149 replies to this topic

[ANTdrew]

Whoah! Did not see that coming!
I would LOVE to see you keep some Solenopsis though!

Yeah, what a plot twist! I found a S. molesta queen under a bag of potting soil last year, but I thought they would be too much trouble to keep. I’m only really interested in easy ants, lol.

[Rstheant]

Man, I liked TennesseeAnts better.

[TennesseeAnts]

Whoah! Did not see that coming!
I would LOVE to see you keep some Solenopsis though!

Yeah, what a plot twist! I found a S. molesta queen under a bag of potting soil last year, but I thought they would be too much trouble to keep. I’m only really interested in easy ants, lol.

Solenopsis are really not that hard to keep. Just provide lots of space!

[FeedTheAnts]

 

 

Whoah! Did not see that coming!
I would LOVE to see you keep some Solenopsis though!

Yeah, what a plot twist! I found a S. molesta queen under a bag of potting soil last year, but I thought they would be too much trouble to keep. I’m only really interested in easy ants, lol.

Solenopsis are really not that hard to keep. Just provide lots of space!

 

Well, considering he was talking about S.molesta, not much space is needed

Edited by FeedTheAnts, April 9 2019 - 1:32 PM.

[TennesseeAnts]

Whoah! Did not see that coming!
I would LOVE to see you keep some Solenopsis though!

Yeah, what a plot twist! I found a S. molesta queen under a bag of potting soil last year, but I thought they would be too much trouble to keep. I’m only really interested in easy ants, lol.

Solenopsis are really not that hard to keep. Just provide lots of space!

Well, considering he was talking about S.molesta, not much space is needed

Lol. I bet a mature colony could fit inside a Mini Hearth!

[Rstheant]

@ Ant_Dude2908, from my experience, Solenopsis require vast amounts of space, and a lot of food as they grow progressively bigger. These are my only qualms from keeping Solonopsis.

[TennesseeAnts]

@ Ant_Dude2908, from my experience, Solenopsis require vast amounts of space, and a lot of food as they grow progressively bigger. These are my only qualms from keeping Solonopsis.

Thanks!

[FeedTheAnts]

Great news, yesterday I caugh three Lasius parasite queens! As soon as I could I gathered workers for them but only ended up using two of the queens becuase the third was damaged. I'm using the chilling method this time, and so far they have been in the fridge for about 17 hours. I took one of the tubes out of the fridge and they weren't showing any agreesion to the queen, but that changed after a few hours of being unchilled. I'm going to probably keep them in till tommorow morning, or longer if needed. Wish me luck.

[FeedTheAnts]

I'm down to just one Lasius queen. I took one of the tubes out of the fridge yesterday and didn't watch for a couple of hours. Things were looking fine when I first took them out, but when I came back then the host workers had killed the queen. I'm keeping my last tube in the fridge until I'm absolutely sure that the host workers have bonded to the queen, and once I take it out I'll watch it like a hawk to make sure nothing happens. This may be may last chance to raise a parasitic Lasius this year, seeing as queens fly late in the year and usually overwinter before doing their thing.

 

Crematogaster ashmeadi(The Valenines) - 4/14

This is just a picture update. Not much to say except that they are growing.

 

 

Crematogaster cerasi - 4/14

The brood's developing crazy fast, and There is a new pile of eggs as well. It's fun to have a young Crematogaster colony again. I've noticed how differently they behave when I give them food, as compared to the Valentines. I'll cherish it while I can though, because they'll be a massive colony in no time I'm sure.

 

 

 

Edited by FeedTheAnts, April 14 2019 - 2:52 PM.

[ANTdrew]

Cherish their cuteness! I can’t believe how these Crematogaster grow and eat faster than even Tetramorium. Don’t feed the gremlins after midnight!

[FeedTheAnts]

Camponotus discolor - 4/18

There was a huge nuptial flight of multiple Camponotus species last night. I caught four wingless C. discolor queens, and I've kept two of them. I wanted to also catch a C. nearcticus dealate, but couldn't find any. I'll be looking around at night for the next couple of days because C. castaneus will be flying later this week for sure

 

 

[TennesseeAnts]

Awwwww. I want one. If you still lived here...

Btw my Brachyponera chinensis colony has only 4 workers now. 5 queens still.

[FeedTheAnts]

I just pruchased the Tar Heel Ants Spring package. I chose all regular mini hearths with an exterior color of red. The deal closes tomorrow, so if you want to get one now is your chance.

https://tarheelants.com/collections/new-products-and-packages

 

 

[TennesseeAnts]

Did you get the Modular Mini Hearths? They are amazing and I would probably put the Valentines in a few.

Edited by Ant_Dude2908, April 19 2019 - 12:13 PM.

[FeedTheAnts]

Did you get the Modular Mini Hearths? They are amazing and I would probably put the Valentines in a few.

What do you mean by modular? The Valentines will be staying in the AntsCanada nest btw, but the Crematogaster cerasi colony will be moved into a mini hearth.

Edit: I see what modular is. They weren't offered as part of the sale, but you can still always hook two nest up to eachother anyways.

Edited by FeedTheAnts, April 19 2019 - 1:02 PM.

[FeedTheAnts]

Camponotus discolor - 4/20

One of the queens had an egg yesterday, but since has eaten it  

The other queen has not laid any eggs and is tugging at her cotton. I put both of these queens on a high shelf and underneath a black towel. I'm going to try my best and leave them alone for a few weeks, no peeking at all.

[Kaelwizard]

@ Ant_Dude2908, from my experience, Solenopsis require vast amounts of space, and a lot of food as they grow progressively bigger. These are my only qualms from keeping Solonopsis.

Solenopsis molesta is a tiny ant species.

[TennesseeAnts]

I found a Camponotus nearcticus queen!

[FeedTheAnts]

I found a Camponotus nearcticus queen!

I keep seeing lots more Camponotus discolor queens, but C. nearcticus seem to not be as common in my area. I've caught a few queens that still had their wings, but I released them. 

[TennesseeAnts]

Never release winged queens! They still may be fertile. My huge Formica pacifica colony started from a winged queen. Most of my colonies started from winged queens. I still want one of those discolor queens though. Are they native to Tennessee?

Edited by Ant_Dude2908, April 25 2019 - 6:53 AM.