80 replies to this topic

[sirjordanncurtis]

I got a Camponotus fragilis queen from nurbs about a week and a half ago, and she has around 5 pupae now, so I'm going to make this journal to document her. Due to their size, Camponotus are one of my favorite species, even if they aren't as active as other ants and grow somewhat slower. C. fragilis is pretty easy to rear though, so hopefully I get this done right

In the second picture, you can sort of see all of the brood, which is currently 5 pupae, and 2 large larvae which will most likely pupate sometime in the next two days. The pictures aren't very good, since I didn't want to disturb the queens with too much light, but you can also sort of see 2 tiny larvae. She also laid an egg somewhere, but I don't think it's in either of the pictures.

As an experiment, I used a thermal imaging camera object on a raspberry pi to take a black and white picture of the ants. This doesn't require as much light, and you can see the form of the queen much easily on this image but some of the brood is hidden under the queen out of sight.

These pictures are somewhat steadier than the ones I took with a webcam, since I have a stand for it.

I've been looking for a way to sort of dim the glare that comes off of the test tubes whenever it's bright, but I'm not sure whether it's possible to do that without buying a bunch of fancy gear.

Can you guys sort of tell how much longer it will take for the pupae to eclose from looking at the picture?

 

Edited by sirjordanncurtis, May 27 2020 - 4:44 PM.

[Major]

Beautiful queen you got there! The pupae should eclose fairly soon, less than 1.5 weeks.

If you want to avoid glare I have heard that shooting at a 15 degree or 45 degree angle should help. You could just crop the glare part out.

[sirjordanncurtis]

Beautiful queen you got there! The pupae should eclose fairly soon, less than 1.5 weeks.

If you want to avoid glare I have heard that shooting at a 15 degree or 45 degree angle should help. You could just crop the glare part out.

Thank you!

[YsTheAnt]

What I do is position my light source(s) on the left and/or right side of the frame, and direct them toward the subject at a 45 degree angle. This seems to work fairly well for photographing and recording colonies in test tubes.

[sirjordanncurtis]

What I do is position my light source(s) on the left and/or right side of the frame, and direct them toward the subject at a 45 degree angle. This seems to work fairly well for photographing and recording colonies in test tubes.

 

Ok, I'll try that. The reason I used the weird black and white setup was because it didn't really need much lighting to take pictures, and it can sort of livestream so I can wait until I find a picture I sort of like before taking a screenshot of it.

[CoolColJ]

Just diffuse your light, add some tissue paper, etc in front of it

Edited by CoolColJ, August 15 2018 - 4:05 AM.

[sirjordanncurtis]

 

Short clip of the nanitic taking her first steps. I was able to film this without exposing them to light and stressing the queen out

Edited by sirjordanncurtis, August 18 2018 - 7:49 AM.

[sirjordanncurtis]

Webcam pictures:

The worker is continuously blurry because just doesn't stay still.

After observing their behavior for a bit, I realized that the nanitics weren't actually all that helpful. She does have the ability to move small brood like eggs or smaller larvae, but she can't really do anything about the pupae, except knock them over while running around. Since the queen is already managing the small brood, the nanitic just keeps sitting around with nothing to do.

The colony is still at 5 pupae since one of the larvae pupated around Thursday night. The other larvae will most likely follow closely. It's interesting how the larval stage of these ants is extremely fast, although the pupal stage is slower. 

2 of the brood are beginning to darken, and I think that one of them may eclose by Sunday night or Monday morning.

 

It's funny, since my Camponotus fragilis queen got her nanitic the same time Expression's got hers.

Edited by sirjordanncurtis, August 18 2018 - 11:31 AM.

[sirjordanncurtis]

Or not...

Second nanitic eclosed.

[sirjordanncurtis]

I finally got a gooseneck for my cameras! It's much easier to take the pictures now without having to worry about holding the camera as well as controlling the light flow. Thanks to everyone's inputs, I was finally able to maintain good lighting and take clear pictures.

You can probably tell which nanitic is which, as the first worker has a darker orange tinge to her. She also has a reddish gaster because of the few fruit flies I gave them. I didn't actually expect the ants to care about the fruit flies, but apparently the queen really liked them. Once she saw the fruit flies, she went over and squished them.

I really like how they hunt, because it's a real change for someone who previously always kept smaller ants: it takes forever for them to locate anything because the test tube is so large for them, and if you feed them small live bugs, they use sheer size instead of a lot of ants to subdue their prey.

This second image probably shows more contrast between the two nanitics, although both of them sort of blend into the pupae, of which they now have 4. I don't know if this is just how the light reflects, but the queen's gaster also looks pretty red (or pink).

[sirjordanncurtis]

The test tube has progressively started to get more dirty ever since I started feeding them fruit flies. They kept the tube pretty queen for the most part during founding stage. I hope maybe they'll pick it off once it starts to mold or something. Don't want to bother them by cleaning.

