180 replies to this topic

[Major]

Found a different pile of bricks that led me to some Lasius flavus colonies. Can’t wait to find a queen of this species. It was starting to get dark before I could flip all of them. Also for all you NY anters, Crematogaster flights should be starting soonish. Found a nest full of alates.

[Major]

Wow, OK. A lot has happened to me since my last post.

I was walking to petco to pick up some out worlds and feeding tongs. Outside of my apartment building there's some wasps digging. I realized that they have to be queens since it was quite hot and humid. I test tubed her and found out that if you hold the test tube vertical, they will immediately want to go to the top. Explanations?

I released her after a few minutes and continued on my merry way. I also found a wingless wasp that on first look looked like a queens. Picked her up with my bare hands to test tube her but her body felt really hard so I dropped her. Then I realized what she was.

On the way back I found 2 Formica Fusca queens. I only had one test tube so I put them both in it. I ran inside to put them in actual test tubes. Once I got the job done I went outside with 5 test tubes to look for more. Nothing. Then I find this suspicious looking rotten tree stump. I kicked it down to see if there were any queens. No, but a massive Formica sp. colony! I took 2 pupae and 2 larvae. Gave one of each to my Formica Fusca queens. I added some sawdust as substrate. Only a pinch. They went crazy and one escaped. Got her back in thankfully.

One of my Camponotus Pennsylvanicus colony's has 7 workers in 2 1/2 months! Their not even brood boosted! I moved them to a test tube in a critter crawler. I made a cardboard lid to go under the actual lid to help prevent escape. I don't have fluon. I should get some soon.

Same old same old with my othe Camponotus Pennsylvanicus colonies. A couple more workers in each. Any where from 1-5. My Camponotus Novaeboracensis colony is chugging along. 4 workers.

My Tetramorium Immigrans is doing fine. One of the pupae I gave her sorta eclosed. But it's pretty dead, twitching legs though.

Later that day, I found 3 Tementothorax Curvispinosus queens. Put them all in one test tube and moved the cotton down to make it smaller. Any tips on how to raise these galls? Their super tiny, at 2-3 mm.



I did perform pleometrosis on my Formica Fusca so now it's a dual queen colony. Did the same with my Tementothorax Curvispinosus. So far so good. (Credits to ctantkeeper for teaching me how)

And finally, the pics. (Can't get good ones of the Tementothorax Curvispinosus) And excuse the pink ruler in the pics, it's this old one I found lying around.

Camponotus Novaeboracensis (can't see the red due to lighting)


Camponotus Pennsylvanicus


Tementothorax Curvispinosus


Camponotus Pennsylvanicus


Camponotus Pennsylvanicus


Camponotus Pennsylvanicus

Had an escaped worker from a different colony, thought it was from their colony and put it in. Not sure if it was eaten, or accepted

Formica Fusca

Edited by The_NY_Major, July 15 2018 - 9:04 AM.

[Major]

Well, I went to look for tetramorium as it was humid and hot. I went at around 10 am but found none. But I did find 3 Formica Fusca queens, only caught 2.

[Major]

Formica and Temenothorax refuse to lay eggs. I also caught a wild colony of tapinoma or Temenothorax, don't know if they have a queen, they were in a nut. But they have brood. So that's a good sign.

[Major]

The colony in a nut does in fact have a queen! I am either selling that or my 3 queen colony to a nice collage student.

I changed all my Camponotus tubes, they were dirty and had too little room.

Gave all my colonies some honey water in a cotton ball. Pictures coming soon!

[Major]

That wild colony I caught? Yes they have a queen. And someone said that they are Tapinoma

[Major]

So I was out ant hunting in one of my favorite spots. Lots of ant diversity and insect and animal life. There's a creek, a forest, lots of bricks, clearings, logs, sidewalk, basically any anters dream. I saw a small log slightly buried under the ground, so naturally I had the impulse to open it up. What I find is unexpected. Thousands of Camponotus Pennsylvanicus. And, I hit their brood room.

I grab all the brood I can, about a quarter of a 16x150mm tube, and they are already swarming my legs. I brush them of and walk away. I found an eclosing worker in the midst of the test tube, so I gave it back to the colony. All the brood is extremely large, so most likely super majors or even possibly alates.

I give the brood to my largest Camponotus Pennsylvanicus colony of 10 workers. I also add a second test tube to there outworld as additional nesting space. After a bit of hesitation, they get right to work, moving it all in.

The queen experienced a moment of "jealousy." She ran off and hid, while also bringing some nanitics with her. She refused to go back to the nest. I finally got her back in by tapping the glass to make her go towards the nest.

I also found a Camponotus Pennsylvanicus queen, I gave her some honey too.

