66 replies to this topic

[Goldsystem]

I have seen a year two colony with five queens, it was on YouTube

[Alabama Anter]

P imparis is also polygynous

no they are pleometrophic meaning that they will onky be polygynous juring the founding stage

P imparis is also polygynous

True, also being the only ant that loves the cold.

there are also other cold loving prenolepis out there

P imparis is polygynous Canadian Anter

[Goldsystem]

UPDATE:
Well the ants are finally out of hibernation. P.imparis is out foraging unlike normal and has a large amount of protein filled repeats so I offered them hummingbird nectar, sunburst antnectar, and some prickly pear jam I go while visiting Arizona and they haven't touched it. I plan on offering them some organic orange slices soon because I've noticed p.imparis swarming oranges in my area. The pheidole seem to like the sunburst ant nectar and that's good but I noticed they don't have any eggs or brood so I'm a little worried (if there's something I can do to help them please let me know) The tetras are most likely craving protein which I don't have at the moment (I will soon) and are drinking bits of hummingbird nectar and sunburst ant nectar here and there. No pictures for now.

Edited by Goldsystem, March 13 2017 - 6:26 PM.

[Alabama Anter]

My Pheidole LOVE the heat maybe thatll help

[Goldsystem]

Their on a heat pad at the moment, I'm gonna try and make the protein sources I give them (and all my other colony's) more diverse than meal worms and an occasional fruit fly. Hopefully that will help

[Nathant2131]

I apologize in advance with all the P. imparis questions I am probably going to bombard you with as this journal continues...

 

Did you hibernate the P. imparis normally like any commonly kept species?

 

During Spring/Summer/Fall, it was always room temp for them, right? I am questioning this becuase some people actually put them in the cold in summer.

[Goldsystem]

I hibernated them just the same as all my other ants, and kept them at room temperature
UPDATE:

Well one of the two pheidole queens has died

[thosaka]

I hibernated them just the same as all my other ants, and kept them at room temperature
UPDATE:

Well one of the two pheidole queens has died

I'm sorry for your loss. Any possible reasons it may have died?

[Goldsystem]

I hibernated them just the same as all my other ants, and kept them at room temperature
UPDATE:

Well one of the two pheidole queens has died

I'm sorry for your loss. Any possible reasons it may have died?

This was my only wild caught colony so she may have been old or stressed. I'm just hoping the last Queen will pull through.

[Goldsystem]

UPDATE:
Well my p.imparis have layed their first batch of eggs since hibernation. There looks to be 6-7 eggs hopefully the queen will lay more soon.

Edited by Goldsystem, April 2 2017 - 10:07 AM.

[Nathant2131]

Wow... Never knew how many workers at a time could be repletes... This journal is getting me excited for our P. imparis flights in MA that we have forever been waiting for.

[MichiganAnts]

Wow... Never knew how many workers at a time could be repletes... This journal is getting me excited for our P. imparis flights in MA that we have forever been waiting for.

agreed. I'm personally not planning on keeping a colony of them. but i know several people in my state who ill be selling queens to.

[Goldsystem]

UPDATE:
Well here's an update on all of my ants with pictures.
camponotus noveboracensis:
I woke up today to a huge pile of eggs, I'm really excited that this colony is growing so fast. They have 10-12 pupae that I'm assuming are gonna enclose soon, some are rather large so I'm hoping for meda workers.
Pictures:




P.imparis:
Interestingly the larvae are all growing at very very different rates unlike all my other ants.
Pictures:


Pheidole :
I'm so happy they laid eggs and are recovering from the loss of their queen.
Pictures:




Tetramorium:
They are still growing fast, nothing really new with them.
Pictures:

[MegaMyrmex]

Nice ants. What do you feed the P. Imparis? Also, how's your hypoponera queen doing?

[Goldsystem]

Nice ants. What do you feed the P. Imparis? Also, how's your hypoponera queen doing?

I feed my p.imparis sunburst ant nectar, humming bird nectar, Dubai roaches, and wax worms. As for my hypoponera queen she sadly died during hibernation.

[Goldsystem]

Pheidole:
These girls are really coming back, they have a huge pile of pupae and eggs.(huge compared to how big the pile was before)





Tetras:
These girls are growing steadily, they covered the main chamber in sand so I couldn't get any pictures of the queen.



Camponotus:
They have grown a lot and now have 3 or 4 large workers.





P.imparis:
They ate all but one of the eggs and it's now a pupae and will be enclosing soon. I hope next year they will refrain from cannibalism.

Edited by Goldsystem, June 12 2017 - 9:51 PM.

[Goldsystem]

UPDATE:

Well the tetramorium were killed by wild tetramorium, and my pheidole who were in the middle of a population boom have been reduced to ten workers(lots of brood though). All my other ants were thankfully unharmed

[Goldsystem]

UPDATE:

Here are some pictures I took of the pheidole, they are housed in a 117 colonies minor nest.





These were taken after the incident with the tetramorium, the colony is now up to 20-30 workers with some brood, unfortunately some of the brood was dead and is now molding. I will be moving them again soon before the mold becomes to big of a problem.

[Goldsystem]

It's been awhile since I've updated because nothing really interesting has happened, until now at least. My p.imparis have layed thier third batch of eggs!

[Goldsystem]

I found an Aphaenogaster occidentalis Queen while I was out and about collecting queens for my store, I have never seen a queen of this species despite finding small nests under rocks. So I decided I’d keep her for myself, here’s some pictures: