Sold a lot of colonies, am going to keep a bunch of my favorites and a bunch of parasitic queens. I've had to force move a lot of colonies (which I don't like doing) because even though they have been exposed to light, heating, cooling, and vibrations they refuse to move.

 

Temnothorax curvispinosus

So small....... Soon to have three workers though!

 

 

Aphaenogaster picea

Looks like no hibernation for these guys yet, the queen laid decently large pile of eggs.

 

 

Lasius aphidicola

Early in September I caught a bunch of these queens, I decided to place some together in groups as I've heard they do engage in pleometrosis and that in can increase the odds of a successful introduction. Turns out, it works! Then again, my introduction rate has been 100% for every aphidicola queen from this batch. The queen I've had since May had some pre thicc larvae.

 

 

Lasius claviger

The old queen has a nice pile of eggs, and this new queen I caught has been successfully introduced to workers.

 

What could the Lasius sp with orange workers be? Looks like Lasius flavus, but that’s eurpean and you caught yours locally?

Lasius brevicornis and Lasius nearticus are North American flavus group

One more month until I can finally take my ants out of hibernation! I decided to give them am extra month since they probably hibernate for much longer here in Canada than they do in the US. I'm also quite busy this month so it works out perfectly.

I too will wait another month for mine but I did take out one of the many Formica spp. test tubes last week. One that only had 3 nanitics. I bought a variety of formanicariums off of Ebay and Amazon just around the holidays and can't wait to see how they fare with all those queens I got last year. But I do have to get to building more formicariums soon as my 2yr old Camponotus are already getting a bit too big for their current setups. I also hope to have a few small aquarium sized 'vivarium' setups I hope to have in place by summer. Lots of work to do.

I too will wait another month for mine but I did take out one of the many Formica spp. test tubes last week. One that only had 3 nanitics. I bought a variety of formanicariums off of Ebay and Amazon just around the holidays and can't wait to see how they fare with all those queens I got last year. But I do have to get to building more formicariums soon as my 2yr old Camponotus are already getting a bit too big for their current setups. I also hope to have a few small aquarium sized 'vivarium' setups I hope to have in place by summer. Lots of work to do.

Vivariums are definitely the direction I want to head in once I get some larger more stable colonies.

I decided to take a peak at these queens before I leave for vacation and I'm happy to report that except for one Prenolepis queen all other queens have survived! Let's hope they can survive another two week before I take them out.

Crematogaster cerasi

Had a test tube leakage scare with this queen, she was laying upside down in water but I saved her in the nick of time. She has recovered nicely and here she is with her first batch. 

 

 

Lasius cf. nearcticus

Four queens still together, only a few eggs though, hopefully they will lay more.

 

Edited by rbarreto, March 25 2019 - 7:32 PM.

Camponotus novaeboracensis

These are doing very well. They have tons of those cool looking yellow eggs and some ready to eclose pupae. They absolutely devour superworms and go crazy for maple syrup. I have them housed in a mini-hearth and they don't mind light at all which makes looking at them all the more fun!

 

 

Edited by rbarreto, March 27 2019 - 7:49 PM.

The Lasius look a LOT like Prenolepis

The Lasius look a LOT like Prenolepis

Yea they are very similar but I know what Prenelopis imparis and Lasius brevicornis/nearcticus look like in person. I'm quite confident I have the right identification.

Camponotus novaeboracensis

I am loving these guys. They do not care about camera flash, ambient light, or vibrations. They constantly pile up the brood near the glass which makes viewing them very easy.

They constantly take in protein, and unlike most species up north here in actually have some color. The queen is constantly laying eggs and is looking real THICC.

Definitely one of my more successful colonies.

 

My C. Novae. Are thriving. 4 colonies entering 3rd year, and one colony entering second. They all have lots of new brood since I took then out of hibernation. Certainly the easiest species I have dealt with and had success. I wondering how large the 3rd year colonies will get this season. They all went from about 15 to 120-160 the second year. Some of the formicariums I built already seem half full. I have two smaller aquariums I'm hoping to turn into natural habitats but I have to think about a few aspects of how I want to configure those.

My C. Novae. Are thriving. 4 colonies entering 3rd year, and one colony entering second. They all have lots of new brood since I took then out of hibernation. Certainly the easiest species I have dealt with and had success. I wondering how large the 3rd year colonies will get this season. They all went from about 15 to 120-160 the second year. Some of the formicariums I built already seem half full. I have two smaller aquariums I'm hoping to turn into natural habitats but I have to think about a few aspects of how I want to configure those.

I agree they are very easy to raise. Keep me updated on the natural set-ups, I hope to make my own in the future.

Edited by rbarreto, April 5 2019 - 10:24 PM.

It’s always great to read about thriving colonies on here. Can you share tips for finding newly mated C. novaeboracensis queens? Would a blacklight be a good method?

It’s always great to read about thriving colonies on here. Can you share tips for finding newly mated C. novaeboracensis queens? Would a blacklight be a good method?

First try to locate a nest near you. Once you've done that wait until it rains and head outside when the sun sets for the next 2 days.

Ok, thanks! They are present in my yard, but I don’t know exactly where their nest is.

Lasius americanus

Just a nice little picture update.

 

 

Formica cf. incerta

They have some mites on them but I'm not too concerned. They've been there for months and haven't affected the ants in any way.  I may try to sell these as they are very similar to my other colony of F. pallidefulva. 

 

 

My friendin Washington that I gave my huge Formica pacifica colony to, says they have 8 alate brood and over 3000 workers!

Camponotus novaeboracensis

The third round of workers is here and they are much larger. Unfortunately lost two nanitics but they lived for around 9 months so they were going to die soon anyways. I placed a heating cable on one side of the formicarium which they immediately moved all the brood towards. Speaking of brood, they have tons, like three or four piles which is strange because they only have 9 workers. They feed daily and send the majority of the colony to forage.

 

 

 

 

Here they are after I hooked up the heating cable (all huddled up as close as possible to it).

 

Edited by rbarreto, April 29 2019 - 5:14 PM.