I gave them hummingbird nectar on the tip of a q-tip, and the queen sucked the cotton ball completely dry

She has a pretty distended gaster, but it doesn't seem like she will be nearly as physogastric as some Camponotus vicinus queens.

[sirjordanncurtis]

August 22, 2018

Just realized I needed to start dating my posts lol

3rd nanitic!!!!!

Still at 4 pupae, the large larvae pupated the same time the new worker eclosed.

Taking pictures of them is always a struggle, since they always run away from all the light!

Edited by sirjordanncurtis, August 22 2018 - 7:00 PM.

[Major]

They kept the tube pretty queen

[sirjordanncurtis]

 

They kept the tube pretty queen

 

 

Did I just make a bad pun... (shakes uncontrollably)

[WestLA_DO]

Sirjordan, what temperature are you keeping your fragilis at? I got a few queens from nurbs as well but they're only at the pupae stage, no nanitics yet, when I checked a few days ago. Mine are maybe at like high 80s. Thanks for any input!

[sirjordanncurtis]

Sirjordan, what temperature are you keeping your fragilis at? I got a few queens from nurbs as well but they're only at the pupae stage, no nanitics yet, when I checked a few days ago. Mine are maybe at like high 80s. Thanks for any input!

 

 

I haven't really paid much attention to what heat I keep them at. I just use a heating mat at the the top 1/3 of the test tube. Usually, they don't even put their brood near the mat though. I don't think the heat mats are the best option, because it might spread heat throughout the entire test tube, but I don't have a heat cable yet. Room temp is around 75-80, so I'd say the temp I keep them at is around 80-85. Idk if that helps. They are desert species and like heat lol.

[WestLA_DO]

Sirjordan, what temperature are you keeping your fragilis at? I got a few queens from nurbs as well but they're only at the pupae stage, no nanitics yet, when I checked a few days ago. Mine are maybe at like high 80s. Thanks for any input!

I haven't really paid much attention to what heat I keep them at. I just use a heating mat at the the top 1/3 of the test tube. Usually, they don't even put their brood near the mat though. I don't think the heat mats are the best option, because it might spread heat throughout the entire test tube, but I don't have a heat cable yet. Room temp is around 75-80, so I'd say the temp I keep them at is around 80-85. Idk if that helps. They are desert species and like heat lol.

Haha, gotcha. Yeah, I'm keeping them in my warmer room where my other desert/warmer temp species are but still a little slow. Just wanted to check if maybe temperature was an issue. I guess I'll just have to be patient haha. Thanks for the reply

[sirjordanncurtis]

8/25

Fourth Nanitic! 

8/27

Fifth nanitic eclosed last night, at least one of the workers is always near the cotton entrance, so I decided to make them a sort of large outworld similar to Serafine's Camponotus barbaricus design, or Nurbs' pencil case formicaria. Actually, the inside looks a lot like Serafine's design in theory. I'm not yet sure whether I should give it to them yet though, seems a tad too big.

 

Pictures coming tonight!

[sirjordanncurtis]

8/31

Sorry, I was wrong about pictures  

I figured the test tube was way too blurry for any good pictures, so I waited until the large larva had pupated before letting them move themselves into a new test tube. It actually wasn't that hard. Turns out, having extremely paranoid ants makes them very quick to move their nest. Took like 3 seconds

However, it is actually extremely difficult to take pictures of them. These two were the best I could get without all the workers moving around and stressing out because of light.

 

This is the nest I plan on moving them in to once they hit 20-40 workers.

Top view (lid closed):

Yeah, it looks like a mass of tape. It was the best adhesive I could use tbh. Might get a hot glue stick if tape turns out to be a problem.

Inside layout:

The three trays are meant to be when I either feed them dead bugs or drops of liquid directly. I also plan on having them use 1 of them as a trash can... don't know how that's going to work out, but I hope it does so I can clean them up easily.

The test tube with water is meant to represent where the test tube of ants would go, and the second test tube acts either as an expansion for them later on or a dry tube where I will heat later on. The two byFormica micro feeders contain water, which the ants can drink from if they do decide to stay/put their brood inside the dry tube. The plastic underneath is supposed to discourage them from piling sand onto the feeder, or just having the feeder have any sand stuck in it.

Complete inside view:

I plan on putting the cover on them like Serafine did, but I'm also a little worried that the cover might cause them to like light even less, making taking pictures even harder.

[sirjordanncurtis]

Decided it wasn't enough to just take pictures, so here's a video

The larger and lighter colored pupa with a hint of blue/grey/black is the newly pupated one, and it's slightly larger than the other ones

This is my first pupa I believe which is a full minor; her entire larval stage was spent while there were nanitics present.

I believe that there also now appears to be a difference in the jobs between the elder and younger nanitics. Only 2-3 of them are actually foragers and drink the sugar water I feed them.

Edited by sirjordanncurtis, August 31 2018 - 4:41 PM.