30 replies to this topic

[dean_k]

Ant ID thread: http://www.formicult...nogaster-picea/

 

This is a young colony of a queen, 3 nanitics and some brood (few pupae and larvae).

 

The Aphaenoogaster does not have ants' social stomach. What that means is that they cannot pass food through regurgitation.

 

So far this colony has been very challenging.

 

First of all, they absolutely cannot seem to tolerate light. I have Lasius, Formica, and Myrmica all of which can tolerate light. Lasius colony I have for an example is even able to tolerate very bright LED lights by my microscope.

 

They may not be used to light but their reaction to light has been overly strong, so strong that they moved out of queen's chamber of growth chamber...

 

 

It began like this.

 

I relocated them into a growth chamber last night and placed two liquid feeders and went to bed.

 

In the morning, I took the dish out and placed in my bathroom for observation. I placed a small chunk of blue 100 and realized that nothing was in the queen's chamber.

 

 

Baffled, I continued to look for them. And where I found them was ...

 

 

I was kind of shocked to find that they couldn't tolerate light for few minutes and relocated to the only shade they could find in a heart beat.

 

 

Their behaviors

 

 

I conducted a small test. Because they do not have social stomach, they cannot share food between each other. What they eat or drink stay on them. Therefore, workers use tools to transport liquid. What I've found out from googling was that they use dirt to soak sugary liquid and transport dirt to nest mates.

 

What that means is that they cannot live in a nest that has no substrate. They must have substrate or small seeds. <- I guess that's how they've become known as harvesters.

 

I placed the white substrate under a liquid feeder to see whether they really move substrate or not. I left that setup for a night and I found few white particles in queen's chamber. So, they use substrate to transport sugary liquid for others to drink.

 

This behavior was also filmed by my camera last night.

 

Edited by dean_k, April 22 2015 - 6:59 PM.

[dean_k]

I am having troubles with these girls. Their behaviors are completely different from Lasius, Myrmica, and Formica.

 

First of all, they are addicted playing with substrate and they've built their own nest with substrates by creating walls. They even used a piece of maggot to create a wall.

 

 

 

 

They are also creating mess with liquid feeders. It looks like THA liquid feeder is no go with this species because I will keep losing substrate while Byformica liquid feeder is acceptable. But I will keep losing substrate.

 

 

 

Below video shows their makeshift nest. It seems they must have shade. It doesn't have to be completely dark, just shade seems to be enough to satisfy them. A solution to this may be apply a red transparent sheet above growth chamber's queen's chamber.

 

[Crystals]

I am glad that my Aphaenoaster occidentalis don't do that....

 

I have found that most wild caught colonies take about 2-3 weeks to settle down.  So their behavior may change a bit as the month goes on.

[dean_k]

They've completely shut themselves out by fully covering themselves with substrate. Since I feel like they are telling me "Leave us alone, [censored]", I am going to do just that. I will leave them alone for now.

 

Meanwhile, they rejected fruit flies, maggots, blue 100, aqua 300, as well as meal worm pieces before shutting themselves out. It's either they are not in eating phase yet or their diet is something else ... like seed. I will be getting grass seeds and see how it goes.

Edited by dean_k, January 30 2015 - 12:41 PM.

[Crystals]

I found that some colonies I rescued would not eat for abotu 2 weeks.  I wouldn't worry too much.  There is a reason that ants are found almost anywhere, they are quite tough.

[Miles]

Aphaenogaster are going to use substrate whenever they get a chance. It's perfectly normal, and should be considered as less of an issue and more of an interesting part of their behavior. You're not going to get around it.

 

My Aphaenogaster occidentalis does the same thing.

Edited by Miles, January 30 2015 - 4:09 PM.

[dean_k]

Feb 2, 2015.

 

Funny girls.

 

I left them alone for few days after placing grass seeds on a feeding dish. I decided to check them out today and they weren't under the rubber cork. It turns out they dug a nest under the feeding dish. I haven't seen them eat anything other than drinking sugar water. I do see they played with seeds.

 

Since shade appears to be an absolute-must for them, I plan to relocate them to THA Mini hearth.

 

Edited by dean_k, February 2 2015 - 7:04 PM.

[dean_k]

Feb 8, 2015

 

The girls have been completely passive since I relocate them to a new growth chamber with brighter substrate. I believe they need to be hibernating. Once the last pupa is eclosed, I will be hibernating them for 4 weeks.

 

They are not foraging at all and remain pretty much still just as the photo shows. They've gotten used to light a little and no longer freaks out when under light. Direct LED light still scares the Earth out of them however, so I can't take video.

 

Edited by dean_k, February 8 2015 - 8:32 PM.

[kevinirvinryann]

You have the most interesting ants I've seen on this forum!

[drtrmiller]

You have the most interesting ants I've seen on this forum!

 

All ants are interesting. dean_k just does an excellent job of describing his and providing detailed, timely updates to his journals.

