14 replies to this topic

[AntsMaryland]

Hi,

I caught an acorn!

 

I got a Temnothrax colony that is in an acorn. I broke the acorn so they are on the splintered pieces of the acorn. They are in a disposable container with fluon barrier. I have a testube set up on the side in hopes they will move in. How do I get them all to move into the testube set-up? Is it possible? Their are 2 queens in the acorn that I can see.

[FeedTheAnts]

Whenever I need to move ants from a bucket to a tube then first I'll take as many of the large pieces of dirt(or wood sometimes, and in your case acorn pieces) out of the bucket and then corral the queen into the tube. After some time then the workers will find the queen in the tube and having nowhere else to move, they will move into the tube.

[AntsMaryland]

ok, I put a toilet paper roll over the testube to make it dark. If I keep a bright non heated light on the chunks of acorns, would that work? Thanks

[Evanthomas89]

In order for my acorn ants to move into a test tube I had to put a piece of foil over the entrance to the test tube. 

 

[AntsMaryland]

ok Ill try that. If I just do that without the light will they eventually move in?

[Evanthomas89]

ok Ill try that. If I just do that without the light will they eventually move in?

 

What I did was continued to feed them in the outworld like normal with the acorn in it for a few weeks actually slowly picking off some acorn once a week so I didn't stress them to much, then MrILoveTheAnts told me they need to feel more secure in the test tube and to achieve that I needed to cover the end of the tube with the foil and then crack open their acorn so the hole in the foil was smaller and more easily defended than the acorn. I don't have any experience taking in wild colonies other than this one but this one seems successful and I think it's because I took it really slow with them. I didn't even get to see the queen until I had them for a month. 

[AntsMaryland]

ok thanks

[AntsMaryland]

So they are all moved into a testube. There about 100 workers and a bunch of brood. How many workers can these colonies get (there are four queens)?

[Bryansant]

Maybe different in captivity but "Colony populations are usually quite small, often with less than 100 workers. However, several studies have found colonies of some species to be widely dispersed with several to many satellite nests" per Wikipedia. Keeping in mind that there are more than 350 species in Temnothorax and that multiple other genera have been found in acorns.

[Bryansant]

"I’ve found Temnothorax, Myrmica, Pyramica, Pachycondyla, Aphaenogaster, and Lasius, all huddled up in acorns," from this Alex Wild post: http://www.myrmecos....-of-acorn-ants/
(2nd to last comment in the comments section).

[AntsMaryland]

Update: My acorn ant colony move into the testube a while ago. There are four queens and a lot of eggs and larvae. Yay. All the pupae that they moved in with has already hatched. They eat fairly well but I always think of them as the "cats" of the ant world. They tend to graze on honey and mealworm juices for short but frequent amounts of time. I change the honey and mealworm parts 3 times a week to prevent any mold.

[Connectimyrmex]

Nice! I just caught a Temnothorax (longispinosus) colony as well! I've noticed that they like tiny nests, even to the extent that all of the workers are packed together (I use favor vials as nesting habitats for Temnothorax)

[AntsMaryland]

For me, I just take a normal test tube set-up and stuff the inside lightly with cotton and they love it.

Edited by AntsMaryland, August 24 2017 - 12:14 PM.

[Connectimyrmex]

That's a good method. Acorns inhabited by Temnothorax often are filled with shredded acorn flesh (from the previous inhabitants[weevils]). Cotton is quite similar to it.

[AntsMaryland]

Yep, as far as I can tell they are thriving. They pull apart the cotton and create chambers. It works well.