My Tapinoma Sessile is doing great. They like honey and mealworms, like all my ants. I have confirmed that they have a fertile queen and lots of workers and some brood. They are very stubborn though, won't move in to a test tube.

My Tementothorax Curvispinosus triple queen colony is not laying. I think that there may be 1 egg though. Tough ants to raise. I'm also selling these galls and maybe my Tapinoma Sessile too. Might be buying a Prenolepis Imparis colony. Trying to sell/trade off most of my ants. I'm doing this because I need some money for a camera and more ant equipment.

Pictures:

Brood:


Camponotus Pennsylvanicus I recently caught:


10 worker Camponotus Pennsylvanicus:


Tapinoma Sessile:


Camponotus Novaeboracensis:


Camponotus Pennsylvanicus


Camponotus Pennsylvanicus:


Camponotus Pennsylvanicus:


Formica Fusca:


Dual Queen Formica Fusca:


Tementothorax Curvispinosus:


Formica Fusca:


Formica Fusca:


Tetramorium Immigrans:


Just ordered a clip on macro lens for my phone, waiting for it to arrive. Temporary until I have enough for a decent camera.

Edited by The_NY_Major, July 20 2018 - 11:22 AM.

[YsTheAnt]

Those small ants aren't Tapinoma. They have two peitole nodes, probably temnothorax.

[Major]

Thank you, Tementothorax Longispinosus perhaps?

[Major]

So I ordered what I thought was a blacklight trap from bioquip, but it was just half. I don't want to spend an additional $95 for the top half. I'm gonna return it. Any good black lights out there?

[YsTheAnt]

Not sure on the exact species for the Temnothorax.

I use this for blacklighting, works like a charm:
https://www.amazon.c...e/dp/B0002F5544

[Major]

Thanks!

[Skwiggledork]

Not sure on the exact species for the Temnothorax.

I use this for blacklighting, works like a charm:
https://www.amazon.c...e/dp/B0002F5544

Do you bring a generator with you or just set it up near your house?

[YsTheAnt]

I am lucky enough to live next to a diverse forest, so I just run the light in my yard with a bedsheet covering it.

I do know that you can do the exact same thing by simply buying a DC/AC inverter thing, plugging it into one of them big transportation doohickeys (vehicles) and use it that way.

Edited by YsTheAnt, July 20 2018 - 11:12 PM.

[Major]

I also live next to a very diverse forest, but is there anyway to power the blacklight without a car.

[YsTheAnt]

Yeah, I just plug it into outlets in my house.

[Major]

Thanks!

[Major]

Yeah my “Tapinoma” is definitely Temnothorax Longispinosus.

[Major]

I'm sorry that I have not updated in a little while. I'm busy selling some of my queens to save up for a camera to get better pics. I will hopefully update you guys on Friday!

[Major]

Yeah, cross my previous post. I haven't updated in a while! I have sold many colony's and queens but I have also obtained a few. I've been selling queens, researching about cameras, and finding a house to buy. Life is busy. And for the last week I've had to come home a couple hours later.

Camponotus Pennsylvanicus:
I only kept the colony that I brood boosted. Their already at 30+ workers! I moved them into an Ants Canada Omni Nest Large. They seem to be enjoying it so far. I have started feeding them live mealworms. They have killed one and ate it. I gave them another one a couple days later, this time larger. Well, the mealworm made it to their brood room. This caused ALOT of panic. I had to manually take it out and kill it. They seem to be sipping on its insides.

Temnothorax Longispinosus:
Man this colony is huge! Already at 100+ workers! The egg pile is massive. I will probably feed them today.

Temnothorax Curvispinosus:
Down to one queen. The others died of what was probably infertility. This one has layed some eggs. I moved her into an Aus Ants Size 1 Green. A little too roomy, but it suffices.

Tapinoma Sessile:
Funny story... I dug up what I thought was a founding chamber and whoops! It was a colony full of alates. I got my test tube out to look for the queen. Well, their were multiple alates so I had no clue which one was the "real queen." I picked up the one with the most distended gaster. Weird thing is, their were only a couple workers. I was able to catch 1 worker and accidentally a male. The male died later. The queen layed a bunch of eggs, so fingers crossed.

Quad Queen Formica Subserica:
Beginner mistake of identifying them as Formica Fusca. I merged all my queens with eggs (probably not a good idea) but it worked! I also added another queen that I found in her founding chamber. Lots of brood. I'm not selling these.

Myrmica sp:
Found her on a sewer. Nose pinched, I scooped her up. She already has an egg pile in under 24 hours. Might not want to keep these guys because they are a stinging species and I have kids in the house.

Pics in a few days.