20 replies to this topic

[ctantkeeper]

Hello, I don't often create posts like this, but I thought it might be fun to share my progress with you guys. right now, I don't have a working camera setup at my disposal, so this "journal" may primarily consist of text from this point on. However, that might change. I usually have a myriad of different colonies of a wide variety of species (At any given time, I can have anywhere from 8-30 different colonies at once). However, due to a wide variety of issues (disease, parasites, mold, etc.), my collection has greatly decreased in size. I hope to add to it in the near future, while at the same time keeping it manageable and relatively small. I am going to college next year and promised my parents that I would try to keep my collection fairly small (under 13-14 colonies) as to prevent myself from becoming too overwhelmed. Anyways, I will try to keep the format of this as consistent as possible in order to prevent any confusion.

 

 

Colony Type :                                                                                                 

 

Founding Colonies :

Lasius neoniger - 3 queens - 100-120 eggs, 3-4 larvae - test tube setup

Myrmica sp. (unidentified) - 5-6 larvae - test tube setup (with foam insert)

Crematogaster cf. cerasi - 4 eggs, 4-5 larvae - test tube setup

Crematogaster cf. cerasi - 7-8 eggs, 3-4 micro larvae - test tube setup 

Prenolepis imparis - 19 queens (one of them is winged) - unknown number of eggs (however several small batches are present in the founding formicarium) - "Atom C" formicarium

 

Established Colonies :                                                                                

Tetramorium sp.e - 1 queen - approx. 140 workers - Mini hearth (medium)

Tetramorium sp.e - 1 queen - approx. 125-130 workers - Mini hearth (medium)

Tetramorium sp.e - 1 queen - approx. 245 workers - Roughly 40-50 new workers are expected to eclose soon  - Mini hearth (Type 2 with top floor temporarily blocked with a rubber stopper)

Lasius neoniger - 2 queens - approx. 180 workers - Roughly 60-70 new workers are expected to eclose soon - Mini hearth (large)

Tetramorium sp.e (Planned on being released back into the wild) - 1 queen (injured) - approx. 50 workers - "Atom A" formicarium in petri-dish outworld

Edited by ctantkeeper, May 13 2017 - 2:41 PM.

[ctantkeeper]

Updated (corrected) as of today ^^^^ 

[Martialis]

Not to start a debate, but don't most myrmecologists and entomologists recommend not releasing colonies back into the wild?

[ctantkeeper]

Not to start a debate, but don't most myrmecologists and entomologists recommend not releasing colonies back into the wild?

I am actually not sure about that. I think that as long as you are able to release you colony of choice back into the the area it was collected from you should be fine. If i'm wrong, please let me know.

[ctantkeeper]

OK, back for another update. Not much has changed, but several colonies are on the cusp of hitting a major growth milestone (pupae of those respective colonies are eclosing en mass). A few of th colonies have run into various "issues", which I have touch upon below.

 

 

Colony Type :

 

Founding Colonies :

Lasius neoniger - 3 queens - 50 eggs, 4-5 larvae - Colony has begun to decline. most of the eggs are spherical and completely clear and the queens appear to be eating large portions of them. I assume that these eggs are resulting from one or more infertile queens. I am not sure if I will keep this colony in the long run. I should also note that their setup is dark and remains undisturbed for weeks at a time. - test tube setup

Myrmica sp. (unidentified) - 2 larvae - test tube setup (with foam insert) - Although they have been receiving proper nutrition and live in similar conditions to that of my Lasius neoniger colony ^^^, the queen seems to have cannibalized all but two of her larvae (which have grown quite massive). I am not sure if she will be able to produce a viable colony.  

Crematogaster cf. cerasi - 12 eggs, 5 larvae, 3 pupae - This colony is quite promising. - test tube setup

Crematogaster cf. cerasi - 10 eggs, 5 larvae - test tube setup 

Prenolepis imparis - 19 queens (one of them is winged) - There is now a pile containing hundreds of eggs (approx. 200). Unfortunately, the winged queen has perished. - "Atom C" formicarium

 

Established Colonies :                                                                                

Tetramorium sp.e - 1 queen - approx. 148 workers - This colony has one of the largest brood piles of all of my Tetramorium sp. e colonies. It currently has approx. 200 micro larvae, approx. 80 medium-sized larvae, approx. 160-170 eggs and approx. 60 pupae and pre-pupal larvae. Overall, this colony seems to be doing quite well despite it's relatively slow growth.  - Mini hearth (medium)

