471 replies to this topic

[Solenoqueen]

Good luck!

[kellakk]

It looks like there's a large variety of mycopathogenic fungi that can attack and even kill off the cultured fungi.  See this paper for an example.  My guess is that your Acromyrmex colonies somehow got some strain of mycopathogenic fungi in them, and you unintentionally spread it throughout the colonies.  Talk about bad luck

[dspdrew]

Update 11-20-2016

The very last queen just died. I guess I'll be starting all over next season.

[Vendayn]

65q24g4g5f

Edited by Vendayn, March 9 2018 - 7:09 PM.

[FSTP]

wait so all your A. versicolor have passed? Your colonies seemed so successful, that is truly ashamed. 

 

When A. versicolor have flown are they hard to find?

[dspdrew]

wait so all your A. versicolor have passed? Your colonies seemed so successful, that is truly ashamed. 

 

When A. versicolor have flown are they hard to find?

 

No, they're easy to find.

[Vendayn]

65q24g4g5f

Edited by Vendayn, March 9 2018 - 7:09 PM.

[dspdrew]

Update 8-9-2017

I collected a bunch more of these queens on 7-25-2017, 20 miles west of Lake Havasu again. I managed to get a small chunk of fungus from Vendayn in a trade, and broke it into small pieces supplying about 13 queens. So far most of them are doing well and taking good care of it. Thankfully, I am not seeing any weird problems with the fungus so far this year.

 

One very strange thing about these queens, is they seem to be very sensitive to something inside some plastic containers. Zeiss was with me while collecting these queens, and on our way home, he noticed two of his had already died. I though that was a bit strange for them to die that fast. Well after we both were home, his queens started dropping dead one after another. These were only the queens still in his collection containers; the queens he put in test tubes were just fine. Eventually every single queen he had in his collection containers was dead. These were brand new small food containers that had not been rinsed out. It seems there may have been some chemical left behind from the manufacturing process that these queens are very sensitive to. He didn't have much of a problem with any other species in those containers.

 

A few days later I was out again with nurbs this time, and after we returned, he noticed a bunch of his queens started dying as well. He said he quickly moved them, and even managed to revive a few.

[dspdrew]

Update 8-30-2017

At this point I have about 30 queens/colonies all with starter fungus. I have had to replace the fungus a couple times for about five of them, and I suspect those queens will continue to let their fungus die as some unfit queens do. Eventually I will stop wasting fungus on them.
 
Today one queen got its first worker, with more to eclose in the next couple days.
 
I did find one queen dead today and its fungus turning brown like the fungus of all my old colonies did. I sure hope I don't have some pathogen spreading around my colonies again.
 
I have some of these queens in test tubes, some in the formicariums I designed for them, some in my small starter formicariums with dirt poured inside the nest, and even some in my dirt box formicariums this time.
 
This is how I set up some of the queens in my starter formicariums. These formicariums work quite well for Acromyrmex actually, they just need a slightly larger tile to give them more humidity than most ants prefer. Since the tiles are a little small, I put dirt in the nest to soak up more water and raise the humidity.
 

 

 

 

 
 
The ants like to plug up the entrances just like they do with their nests in the wild.
 

 
 
Here is how I set them up in the Dirt Boxes. I carved out chambers in the bottoms using water and an applicator bottle. I left a barbecue skewer in there when putting the dirt in to create a tunnel to the surface.
 

 

 

 
 
This queen was doing great until she exploded due to a nematode. Of all the species I've collected and the hundreds and hundreds of colonies I have had, I only saw this happen one time before with a Pogonomyrmex californicus queen.
 

[Zeiss]

What container was the fungus turning brown in?

[dspdrew]

One of the fungus-grower formicariums.

[Flame.Hyped]

Interesting journal, sad the colonies collapsed.

[dspdrew]

Update 9-10-2017

A big storm finally went through the desert on 9-8-2017 and 9-9-2017. The area around Desert Center got some good rain, and Acromyrmex finally flew there. They actually flew everywhere near the 10 freeway between Desert Center and Blythe. I couldn't believe how many there were. I drove about 10 miles down a dirt road that runs parallel to the 10 freeway, and saw Acromyrmex founding chambers under nearly every large bush or tree.
Zeiss and I collected a bunch more of them from a spot right off the 177 Sunday.
 
I managed to get another chunk of fungus from Vendayn , and was able to give some to all but about 15 queens. I kept some of the fungus along with some workers as a reserve.
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
This colony seems to be doing the best of all of them. They are in what is essentially one of my 1-chamber fungus-grower formicariums, just without the tube in between. Even here they plugged up the entrance, it just took a lot more dirt this time.
 

 

[Leo]

what did you do with the nematode?

[dspdrew]

what did you do with the nematode?

 

Put it in the trash.

[dspdrew]

Update 11-19-2017

These have been doing fairly well. I think most all of the duds have died off by now. At this point I have 12 colonies left, all with healthy fungus and workers. These are all in my regular fungus-grower formicariums, including a bunch of my new small starter formicariums designed specifically for them.
 
This is a healthy little colony in one of my starter formicariums.
 

 
 
This is the third largest of the new colonies from this year, with 17 workers.
 

 

 

 
 
This is the second largest colony, with 25 workers.
 

 
 
And this is the largest, with about 50 workers.
 

 

 
 
This colony has even started hanging fungus from the lid.
 

 
 
In addition to all these, I also bought back the colony I sold to Vendayn two years ago. He's moving out of state, so he's going to have to leave these behind. He took very good care of them, and they now have the entire 8-chamber formicarium full of fungus, and probably over 1000 workers. I'm giving the formicarium a little tune-up with some new parts and whatnot. I'll get some pictures of it once it's finished.

[MegaMyrmex]

Nice, hopefully these'll grow into massive colonies...

[AntsCalifornia]

It's too bad all your huge colonies died. It seems like your colonies just don't stop dying. It would be cool if you could get a huge colony of these going. I've seen people use 10 gallon fish tanks for their huge colonies fungus chamber and it's amazing. Also I was wondering, if your colony kept going longer than it did, how would you clean the fungus chambers. They look like they get really dirty. Would you keep moving these species and clean their nests, or is there a point when their chambers get permanent, like with 10 gallon tanks. If so, how would you clean that so mold won't grow and kill the colony. Last question I have is is there any place other than right in front of joshua tree you can find these species in socal? 

[AntsCalifornia]

Update 11-19-2017

 

In addition to all these, I also bought back the colony I sold to Vendayn two years ago. He's moving out of state, so he's going to have to leave these behind. He took very good care of them, and they now have the entire 8-chamber formicarium full of fungus, and probably over 1000 workers. I'm giving the formicarium a little tune-up with some new parts and whatnot. I'll get some pictures of it once it's finished.

What's funny is your queen you sold to him you said was doing very poorly, and he revived it and it is now doing very well. There must be something like a disease that kills all your ants. I don't understand how other people don't just have colonies randomly die, but you do.

[Vendayn]

 

65q24g4g5f

Edited by Vendayn, March 9 2018 - 7:10 PM.