625 replies to this topic

[TennesseeAnts]

Damn. I was going to warn you. I think you could’ve kept them in the house, but you were bringing in new queens and colonies daily. Sorry, but they probably think you’ll just keep on bringing in more and more colonies. Moderation is key in these matters; just wait till you’re married.

Haha I must be lucky then. Neither my family, nor any significant others I've had have ever been opposed to my hobby. Some of my friends who know about it even give me queens they stumble upon

Me too lol.

[madbiologist]

Do pheidole actually fly at night?

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[NickAnter]

Do pheidole actually fly at night?

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Yes, or evening/ very early morning.

[CatsnAnts]

Damn. I was going to warn you. I think you could’ve kept them in the house, but you were bringing in new queens and colonies daily. Sorry, but they probably think you’ll just keep on bringing in more and more colonies. Moderation is key in these matters; just wait till you’re married.

Haha I must be lucky then. Neither my family, nor any significant others I've had have ever been opposed to my hobby. Some of my friends who know about it even give me queens they stumble upon

Wow, lucky. If I mention it to anybody other than my family (which I have) people never act the same around me, they think I’m crazy . Ohhh well.

Edit: oh, and I found all my pheidole between 10:00 pm - 11:00 pm.

Edited by CatsnAnts, July 11 2019 - 11:48 AM.

[camponotuskeeper]

Will pheidole come to a blacklight?

[ANTdrew]

That’s great; give thanks for that. I’ve been able to pursue my hobbies in relative peace, but only by keeping my colonies to a handful. DW and I have actually fought way more about my native plant garden, ironically.

[CatsnAnts]

Will pheidole come to a blacklight?

I have found all 6 of my pheidole queens on a 15 watt blacklight.

[CatsnAnts]

Small update in saying that another pheidole queen has decided to tear off her wings and lay a single egg! That makes three so far ! I realized though that the back end of her tube had a crack and all the water was gone (from when I dropped my ants). I moved her and her single egg to a new test tube, and hopefully she finds her egg and doesn’t get too stressed out. That would be really amazing if I got THREE pheidole colonies (I have one more, and hopefully she’ll join the other three), maybe I could even convince my parents to let me start selling ants...

[TennesseeAnts]

Why wouldn't they?

[madbiologist]

How is your Mississippiensis doing? I recently got a queen and I want to know how to care for her.

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[CatsnAnts]

How is your Mississippiensis doing? I recently got a queen and I want to know how to care for her.

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Mine hasn’t laid any eggs yet (probably because I check up on my ants a little too much. I would direct your questions towards AntDude as he also has some queens of this species which have been a little more successful than mine.



As for the selling ants, I’ve never asked them before, and I’ve never done anything like it. Could someone please explain how it would work?

Edited by CatsnAnts, July 13 2019 - 7:36 AM.

[ANTdrew]

Man, I bet they’d be stoked if you started selling ants. You could just post a thing on here. I would also register as a GAN farmer.

[CatsnAnts]

That’d be great ! If I would, how would I “deliver” them to the people wanting them? Would we have to meet up somewhere, or is it legal to use commercial delivery services (which I’m assuming it’s not)?

[ANTdrew]

In your case, I’d have them come to you.

[CatsnAnts]

In your case, I’d have them come to you.

I thought about that. It would probably be my only option, but it would work!

Also, on a side note, I ordered two drosophila melanagaster fruit fly cultures. I can finally readily feed my ants proteins (without having to hunt around and freeze outside insects)!

[CatsnAnts]

I checked on my ants earlier this morning, and am happy to see a second egg in the third-to-lay-eggs Pheidole queen. The first pheidole queens egg pile is MONSTROUS, with at least 40 eggs. The second queen’s egg pile is at about 15.

EDIT: also, the winged Colobopsis obliqua queen now has five eggs, but they are scattered. I don’t think she’s fertile.

Edited by CatsnAnts, July 14 2019 - 6:56 AM.

[TennesseeAnts]

My queens' eggs were scattered too. Now they are in a huge pile.

[madbiologist]

I checked on my ants earlier this morning, and am happy to see a second egg in the third-to-lay-eggs Pheidole queen. The first pheidole queens egg pile is MONSTROUS, with at least 40 eggs. The second queen’s egg pile is at about 15.

EDIT: also, the winged Colobopsis obliqua queen now has five eggs, but they are scattered. I don’t think she’s fertile.

I've heard Colobopsis take a while to lay, and scattered eggs doesn't in any way mean she isn't fertile. Plenty of my queens have had scattered eggs and been fertile.

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[CatsnAnts]

Just checked up on my queens this morning (pictures coming later of as many I can get):

My Colobopsis obliqua queen has now shed one wing and has grouped two of the eggs together! Maybe she is fertile after all!


My first (positively) P. bicarianata queen’s egg pile is STILL growing! As for the darker queens, I’m now starting to think they are P. morrisii again because they have some notably different features, like the thorax which is a bit bulkier, and they are pure black on top. The heads also look a little different too, but I don’t really know what it is about them. ANYWAYS, queen number two (now Pheidole cf, morrisii again) has an egg pile almost as big as queen number one.
— the last queen to lay eggs is the same as queen number two (Pheidole cf. morrisii). She ate her eggs I think.


Temnothorax ambiguus colony is now getting a lot of larvae, and some are growing pretty fast!


Also, all subbarbatus colonies are up to four workers.


My Strumigenys colony is still doing well despite the lack of food for a while. The colony has skyrocketed to about 60 workers now, and the brood pile has a lot of eggs and larvae! My fruit flys should be coming in soon, so I’ll see if they like those. If not, back to capturing springtails (the springtail culture I ordered arrived with them all dead).

[TennesseeAnts]

My Ph. bicarinata still have their four queens, and they have tons of small to large larvae and a new batch of eggs.