Tetramorium sp.e - 1 queen - approx. 137 workers - Oddly enough, all but a few individuals in this colony live on the ceiling of their enclosure. The the floor of their living space is entirely barren. - Mini hearth (medium)

Tetramorium sp.e - 1 queen - approx. 263 workers - Although most of the pupae from the previous pile have become workers, new pupae are taking their place and several are about to eclose. The pupal pile contains approx. 40 pupae and pre-pupal larvae. The queen of this colony has also been laying tons of eggs (Their pile contains approx. 160 of them) - Mini hearth (Type 2 with top floor temporarily blocked with a rubber stopper)

Lasius neoniger - 2 queens - approx. 197 workers - the number of pupae has grown considerably and now numbers over 160. - Mini hearth (large)

Tetramorium sp.e (Planned on being released back into the wild) - 1 queen (injured) - approx. 52 workers - "Atom A" formicarium in petri-dish outworld

Edited by ctantkeeper, May 13 2017 - 5:58 PM.

[ctantkeeper]

This update will be done in a different format due to the fact that I will be only covering an event that had occurred within one of my colonies, albeit a major one.

 

- When checking my Lasius neoniger colony (fully established), I noticed that a group of workers had spent their time diligently cleaning and caring for one of the queens. They seemed to gather around her in large numbers and some even perched on top of her, which is not a bizarre sight in this colony from previous experience. Later however, the workers started to form a ball that had almost completely engulfed her. As you can imagine, I was quite concerned. It turned out that the colony had selected that queen to be killed, leaving the colony with only one, as done in pleometrophic colonies. I did everything i could at the time (I had cooled them down in order to slow down their metabolisms and calm them down. this had little to no affect.). I have to be honest, I'm pretty upset about how this worked out, although I would be lying if I told you guys that I didn't foresee the possibility of this taking place.

[Nathant2131]

Interesting observation.

[ctantkeeper]

Interesting observation.

thank you! Finally, someone replied to this topic lol.

[ctantkeeper]

Its been quite a while since the previous update and much has changed since then. As for the Lasius neoniger colony (in the test tube setup), one of the queens proved to be infertile and the other two mysteriously began to fed upon their brood pile until their was virtually nothing left aside from a few eggs, despite being kept in a dark environment free of vibrations and other small annoyances. The same happened to my Myrmica queen and her brood, one of my Crematogaster cf. cerasi colonies and my experimental Prenolepis imparis colony. Seeing that I had no other option, I released the remnants of these colonies into the wild. I had a feeling that this might occur and didn't let it affect my drive to keep moving forward with my other colonies. Raising colonies can be quite a gamble from time to time (as many of you are aware of). Although unfortunate, the death of one, if not multiple colonies, is to be expected (Especially throughout the course of the founding period). On another note, I have begun rearing termites and now have four colonies (each raised from either polygamous or monogamous pairings of primary reproductives). I have owned these colonies for approx. two months. The stats for these colonies are listed below :

 

Species : Reticulitermes flavipes

 

Colony 1: K : 1 Q : 1 N : 7-8 E : 5-6

Colony 2: K : 2 Q : 3 N : 13-14 E : 8

Colony 3: K : 2 Q : 3 N : 12-13 E : 11-12

Colony 4: K : 3 Q : 4 N : 7-8 E : 18-20

 

As for my remaining ant colonies, Their stats are listed here :

 

Crematogaster cf. cerasi : 7 larvae, 5 pupae, 7-9 eggs, 6 workers - This colony currently lives in a test tube setup secured to the bottom of a ventilated, plastic storage container with the use of fun-tack (a non-toxic putty). The walls of the container are red in color and the test tube itself is kept dark with the use of a cover constructed from a piece of paper.

