61 replies to this topic

[AntsMaryland]

What time at night? Sunset? 9:00?

[Ants_Texas]

What time at night? Sunset? 9:00?

Starting when it gets dark out. 

[AntsMaryland]

Thanks! I really want to catch quite a few of these queens. I love how they're polymorphic even though ik ill have to wait awhile for them to grow to a decent size. But I'm willing to wait!

[YsTheAnt]

Try blacklighting at night, and checking in wood/looking for wanderers during the day.

I would stick to looking on trees and ground for queens at night, as most fly in the morning and then hide for the day. That's just what I have heard though, and I would do both to see what works for you.

[Ants_Texas]

Update 2/18/18

 

Today I moved them into a new tube of the same size, because the old one was pretty dirty. They are now up to 31 workers! I'm very surprised that there's no major yet, but the workers continue to grow in size.

 

Here they are before the move. Imgur decided to make the picture vertical. 

 

Here they are after after getting dumped in nurbs style. The queen was having none of it, and decided to run off. For some reason, my Camponotus queens do that all the time when moved.

[AntsMaryland]

Haha. Sometimes you wonder if these queens  have been watching to many Romantic Drama movies.... Run away... get back together...

[Ants_Texas]

Haha. Sometimes you wonder if these queens  have been watching to many Romantic Drama movies.... Run away... get back together...

I had to push her over to the brood pile and workers. She was so upset, she almost bit one of her own.

[AntsMaryland]

How did you move her?

[Ants_Texas]

How did you move her?

I dumped them all into the outworld. 

Edited by Ants_Texas, February 18 2018 - 5:57 PM.

[AntsMaryland]

That's probably why they freaked out...

[Ants_Texas]

Update 2/23/18

 

They hatched two majors a few days ago, and one is bigger than the other. They also have two very large pupae, which could put them at four majors at a later date. They've reached 35 workers, and pictures will be much better now that I have my EOS Rebel SL2 with a 60mm Macro. Today there's a bit of glare, but I'll fix it soon.

 

Definitely not the best picture, but it's mainly a brood pile shot. The majors are in the top right and bottom left. They've got tons of brood!

 

There's the queen and a fresh pile of eggs behind her. This colony is going to start exploding soon!

 

Glare, glare, glare.. I know. Check out all of the little details we can now see on the workers though! I'll fix the glare in the next update, I promise!

[MegaMyrmex]

That's a MAJOR growth explosion right there! Seriously, nice colony! Can't wait until my colony gets their first major!

[Ants_Texas]

That's a MAJOR growth explosion right there! Seriously, nice colony! Can't wait until my colony gets their first major!

I see what you did there

 

I'm very excited for future growth.

[Ants_Texas]

Update 2/26/18

 

Just as I suspected, this colony hatched a few majors, and a few media workers as well. Funny enough this colony actually has more majors than my bigger colony. The bigger colony has way more media workers though. For some reason, most pictures taken have turned out blurry even though that wasn't how they looked through the lens. I will attempt to fix this issue soon, so that we can get more pictures!

 

I had to quickly turn and capture this picture, so it's kind of blurry. However, I still managed to get all three majors in one shot!

[YsTheAnt]

Can we get pics of the big colony?? I have never seen anyone do well with this species but you and one other I think

[Ants_Texas]

Can we get pics of the big colony?? I have never seen anyone do well with this species but you and one other I think

During the next update, sure.

[T.C.]

That colony is looking really good. Impressive growth.

[Ants_Texas]

Update 3/12/18

 

All of my stupid photos are blurry. The colony is gaining workers and majors very quickly. They've got 61+ workers at this point, and many like to hang out outside of the tube. The bigger colony has 70+ workers, but are running out of pupae. 

 

Journal Colony:

 

Big Colony:

 

Of course, all of the close up pictures get blurred. I'm extremely aggravated right now. They're so close to being amazing shots, but then this happens.       

[YsTheAnt]

Dang... Amazing!

[Ants_Texas]

Well, this journal seems to be very much over. It all started with the queen just hanging out in the outworld, waltzing around. Me and my friends even joked about it. Today, she is unable to walk and continues kicking her legs in the air. I don't have much hope left. (I am talking about Spamdy's old queen.