102 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

Update 4-1-2015

 

Well like I feared, they didn't dig a big enough nest for the queen. It was a nice nest for themselves, but the queen just wouldn't fit.

 

 

They tried and tried to pull her into the nest, but she made a better plug than a queen.

 

I ended up widening the hole with a barbeque skewer, and after that she fit down into their little chamber just fine.

[dean_k]

lol

 

The tunnel needs to be a lot wider if her giant gaster is going to pass through.

[antmaniac]

The ants are not very clever. Sometimes they will force to squeeze through tiny space, hence damage the brood. Or, they dump the rubbish in their nest. When it got mouldy, then they remove it and move it out.

[dspdrew]

Update 4-8-2015

 

The ant farm box may be helping for this colony, because they finally have some new eggs now.

[dspdrew]

Update 4-30-2015
 
I decided that some of my deadbeat Myrmecocystus queens have been sitting there in test tubes long enough, and I'm not going to be fixing up another test tube for them once theirs gets dirty or dries out. Both of these test tubed queens needed new test tubes, so I put them and one I had in a test tube/foraging container setup together in one of my little ant farm boxes. This will be their last chance.

 

The one healthy colony is still doing well. I can see lots of small larvae down in their bottom chamber now.

[dspdrew]

Update 5-19-2015
 
One of the deadbeat queens dug a founding chamber, but later died in it, while the other two just hang out next to each other on the surface. One of them has laid a few eggs as well.

[dspdrew]

Update 6-1-2015
 
I dumped the two deadbeat queens into my tarantula enclosure where they can dig a founding chamber and start a colony if they want, or become tarantula food. I needed to use the ant farm box they were in for another colony.

 

The colony that was doing well has had lots of their workers die off. I also don't see much brood anymore either.

[Vendayn]

I imagine this is probably a really hard species to keep. Don't see too many successful colonies of them around. Hopefully your remaining queens bounce back.

[dspdrew]

Update 6-14-2015
 
The last living colony is completely dead now.

[dspdrew]

Update 7-9-2015
 
I found five more of these queens on 7-7-2015, in Goffs, California, which is in the high Mojave Desert. I dug them up from their founding chambers two days after a big storm dropped over an inch of rain there.

 

Three of them died soon after getting them home. I put the remaining two in two of my small ant farm boxes.

[dspdrew]

Update 7-27-2015
 
The remaining two queens from Goffs, finally both died also.

 

I found a bunch more of these in 29 Palms and Phelan, California 7-20-2015 through 7-21-2015.

 

For now I am just keeping them in test tubes because I don't have enough dirt boxes for them. I might make something better, or I might put some dirt in their tubes to see if that helps.

[dspdrew]

Update 9-10-2015
 
I now have eight of these queens left. Two of them are in dirt boxes, and doing great. They both have about 17 workers. The other six are still in test tubes, and don't have any workers yet. Just as an experiment, the one marked with a green sticker was boosted with one Myrmecocystus cf. mendax pupa about a week ago, and two M. mexicanus pupae tonight. It looks like she might have trashed the Myrmecocystus cf. mendax pupa.

[dspdrew]

Update 10-19-2015
 
The two colonies in the dirt boxes are still doing great and growing quickly. One of them is up to about 26 workers--one of them a replete, 8 pupae, and 50 larvae. The other colony has about 30 workers--three of them repletes, 10 pupae, and 50 larvae. One of their repletes is HUGE.
 

 
 
The rest of the colonies in test tubes have mostly died off. The only ones left have no workers.

[Ants4fun]

Wow, they are using their queen as a replete... Isn't that dangerous for her?

[dspdrew]

I don't know if it's dangerous, but I've heard some say it might put extra stress on her. Quite a few of my honeypot ant colonies have done this regardless of their situation.

[klawfran3]

That glass is so clean! Don't dirt formicaria often have really dirty/ nasty glass? Did the ants clean it themselves?

[dspdrew]

Some of these colonies they dig very clean chambers, but it's usually the first time the formicarium is ever used. After that, micro scratches start to form which cause the dirt stick to the sides a bit more. Also, I burrowed out a chamber using water in the ones I forcefully moved colonies into, so that sometimes is the reason a chamber is so clean.

[drtrmiller]

Please take a picture of the chamber with a ruler for scale.

[LC3]

Hey look the queen's got that  funny white organ Sub was talking about.

[drtrmiller]

Please take a picture of the chamber with a ruler for scale.