[Gregory2455]

Deank without a doubt puts the most time into journals out of any of us.

[dean_k]

Feb 9, 2015, Cannibalism ?!

 

Actually I noticed this last night but it was nearing 2am and I decided to go bed.

 

This is going to be a little long.

 

 

You can see there is something in middle of their chamber in the photo above. I didn't actually pay attention to it at least until a worker stood on stop of it and stayed on it a while. It was when I began to wonder what it was and started to investigate it.

 

I booted up my laptop and turned my microscope on and below was what I got.

 

 

 

Whatever it was, it covered with substrate. My first gut feeling was that it was one of their own worker that was cannibalized.

 

Below is a short video of the strange object.

 

 

And I took a piece out to see it close.

 

 

Which looked like an eaten gaster with thorax. It could be just the hollow shell of a recently closed pupa which would have been very hard to notice with their previous growth chamber due to dark substrate.

 

 

And it turned out that they are now used to light. I was able to take a video and actually found out that the queen had laid four eggs.

 

 

They stay pretty much still until 2:10 mark where they start to perhaps notice the ever-bright LED light and start to move around and you can see tiny little eggs of 4 at 2:50 mark when the queen moves around.

 

Now I don't know whether to hibernate them or not. This species is confusing as hell.

Edited by dean_k, February 9 2015 - 1:08 PM.

[dean_k]

Feb 11, 2015

 

Until today, I saw 2 workers drinking once so far I've gotten them. And I never saw them taking any kind of protein. And presumably the queen was never fed.

 

So, I decided to change my method a little for this species. Instead of letting them forage, I chose to place their drink and food right next to them instead, and it had some success.

 

In addition, I've been having all kind of problems with liquid feeders. Because they use substrate to transport liquid, almost always they managed to drain the whole feeder when they made a small mound at liquid feeder. Ground was drenched with sugar water almost always as a result.

Ironically, the only feeder that could prevent that from happening was THA liquid feeder due to shape of the lid, Irony because I rejected this feeder at first.

 

 

 

 

Edited by dean_k, February 11 2015 - 6:31 AM.

[dean_k]

Feb 14, 2015

 

I believe I am failing with this species. A worker died last night and I believe the cause was starvation.

 

And I found them outside of their chamber this morning.

 

 

 

They were doing okay for past week and, even though I had THA mini hearth available, I chose not to relocate them until this evening. It's about time they get the shade they've been looking for.

 

 

 

Tar Heel ants Mini hearth is a test tube replacement. It's length is as long as a test tube. It does provide ample shade which this species can't seem to live without. This is my last resort. If they fail to prosper even in this setup, I am letting them go as soon as the weather warms up, provided that they survive until then.

 

 

 

They did seem to like the new formicarium because they moved into the chamber in less than 60 seconds when I placed them in its outworld.

 

Edited by dean_k, February 14 2015 - 8:24 AM.

[dean_k]

They never foraged and I've put them in hibernation. I plan to keep them in hibernation for 2 months or so.

 

I will see how they fare after hibernation, and if they still do bad, I will let them go. It should be warm enough by then.

[dean_k]

Feb 27, 2015

 

These girls give me troubles even during hibernation ...

 

I checked them for the first time since I placed them in my beer fridge. I found out that workers somehow got themselves in condensation that formed on the side glass. In other words, they drowned themselves.

 

Or at least that was what it looked like. I took them out in rush and rescued them. None of them actually drowned but they looked like hell. I let them be outside for now and get themselves dry up. All workers were drenched with water. Only the queen looked like having a sound sleep.

[Crystals]

I am extremely happy that my Aphaenogaster occidentalis don't give me any trouble.  But mine also don't mind light and don't use substrate to carry food and/or sweets.

 

Best of luck with them.

[Miles]

I am extremely happy that my Aphaenogaster occidentalis don't give me any trouble.  But mine also don't mind light and don't use substrate to carry food and/or sweets.

 

Best of luck with them.

Interesting! My Aphaenogaster occidentalis use substrate frequently.

[dean_k]

March 2, 2015

 

All workers but one died off. I don't think they took hibernation too well. They were acting very sluggish and simply died off. With only one worker left, I thought this colony was done.

 

To my surprise, however, the queen laid about 5 or 6 eggs. And I've been giving them sugar water and mealworm pieces right by her because she doesn't panic and run around as long as she is under shade.

 

I don't have a lot of hope for this colony but it's somehow hanging in there.

 

[dean_k]

March 4, 2015

 

The last worker died. Kind of saw it coming since the worker was sluggish like all other workers who died. The queen is now completely alone and it seems she is aware that she is alone because she appears to be far more active than she did when workers were around.

 

Since giving her piece of mealworm and sugar water in a tight space proved to be a challenge, I gave her a small piece of Blue 100, and it seems she has been eating it.

 

I don't have much, if any, hope for this colony but I will see how far she will go.

 

Edited by dean_k, March 4 2015 - 7:01 AM.