625 replies to this topic

[CatsnAnts]

Sorry for the spammy updates, but the first L. interjectus queen is for sure dead. The remaining two interjectus queens are now getting along GREAT with their hosts. The Lasius umbratus on the other hand may be injured, but she’s still got a chance.

[CatsnAnts]

Deleted (duplicate)

Edited by CatsnAnts, June 11 2019 - 6:36 PM.

[CatsnAnts]

Alright, I poured the grout for the picture frame formicarium (credits to Crystal). So now I just sit back, and relax for 24 hours. I think it is going to turn out quite nicely, but I’m really just hoping for it to turn out at all. I’ve not had much luck with this art in the past.

And ALSO, that dead interjectus queen is now alive again and she is nesting in a pile of workers. The other two interjectus queens are still getting along great with their hosts, one worker though was being a bit aggressive, but has calmed down now. As for the umbratus queen, she too has seemed to recover and is nesting with her now-loyal workers. So I guess all queens are back in the game!

[CatsnAnts]

Well, it’s the morning after I last checked on my three interjectus and one umbratus queen, and they are all still getting along, in fact, there’s no aggression what so ever! I’m really hoping that one of these four queens will lay eggs!

Also, I think my C. caryae queen might have passed for an unknown reason. I woke up this morning and checked on them, and the queen was laying on her side not moving. I rinsed her in water and placed her on a paper towel to absorb anything left over. This usually revives an ant for me if they are acting like this, but I guess we’ll see.

[CatsnAnts]

I’m just gonna dump 11 photos here of all four parasitic Lasius queens with their host workers:













Sorry, I’m too lazy to organize them, but all four queens are shown in at least 2 of the 11 photos.

[NickAnter]

I think your host workers are a type of parasitic Lasius.  They have tiny eyes,  fairy large head, and hey are fairly large compared to the queen.  Maybe this is the reason why they get along.

[TennesseeAnts]

The workers are Lasius interjectus.

[CatsnAnts]

Oh really? maybe that’s why they are all getting along!

Queen 1:

She still has 18 workers, two died though


All other queens:

For some reason, like half of all the workers in each test tube died? I might go collect some more.

[CatsnAnts]

Queen #1 Lasius interjectus:

Still has 17 workers and is going strong, she’s probably my best of the two queens.

Queen #2 Lasius interjectus:

I donated all of the other workers in the other tubes to her, so now she has about 16 workers.


Camponotus subbarbatus #1,2, and 3

All at same stage, larvae should be pupating any day now. I’m really excited for these queens since I found one last year (my first queen last year) but she ended up not making it to workers.


Temnothorax curvispinosus colony:

Doing very well, last night I found a satelite nest of another temnothorax curvispinosus colony and figured they wouldn’t survive if I released them back into the wild, so I placed them in my other Temnothorax colony’s outworld, and they are all huddled in a group together with some brood. Sometimes the workers of the two different colonies will meet and a little aggression is shown, but eventually they are friendly. I’m hoping his group of about 15 workers will move in and be accepted.

[TennesseeAnts]

One of my Camponotus subbarbatus queens got her first worker today. She still has lots of brood. About 10 eggs, 5 larvae and 7 pupae.

[CatsnAnts]

Omg congrats! my queens don’t have near that amount of brood!

WAIT, I just checked and 2 of the three queens each have one pupae!!

Edited by CatsnAnts, June 14 2019 - 9:04 AM.

[CatsnAnts]

Alright, so the lagging queen (the one with no pupae) has the least brood, and I still had all of the brood from my C. caryae colony. I decided to brood boost her with it, and so far she is accepting it. I fear I might have disturbed the queens a lot though.

[TennesseeAnts]

I check all of my colonies every day multiple times.

[CatsnAnts]

I check all of my colonies every day multiple times.

I admit that I do too I don’t have any patience! I just usually leave them in low light when I do, but today, I accidentally turned the light on and they all freaked out, whoops...

Edited by CatsnAnts, June 14 2019 - 5:28 PM.

[TennesseeAnts]

They won't freak out if you get them used to light like I did.

[CatsnAnts]

Ya, I tried that last year and it worked out pretty well I will say. I guess I’m just really paranoid this year since those subbarbatus queens are the only “founding” queens I’ve caught.

[CatsnAnts]

Alright, I officially have 1 remaining Lasius interjectus queen. She seems to be the healthiest of them all and has a VERY large work force now that I donated all of the L. Interjectus workers to her. I think she has 35 workers. All of them are acting like a colony, grooming each other and feeding each other. I really hope this queen lays eggs, I love L. interjectus.

Also, my brood boosted C. subbarbatus queen has moved all of her brood in with the same pile as the C. caryae brood. I’m probably going to need to give her some protein as she probably doesn’t have enough reserves to handle this much brood.

[CatsnAnts]

WHOO WHOO, guess who just found a Nylanderia cf. species and a... Stigmatoma pallipes queen!!! At least I think that’s what they are, either way, I’m SUPER excited to have finally a found one of these “cryptic ants”! I’ll get pictures up in the ID section soon.

Wait, how big are stigmatoma pallipes queens, backside my queen measures at 2 mm.

Edited by CatsnAnts, June 18 2019 - 4:03 PM.

[CatsnAnts]

Ughhhh, I just realized that my cryptic ant queen is missing an antennae! I will still try to raise her though, but I might go back to find more.

EDIT: also just realized that it was a worker! I went back and found the colony, but I’m just going to let them be. Pretty neat to watch.

Edited by CatsnAnts, June 18 2019 - 5:00 PM.

[NickAnter]

What part of the queen is 2mm, the abdomen, or the whole thing?