625 replies to this topic

[NickAnter]

Hah! I got my first fertile queen at school, my school is simply more diverse because it has a dry field, where Argentine ants can't thrive.

[CatsnAnts]

PHEW, finally got EVERY SINGLE WORKER and all but three eggs into a test tube. I decided to carefully crack open their hickory nut, and kinda just dump them out near the test tube. Low and behold they immediately started moving in! Here’s some pictures of the moving process and finally when they are all settled down:

This first picture is when I dumped them out, look at all of that alate pupae! I’m excited to see when they eclose so that I will know when to go look for more queens!


These next photos are of them in their new home (a test tube):




I’m also going to attempt to merge the other smaller colony with this one since they ARE ploygenous.

[TennesseeAnts]

Beautiful colony! I have one of these too.

[CatsnAnts]

Beautiful colony! I have one of these too.

Thank you! could you do an update on yours, I’d love to see them (I just LOVE temnothorax!)

[TennesseeAnts]

I will tomorrow.

[ANTdrew]

I'm glad to hear your parents are coming around. They should support your passion for the natural world because it can lead to many opportunities in the future. Just keep your colonies at a manageable number and escape proofed, and they should realize that this is a much better use of your time than what many young people are into.

[CatsnAnts]

I'm glad to hear your parents are coming around. They should support your passion for the natural world because it can lead to many opportunities in the future. Just keep your colonies at a manageable number and escape proofed, and they should realize that this is a much better use of your time than what many young people are into.

I agree!

EDIT: just a quick update in saying that I have given both my large temnothorax colony an outworld as well as my Camponotus caryae an outworld. One worker of the three Camponotus workers has found the honey I gave them, and as for the temnothorax, they just absolutely swarmed the honey! I have it in a q-tip so they don’t drown.

Edited by CatsnAnts, May 31 2019 - 4:54 AM.

[CatsnAnts]

Well, I attempted to merge both of my temnothorax curvispinosus colonies, and as seeing that one had 6 workers and no brood, while the other had 70 workers with a mountain of brood, the bigger colony was going to live either way. When I introduced a worker, everything was fine and no aggression was shown. So I slowly introduced the rest of the colony all the way till the queen. When the queen arrived it was fine for like a minute, until a group of workers ripped off here Antenae. So now that queen is gone, but the workers have now merged with the newer colony with the new queen. I only really need one colony I guess, although next time I don’t think I will attempt this, it’s very stressful and most likely will not end well. I am still waiting to see when the alate pupae ecloses though. When the alates do eclose, does that mean that the wild colonies will most likely be having their nuptial flights right around that time?

[TennesseeAnts]

The alates need to darken first.

[CatsnAnts]

The alates need to darken first.

Oh, duh! Thxs though!

[CatsnAnts]

Man, those callow temnothorax workers are LITERALLY the cutest things I’ve seen! Some of their pupae from their massive brood pile is starting to eclose. The alates are also starting to darken, so they should be enclosing very soon, and when they fully darken, I will take that as a signal that they will be flying in the wild, so I’m going to blacklight for them.

My Camponotus caryae just lost one of its three workers, although it was missing an antennae to start with. It kept getting stuck in the olive oil barrier drips. Usually it revived, but after it happened for a fifth time, it was for sure dead. I’m also not going to use olive oil anymore unless I have a grout-covered bottom on the outworld. Some pupae should be enclosing soon, they have 2.

My Camponotus subbarbatus is still slowly moving along. I’m pretty sure they have larvae, but I’ve been too scared to bring them in any decent amount of ligh to the point where I can see them clearly for fear of scaring them.

[CatsnAnts]

Here are some pictures of my Temnohorax colony since they are doing well, and I am trying not to disturb any of my founding queens or my Camponotus caryae colony:

As you can see, the queen has recently laid a bath of eggs. They are sorta mixed in with small larvae.

[CatsnAnts]

My C. caryae colony just lost another worker due to drowning. This brings them down to one worker, although here are four pupae, 2 of which should be enclosing any time now. I removed their test tube from the outworld and have it seemed off with a cotton ball. Until they get more workers, I am just going to feed them inside the test tube. I’m not worried though, because the brood pile is still a good size, and growing.

[Martialis]

Those olive oil barriers never work well it seems. The talc powder/isopropyl alcohol or the fluon/PTFE work much better.

 

Then again, I've never had success with any of the Camponotus founding colonies I've captured. They've all gone through a phase of worker death, with the queen following much later.

[CatsnAnts]

Yes, I completely agree on the barrier. From now on out, I will strictly be using the talc barrier, much more effective and way less dangerous. As for the founding Camponotus colonies, I am starting to feel like mine are heading down that road as well, but I guess time will tell.

[CatsnAnts]

Alright! So the alates are starting to eclose! There are three so far, and they are all females! There are still like 8 more alates on the way to enclosing! The ones that have eclosed are already darkened. Tonight I’m going to head out and look for some to be flying because the ones in the wild may have matured a little faster. Either way, I’m determined to find some of this genus this year during their nuptial flights!

Edited by CatsnAnts, June 5 2019 - 10:00 AM.

[CatsnAnts]

Here are pictures of the three alates that have eclosed today:




Also, it has started to storm, and is supposed to continue for a couple of days. After that, I expect them to start flying like crazy.

Edited by CatsnAnts, June 5 2019 - 4:05 PM.

[TennesseeAnts]

They actually probably won't fly until July.

[CatsnAnts]

They actually probably won't fly until July.

Ya, that’s when I thought they flew, but a lot of people on the forum have been reporting seeing them, even though they probably live towards the south, but I am still going to check because I really don’t want to miss them!

[TennesseeAnts]

Most people that are seeing them right now are in more Southern areas, I have seen.