Tetramorium sp.e - 1 queen - approx. 318 workers!!! - This colony has gone through a major growth spurt, becoming my largest Tetramorium sp.e coloy to date! They will be needing a new setup sometime next month or so. - Mini hearth (medium)

Tetramorium sp.e - 1 queen - approx. 196 workers - Although this colony has grown considerably in size since the last update, it still lags behind the others. The entire colony now lives primarily on the ceiling of their formicarium! - Mini hearth (medium)

Tetramorium sp.e - 1 queen - approx. 297 workers - After being rather stagnant for a brief period of time, this colony has produced batch upon batch of eggs and is now beginning to grow more rapidly. The entire ceiling and a portion of the floor of the formicarium are now completely covered with larvae of various sizes. A small chamber (approx. the size of a pistachio) is now completely filled with both eggs and pupae. - Mini hearth (Type 2 with top floor temporarily blocked with a rubber stopper)

Lasius neoniger - 1 queen - approx. 271 workers - the number of workers has grown considerably and the floor of the formicarium is almost entirely covered in larvae. the water tower is now almost completely covered by larvae of various sizes, pupae and rather large pile of eggs (The remaining queen has more than made up for the loss of her counterpart and is now laying eggs at a much faster rate.). - Mini hearth (large)

Tetramorium sp.e (Planned on being released back into the wild) - 1 queen (injured) - approx. 100 workers - RELEASED (Constructed a nest with several entrances under a shaded pine tree and is still going rather strong.) - "Atom A" formicarium in petri-dish outworld

 

These are the stats for the young colonies I have acquired since my last update :

 

Brachymyrmex depilis - 1 queen - approx. 25-28 eggs, 2-3 micro larvae - standard test tube setup with cover

Tetramorium sp.e colony - 8 queens - approx. 35 eggs, 50 larvae, 65 pupae - standard test tube setup with cover

Tetramorium sp.e colony - 1 queen - approx. 13 eggs, 5-6 larvae, 16 pupae - standard test tube setup with cover

Tetramorium sp.e colony - 1 queen - approx. 6 eggs, 6 larvae, 10 pupae - standard test tube setup with cover

Tetramorium sp.e colony - 8 queens - approx. 45 eggs, 65 larvae, 57 pupae - standard test tube setup with cover

Camponotus pennsylvanicus colony - 1 queen - approx. 15-17 eggs, 3-4 larvae, 5 pupae and 6 workers - Medium inception chamber

Edited by ctantkeeper, July 23 2017 - 8:48 PM.

[ctantkeeper]

For those who are wondering, I store my young R. flavipes colonies in standard test tube setups, each with a cardboard "tile" placed inside for nourishment (This tile is slightly thicker than a piece of printer paper and adheres to the bottom of the test tube when wet. If you decide to create a setup similar to this one for your own use, I would recommend soaking the tile under luke-warm water in order to make it pliable. this will allow it to mold to the interior of the test tube. The cardboard tile can be positioned and flattened with the use of BBQ stick. In order to obtain cardboard tiles, simply cut rectangular tiles from a used paper bag.). In order to aid in the digestion of the cardboard, I place a droplet of water on the tile with the use of a pipette once a day. Frequent watering also discourages the termites from burrowing into the moist cotton that they draw moisture from. A small 2-3 mm. gap between the water resivior and the cardboard prevents a wicking effect from taking place within the setup. The test tube is blocked with a cotton ball and is kept dark with the use of a labeled, paper cover that wraps around the test tube. Although this setup is small and will not serve as permanent housing for these colonies, they make excellent and rather inexpensive founding setups.

[Thomas]

I am new to the forum and was doing a search of Brachymyrmex patagonicus and your post came up. Being new to ant culture I am curious about any observations you might have about patagonicus.

[Connectimyrmex]

Nice that you made a journal for your ants/termites! I thought your Prenolepis died though...

[cpman]

I am new to the forum and was doing a search of Brachymyrmex patagonicus and your post came up. Being new to ant culture I am curious about any observations you might have about patagonicus.

While I'm not the keeper of this journal, I do have some observations about Brachymyrmex patagonicus that I could give you. However, it's best to start a new thread to ask questions like this.

From what I've seen, B. patagonicus is a small ant that loves sweet foods. I pretty much always see them tending insects for honeydew. I rarely see them eating insects.

They're really common here, and have pretty small colonies -- most are a couple hundred workers (maybe a thousand in bigger colonies). They are somewhat polygynous -- I do find colonies with multiple queens.

They seem to fly just about every month of the year where I am.

I was able to get them to raise nanitics pretty easily in the past. The test tube method works fine for them -- even a single queen will produce a pretty large initial batch of brood, and if she doesn't, the queens are so easy to find that it's not hard to replace her.

Edited by cpman, July 23 2017 - 8:01 PM.

[ctantkeeper]

I am new to the forum and was doing a search of Brachymyrmex patagonicus and your post came up. Being new to ant culture I am curious about any observations you might have about patagonicus.

