111 replies to this topic

[Hikari]

Today I witnessed a Lasius claviger nuptial flight while looking for Crematogaster queens. I ended up with 8 dealates and two dozen or so workers I'll split between a few of the queens. I'm going to attempt a few different founding methods. The others may have to wait til after hibernation. This species is fun in that they smell like citronella! Seriously, my index card (that I used to herd workers and queens into snap caps) reeked of it when I got home. Not a bad thing though, I actually find the smell rather pleasant. I just hope my L.neoniger end up founding okay, cause I'll need a few of them for my parasitic species if I'm going to pull any of this off.

Oh, and here's the video from the nuptial flight. It was so cool.

[Connectimyrmex]

Nice! I would recommend putting all of the queens in a jar. Then, pick out the healthiest individual (the one that runs the fastest). Release the rest and give all of the workers to the healthy queen.

[Hikari]

Nice! I would recommend putting all of the queens in a jar. Then, pick out the healthiest individual (the one that runs the fastest). Release the rest and give all of the workers to the healthy queen.

I've learned never to count on just one queen. I split the workers between four of them, and the rest will just have to wait til the other Lasius get their colonies going. They're probably going to all end up overwintering before laying regardless.

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9-19-17 - Two days of work, and my ants now have some upgraded set-ups! The test tubes now have new mini-outworlds to allow access to honey tubes for sugar on demand, the Formica have a newly refurbished outworld, and the C.pennsylvanicus have a new natural set-up! Everyone will get protein later, but for now I'm letting everyone settle in and find their sugars first.

[Hikari]

I'M NOT DEAD! I've just had a bumpy start to this year's ant season, so I held off updating this thing, and before I knew it, May was already halfway over and my new ant season was in full swing. So, to get things started, here's how 2018's gone down so far:

 

- Hibernation did not go well. I eventually lost all of my ants from last year except the Formica and two L. neoniger queens (the latter of which are having a questionable time founding. We'll see how that goes)

 

- The Formica are doing well. It's odd because while I did get a few new workers from her, it seems the bulk of the early spring eggs are going to turn out to be alates (the pupa are BIG, and afaik, Formica don't have minors and majors). I thought that was rather odd. Might have something to do with how I brood-boosted her last year. There's still plenty of workers, but I am noticing my first big worker die-off. I just hope she starts laying more worker eggs to make up for it. I won't have access to the same Formica colony I did last year.

 

- On that last note...I've moved! Not too far, actually closer to one of the parks I liked to visit last year (the one I found a L. claviger nuptial flight in progress). Means the more local one with my favorite wild slave-making Formica colony will be further out. I still hope to visit that park sometime this summer and look for a queen (I would LOVE a colony of them! Black and red colored!)

 

- I've already caught this year's first queens. Four C. pennsylvanicus. Three at my old neighborhood and one actually walking along the floor at my new place. Three of the four have laid eggs. The fourth has taken off all but one of her wings but still seems to be deciding if she wants to lay or not. First one with a decent amount of workers will get the old colony's wooden formicarium/dirt outworld combo. In the meantime, I'm trying to think of better hydration methods for it. I have ideas...

 

- Today I caught a Myrmica colony during one last ant-hunting hurrah in my old backyard (I have access to it til around the end of the month). They were spread between three close-by acorns. I snagged the queen and as many workers as I could manage, and a ton of brood. They have taken to being in captivity in stride. They found the nest tube and moved in, found the cricket and the honey tube, and went to town. A few of them seem to be inspecting the cotton plug on the top of the mini-outworld, but for the most part, they seem very content with their new surroundings. I kind of regretted selling all my Myrmica last year, as they really were a fun species in hindsight, so I think I'll keep these ones around.

 

Anyways, here's to 2018's anting season! I may not go as crazy with it as I did last year, but even then, I'll probably still be out catching some new queens to at least sell or something. That, and I haven't given up on possibly finally getting a Crematogaster colony eventually...

Edited by Hikari, May 21 2018 - 11:25 PM.

[YsTheAnt]

Formica has slight polymorphism, not as much as Camponotus though. Glad to see that this journal is back!

[CoolColJ]

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9-19-17 - Two days of work, and my ants now have some upgraded set-ups! The test tubes now have new mini-outworlds to allow access to honey tubes for sugar on demand, the Formica have a newly refurbished outworld, and the C.pennsylvanicus have a new natural set-up! Everyone will get protein later, but for now I'm letting everyone settle in and find their sugars first.

