173 replies to this topic

[YsTheAnt]

What time of year do you usually have these for sale, and for how much? They look amazing! Kinda like camponotus but grow fast and harvest seeds.

[dspdrew]

What time of year do you usually have these for sale, and for how much? They look amazing! Kinda like camponotus but grow fast and harvest seeds.

 

April usually. They're usually around $50.

[anttics]

Update 3-27-2015

I managed to wipe the mites off one of the new queens. I started working on another, but didn't get them all yet. A brown liquid started coming out of its gaster somewhere. I'm not sure if I hurt it or what, but it seemed this liquid was coming out of the joints between its gastral terga, and possibly even other joints. I noticed that some of these mites are dead, and probably the ones that fall of the easiest. I was wondering what they would be eating if they were just phoretic mites. It seems to me they would eventually starve or dry out. Maybe that is what's happening; who knows... I'm still going to try to remove them all anyway.

Two of the mite-free queens now have workers.

As for my big colony, they are still doing well. They now have well over the 1500 workers I estimated they had in the last update. It also looks like they still haven't managed to dig through the nylon mesh in their nest.

I observed something interesting with the large colony. There's usually maybe around 200 or so workers in the out world either standing there or wandering around. A few days ago, most of the workers went down into the nest. For the first time since the colony has been this large, there were probably less than 50 workers outside of the nest. It was like this for about two days, and then suddenly there were TONS of workers outside in the out world streaming up the sides. There were inch-and-a-half-wide columns of them going up the sides of the out world, only to fall back down once reaching the top of course. In total, there were probably over 600 workers out there in the out world. Some of them were even starting to take brood out of the nest. It was like this for about two days, when I got suspicious. I checked the water, and the tank had gone completely dry! This was obviously what was causing this interesting sequence of activity. I quickly filled the tank back up, and within minutes, there were no more columns of them streaming up the sides, and most of them went back down into the nest. Pretty soon the bottom chambers were filled solid with workers, obviously drinking the water as it soaked into the sponge. Soon everything went back to normal with about 200 or so just hanging around in the out world.

This tells me something. I think they actually liked the nest much more once it started to dry out, but of course it was clear that once it had gone completely dry they decided they needed to quickly find some water or a new more humid place to nest. Now that I think about it, this doesn't surprise me at all. This nest right now is using a PVA sponge, which absorbs water so well that the entire thing is soaked. I had a feeling this would be a problem in a nest this small. Luckily, I'm actually planning to use ceramic tiles now anyways, so this won't be an issue.

Hey D. I have a question do these ants need their nest moisture by you. or are these like messor Barbarus. some guy has a video on YouTube. we're he never waters the ytong nest instead he has test tubes in the out world. we're the ants would collect water and spit it on the larva and eggs. I asked him about this. he told me about the ants doing the moisture. he aslo told me, that the colony has to reach a few hundreds to achieve their this. what are your thoughts on this or have you ever try it.

[dspdrew]

They don't need that much moisture from what I have seen.

[anttics]

have u ever try just having test tubes in out world?, and let the ants do the moisture them selfs. I think this could save their lives in case you forget to moisture the nest.

[YsTheAnt]

What's the mortality rate of these queens?

[AntsCalifornia]

Wow, that is too many ants in such a small area. They need a new nest. It's like a ghetto in there.

[YsTheAnt]

My queen still just has eggs, a whole lot of them. Should I be concerned? She is kept around 80 degrees.

Edited by YsTheAnt, April 28 2018 - 5:05 PM.

[Thebrute99]

Updates ?

[neoponera]

updates?

[Rstheant]

Ha! I didn’t know V. Pergandi like sugar water! I should try that!

[dspdrew]

Update 1-13-2019
 

I have horrible news. I accidentally killed this colony. I've been so busy lately, that I forgot to check the water level of the formicarium water tank, and it ran dry. Normally when this happens it kills tons of workers, but never the queen. Well this time it killed the queen too. It sucks because this was one of my oldest colonies.

 

Luckily I have another colony from last season that has up to about 400 workers now. I probably won't be moving them into the same formicarium as the last colony because right now I have them in one of my large startup formicariums and it seems to be working well for them. I will probably put one of my Novomessor colonies in the large vertical formicarium.

[Superant33]

That’s too bad. I know your pain. I have accidentally killed some of my colonies too.

[Rstheant]

You should make a note near your ant site that says: CHECK THE HYDRATION LEVEL OF THE FORMICARIUMS!!!! That way you’ll never forget.


Edit: make it in big bold red letters.....

[nurbs]

Drew has killed a lot of colonies lately. My respect for him as an antkeeper diminishes.

[FSTP]

Drew has killed a lot of colonies lately. My respect for him as an antkeeper diminishes.

 

 

Intrest in ant keeping wanes over time?

[sirjordanncurtis]

R u planning on keeping more this season?

[dspdrew]

Update 6-12-2019

This new colony is doing great. It's really hard to get a worker count though because they are packed so thick in their nest. All I know is there is definitely more than 500 of them now. These guys are so funny, they always seem to have a well defined trash pile and food pile.
 

 

[Zeiss]

That's quite a bit of ants in a single box.

[Acutus]

They have access to the other two boxes? They all just wanna hang out in the one? That's pretty interesting