Hi Thomas, welcome to the forum! Unfortunatly, I meant to put B. depilis instead of B. patagonicus. It must of just popped into my head. Sorry about that .

[ctantkeeper]

Nice that you made a journal for your ants/termites! I thought your Prenolepis died though...

Thanks man! Really appreciate it. I'm sorry for the confusion. Several queens in my polygyne Prenolepis colony had proven to be infertile and had died soon after. The other queens began to lay eggs less frequently and began to cannibalize most of the remaining brood. Unfortunatly, this is what drove me to releasing the rest of Prenolepis queens (that is, those that were left in the colony). A colony that is now longer reproductively viable is essentially as good as dead.

[Connectimyrmex]

For those who are wondering, I store my young R. flavipes colonies in standard test tube setups, each with a cardboard "tile" placed inside for nourishment (This tile is slightly thicker than a piece of printer paper and adheres to the bottom of the test tube when wet. If you decide to create a setup similar to this one for your own use, I would recommend soaking the tile under luke-warm water in order to make it pliable. this will allow it to mold to the interior of the test tube. The cardboard tile can be positioned and flattened with the use of BBQ stick. In order to obtain cardboard tiles, simply cut rectangular tiles from a used paper bag.). In order to aid in the digestion of the cardboard, I place a droplet of water on the tile with the use of a pipette once a day. Frequent watering also discourages the termites from burrowing into the moist cotton that they draw moisture from. A small 2-3 mm. gap between the water resivior and the cardboard prevents a wicking effect from taking place within the setup. The test tube is blocked with a cotton ball and is kept dark with the use of a labeled, paper cover that wraps around the test tube. Although this setup is small and will not serve as permanent housing for these colonies, they make excellent and rather inexpensive founding setups.

That's exactly what I do

[ctantkeeper]

 

For those who are wondering, I store my young R. flavipes colonies in standard test tube setups, each with a cardboard "tile" placed inside for nourishment (This tile is slightly thicker than a piece of printer paper and adheres to the bottom of the test tube when wet. If you decide to create a setup similar to this one for your own use, I would recommend soaking the tile under luke-warm water in order to make it pliable. this will allow it to mold to the interior of the test tube. The cardboard tile can be positioned and flattened with the use of BBQ stick. In order to obtain cardboard tiles, simply cut rectangular tiles from a used paper bag.). In order to aid in the digestion of the cardboard, I place a droplet of water on the tile with the use of a pipette once a day. Frequent watering also discourages the termites from burrowing into the moist cotton that they draw moisture from. A small 2-3 mm. gap between the water resivior and the cardboard prevents a wicking effect from taking place within the setup. The test tube is blocked with a cotton ball and is kept dark with the use of a labeled, paper cover that wraps around the test tube. Although this setup is small and will not serve as permanent housing for these colonies, they make excellent and rather inexpensive founding setups.

That's exactly what I do

 

Cheap, Small and Efficient. It may not be all that fancy or aesthetically appealing, but it gets the job done!

[ctantkeeper]

Quick update :

 

Just collected 10 new Solenopsis molesta de-alate queens!!! They are currently all being housed in a test tube setup as a single polygyne colony. I have also collected a Pheidole pilifera de-alate queen!!!!! For those that don't know, this particular species has been my "White whale" for the past four years or so, partially due to the fact that colonies of this species are not found in or around where I live. Anyways, I am beyond ecstatic to have her! Hopefully she is fertile and will produce a healthy colony. Despite the introduction of these new queens, I have had to let go of my 2nd Tetramorium sp.e founding colony due to a lack of acrylic test tubes in my arsenal. This is not a major loss on my part, since this colony was originally meant to be sold to a fellow ant keeper who had declined soon after its capture. I picked this particular colony to be released back into the wild based on the number of workers and brood it currently had, which was the lowest amount of all the founding Tetramorium sp.e colonies. I feel like I made the right choice though.

[Connectimyrmex]

Hey, I was mentioned!

Sorry for declining, I had too many tetramorium colonies (3).

[ctantkeeper]

Hey, I was mentioned!

Sorry for declining, I had too many tetramorium colonies (3).

it's cool, don't worry about it. Caring for a colony is a huge commitment, hence why I got rid of mine

Edited by ctantkeeper, August 19 2017 - 8:08 PM.