149 replies to this topic

[FeedTheAnts]

Do the Valentines have any alates yet?

Nope. They ate the alate larvae that they had earlier in the year, and I don't think they'll produce any more alate brood.

[FeedTheAnts]

I just boosted the Camponotus chromaiodes with some wild caught C. pennsylvanicus brood. It was about 40-50 larvae and pupae. Some of the pupae appear to be majors, and one of the larva is absolutely massive. I took them from a relatively young colony, so none of the brood will develop into alates.

[FeedTheAnts]

A little update on the brood boost. All of the puoae and larvae have been carried into the nest and the workers are tending to the new brood. The extra larvae have increased the colony's appetite for protein as well, and last night they took a large spider. It was the first time they had accepted any protein food in more than a week. 

I plan on heading out to a hiking trail tonight after dark and seeing if I can catch some queens since today was especially hot. I would hate to miss out on Camponotus castaneus nuptial flights this year. Also, I'm pretty sure there are Colobopsis in my area, and since others seem to be catching them right now then I figured it would be worth it to look around. 

Edited by FeedTheAnts, May 24 2019 - 10:07 AM.

[ANTdrew]

Good luck! I went out last night and came up empty handed.

[FeedTheAnts]

Woohoo! Last night I caught a camponotus castaneus queen    

I'm founding her in a mini hearth, not a test tube. Some people have had success founding certain queens in these, so I thought I'd try it out.

[ANTdrew]

Holy crap!!! FTA for the win!

[ANTdrew]

I came up “empty test-tubed” again last night. Meanwhile my wife saw a “big orange/red queen” at the park. WTH???

[FeedTheAnts]

I caught a Camponotus nearcticus queen this morning. Here's a short video of the two new queens

[Acutus]

Congrats on the two new Queens!! 

[FeedTheAnts]

The Camponotus chromaiodes mini hearth is completely filled with mold

It looks like cobwebs, that's how much there is. I took the glass off and put it in a bucket with a different mini hearth. I'm hoping they move in fast, because I don't want the mold to kill all the boosted brood.

 

Edit: Forgot to mention. After the Camponotus castaneus queen looked a little restless in her mini hearth then I hooked a test tube up to it, just to give more options. She moved in overnight and looked content. So she's in a test tube now, not the mini hearth. Other than that I have no updates because I haven't really checked on her.

Edited by FeedTheAnts, May 31 2019 - 4:50 PM.

[FeedTheAnts]

I just checked up on all my founding queens. The Camponotus castaneus queen has eight eggs, all of which are that beautiful orange color! One of the Camponotus discolor queens has her first nanitic, and a second one close behind. It is so tiny and cute.

[ANTdrew]

Amazing!

[FeedTheAnts]

Crematogaster cerasi

They chewed their way out of the mini hearth. The water tower had a defect which meant that it leaked any time it was filled. Mack from Tar Heel Ants is amazing though, and he's replacing the nest with no charge. He has even offered to add any additions to the nest that I want!

However, I'm not going to move the colony back into a formicarium because I'm afraid of them ruining it again. So instead I went to a local pet store and got them a cube shaped rimless tank. It looks really nice as a terrarium, especially because of it's lack of an upper rim. I also picked up a Spearpoint Ivy Plant and a Polka Dot Plant. The finished product looked really nice imo, and all that's left to do is stock it with springtails.

 

 

Camponotus discolor

One of these queens has two workers now! They accepted a tiny piece of roach as well, and it looks like the queen is producing even more eggs.

 

Crematogaster ashmeadi

The Valentines, which by the way have hit the 4000 mark, looked really hungry for some sugars so I gave them a huge chunk of apple. In only 20 minutes it looked like this.

Edited by FeedTheAnts, June 12 2019 - 9:17 AM.

[Acutus]

WOW!      for the vid and the pic!!

[ANTdrew]

Truly amazing! Containing Crematogaster is basically impossible for long, huh? I wonder if mine would like to nest in soil or if I would need some kind of dead wood?

[FeedTheAnts]

 I wonder if mine would like to nest in soil or if I would need some kind of dead wood?

I have both in my tank. It depends on the species, but mine love to nest in wood as long as it's partially buried.

[FeedTheAnts]

One of the Camponotus discolor queens has died, along with her worker. At first I thought it was just because she was the less healthy of the two, but then I realized that her tube was completely dry. The cotton that blocked the water reservoir was not pushed near far enough into the tube. To make matters worse, there was another piece of cotton in front of it, but not entirely making contact with it. No one to blame but myself, I made the test tube setup. 

I still have the other queen, who btw is looking very good. She recently become swollen with eggs, and all of her original larvae are now pupae. Her and her two workers love the honey and roaches that I've been feeding them about twice a week.

 

Yesterday I caught a Formica pallidefulva queen. I don't know if anyone remembers the Abdo-Lemons(no one... okay), but they were a huge colony of F. pallidefulva that I released at the end of last season. I haven't kept Formica since getting rid of that colony, so I'm pretty excited for this queen.

Edited by FeedTheAnts, June 16 2019 - 4:20 PM.

[FeedTheAnts]

Two updates... wha?!

forget to mention. The Camponotus chromaiodes colony is looking up, despite me nearly throwing them out about a week ago. Right after they were boosted then even more workers started to die, and they continued to accept no food. The fact that they had been boosted made me hopeful though.... until they refused to eclose the adopted workers. two workers were just left to die, halfway eclosed and just sitting in the nest. In my mind that was the last straw, and I nearly decided to freeze them. I didn't though, instead I just left them alone and forgot about them a couple of days. Fast foward to now, and all but a few of the boosted brood has eclosed. I guess at some point the workers started to actually help their sisters eclose, seeing as they have no chance of survival otherwise. 

The new workers (Camponotus pennsylvanicus btw) have increased the colony's appetite as well. Two days ago I actually got the colony to eat a bit of mealworm for the first time in who knows how long. Since they are accepting protein now I'm sure that the queen's biological brood will finally start developing.

Edited by FeedTheAnts, June 16 2019 - 4:34 PM.

[FeedTheAnts]

Yesterday I caught a winged Colobopsis obliqua queen. It was actually in my house crawling across my computer screen... WHILE I WAS ON FC! Talk about a coincidence. At first I assumed it was something completely different because it was so tiny. I thought Colobopsis were around the same size as Camponotus nearcticus, but this queen is closer to Solenopsis molesta! 

Anyways, I hope to catch another queen because this one doesn't appear to be fertilized. Still, it's fun to at least finally see one, even if it won't raise a colony.

[TennesseeAnts]

Very nice! I got 3 obliqua and 1 impressa queen. They impressa queen removed her wings and one of the three obliqua queens removed her wings. I have only 2 obliqua currently though. A college student in Tennessee bought one.