These mini outworlds

 

Did you make them yourself?

if so, did you just drill holes, put in a small section of vinyl tubing into them and pop the test tubes in?

[CatsnAnts]

Any more updates??? This is one of my favorite journals!!! I’m really curious to see how your ants are doing!

[Major]

Earlier in this journal you mentioned that you were looking into formicariums. For your Camponotus you should get some Ants Australia Ytong nests and for myrmica get Ants Australia Acrylic nests. They are pretty well priced but shipping is a little too expensive. But these nests are great. For your lasius you could go for ytong or acrylic. P.S.(Three years ago I lived in Ohio. But this was before I got into Ants. I also love your journal!!!)

[Hikari]

So...some developments:

 

I've released the Myrmica and Temnothorax colonies. I just don't have the time to take care of a bunch of colonies right now, and they were starting to decline. I let them go in my flower bed, so they had some nice real estate to move into. When I set the tubes out at night, they were completely moved out of by morning. Kind of curious if the Myrmica did end up nesting under the rock I put them nearby. I may investigate that.

 

My C. pennsylvanicus have been slowly dying off. Again. I did move one of the small colonies into the more natural wood set-up in an attempt to see if that would help a little. If these colonies die off, I'm swearing off C. pennsylvanicus for good. So far, any surviving brood is given to the queen in the wooden formicarium to care for. Her workers have been dying off as well, so it's a last ditch effort to save her colony too.

 

On the Formica front, there has been massive die-offs. I expected this. The colony was boosted more than the queen could keep up with, and those workers were now pushing a year old. However, I feel there will be a point where the colony will hit an equilibrium, as new workers are still on the way. On that note, since I've realized I keep the formicarium covers a good chunk of the time anyways, I am planning on moving them to a natural set-up. I have a 10g aquarium that has recently been vacated, and it would be perfect for a dirt set-up. I have extra organic soil from my gardening projects as well. I'll be adding a few plants,  and a small piece of wood, maybe a rock, but nothing too crazy. These girls will go nuts if I give them dirt, and have a very high probability of burying anything I try and grow in there anyways. I'm going to try and lure them towards digging near the front by putting the heat cable there, so if I'm lucky, I'll still see my queen from time to time. She's so pretty, I'd feel sad if I never got to see her at all. I think a natural set-up will help me take better care of them though. I seem to be gravitating towards them for ease of upkeep.

 

There's also my mystery queen I caught in early July. Found her scrambling across my driveway. She's got workers on the way, and I'm patient, so I'm going to wait until then to try and get an ID. She's probably some sort of Lasius though, from the looks of her.

Sorry there's not much else to mention at this point. It's been a pretty uneventful year for ants with me so far. Things might kick into gear once the Lasius flights begin this fall, if I have time to go out for those, but outside of that, I've actually been downsizing my colonies. I think I've officially moved from my newbie excitement of "catch everything" to a more chill "what can I feasibly take care of/what do I WANT to take care of?".

Either way, making a natural set-up for the Formica should be fun, and I'll be sure to post pics when that's finished (and update with how much they decide to "redecorate").

Edited by Hikari, August 3 2018 - 11:53 PM.

[DaveJay]

For a "natural" set up the "box inside a box" set up might be a good idea, it's used for a variety of burrowing animals. Simply put, find a plastic tub perhaps a third of the height that fits inside the aquarium leaving a gap on two or more sides and bury it, that way you get the look of a natural set up but any burrowing has to take place in the gaps between the tub and the glass.

[Kaelwizard]

You accidentally said Tetramorium longispinosis in one of your posts. I think you mean't Temnothorax longispinosis.

[Hikari]

You accidentally said Tetramorium longispinosis in one of your posts. I think you mean't Temnothorax longispinosis.

 

Oops, I did, lol.

 

Alright folks, so, I have some bad news. I'm not sure why, but all of my ant colonies have been declining over the course of this summer, and they're all gone with the exception of the Formica colony, and even they aren't doing well. I'm down to less than a dozen workers. I'm thinking it's only a matter of time before I'm officially out of ants. I'm not exactly sure what's going on. My only guess is there's possibly something about the new house that doesn't jive well with them. Worst case, I may have to start up fresh again. If I'm lucky, I might find some Lasius this fall to try and raise.

 

Funny enough, my breeding project for superworms seems to be going well. I've successfully gotten them to pupate, and I'm starting to get beetles now. It'll take some time, but eventually, I'll have feeder sized superworks again. Not sure what I'll do if I end up with more superworms and nothing to feed them to though...maybe get a lizard or something.