairly lacklustre summer with mostly my usual C. Novae. common in my area I struck success with THREE separate queens 2 days ago. As my ant identification skills are terrible I posted them all in the Ant ID section. Anybody want to have a go?

 

https://www.formicul...canada-queen-1/

 

https://www.formicul...canada-queen-2/

 

https://www.formicul...canada-queen-3/

[Lazarus]

So is it fair to assume every here have now taken their colonies out of diapause?

Did mine last weekend,

 

Of the dozen and a half colonies all but one came out fine. Just like last year, one colony (C. Novae.) experienced a near total collapse with all but 4 or five workers and the Queen surviving the fridge. Around 40-50 dead. Those left alive are very sluggish and walk drunkenly and even dragging themselves at times. Not sure why this would happen to single colony when exposed to the same fridge environment while all the others are fine. Similar formicariums as some of the other colonies so it's not that. The colony was not placed in a particular extreme spot in the fridge and in fact it was surrounded by others.

 

I have to look into my notes, but it may be the very same colony as last year which I managed to rebuild over the summer.

 

Anyone else experience such behaviour?

[Lazarus]

Of the dozen and a half colonies all but one came out fine. ....

Just a quick follow up on this. While there was certainly a drastic die off in this one colony, it was not close to the near total collapse as I initially thought. Many of those I thought dead did revive over the days after I took them out. It seems many were just in a very deep 'sleep'. In the end about half the colony perished, but they seem to be rebounding already with the Queen laying her first batch.

 

In other news two of the Queens that seemed infertile as the never had eggs after being caught last August have now started laying. Exciting for me as one is a Lasius and I never had long term luck with them. I have another Lasius colony in their fourth year now but it has never really grown. I suspect they are not thriving due to their setup but they have been reluctant to move whenever I gave new opportunities. I'll be trying again soon with that one.

 

A few lessons in patience I guess.

Edited by Lazarus, April 10 2021 - 5:36 AM.

[Manitobant]

Prenolepis imparis are flying!

[Lazarus]

Why I can never find P. Imparis

[mantisgal]

Hello from Toronto, caught 4 P. imparis this week. i blame beginner's luck.

[Lazarus]

The Ontario thread has been relatively quiet but I know you're all out there catching queens and breeding your colonies, so don't be shy on posting what you are up to.

For myself I've caught 3 new C. Novae. queens so far in the season, all doing well.

 

I did however 'inherit' two colonies from someone leaving town in the spring. One is a Tetramorium Sp. that is absolutely thriving. The other is an F. pallidefulva queen who had one worker. Sadly she is not doing as well as the worker has died and she is not laying. Doing the same with her as all my other colonies so there is something she just does not like. Not sure what but I may just give her is new test tube. Wouldn't hurt at this point. Ideas anyone?

Edited by Lazarus, July 21 2021 - 3:59 AM.

[ANTdrew]

My pallidefulva did the same thing last year. They’re just kind of fickle.