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Cheeto's Dorymyrmex bicolor (Updated 8/29)


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#1 Offline CheetoLord02 - Posted January 21 2021 - 3:41 PM

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This is a colony I was not ever expecting to make a journal on, but they've totally blown my mind. Normally this genus gets tossed to the side without a second thought, and I nearly did the same. I caught this queen on September 1st, the same night where I caught my Neivamyrmex colony, and later that morning a huge Acromyrmex versicolor flight. You can see how it'd be easy to forget about a Dorymyrmex queen, so much so that the first picture I have of her is from October 29th, weeks after she got her first workers.
 

IMG 20201029 072917106 HDR

 

A few weeks later I moved them to an old Mini Hearth, as it was getting difficult to feed them in the test tube. They looked decent, but this Mini Hearth is my oldest THA formicarium, so it's not the most pristine ever.
 

IMG 20210103 121741736 HDR

 

 

Upon returning from Illinois I saw the Dorymyrmex were still thriving, so I elected to move them to a brand new Mini Hearth XL, as of January 6th. You can see the colony was doing well, but had a lot of growing room.
 

IMG 20210105 145452411

 

 

Well, as of today, the colony has totally exploded in numbers, which has been extremely surprising for such a short time. It really only took a bit of love and care and they've been absolutely thriving.
 

IMG 20210121 161540369

 

 

You can see here they have a ton of eggs, and another large pile of freshly-hatched larvae. I'm so excited to see this colony continue to grow, as I don't think I've ever seen a large captive Dorymyrmex colony before. I really just want to prove that this genus is not as bad as their reputation suggests, and with a bit of love they have the potential to be a ton of fun.
 

IMG 20210121 155522930
IMG 20210121 155525923
IMG 20210121 155531814

 

 


Edited by CheetoLord02, August 29 2021 - 2:55 PM.

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#2 Offline NickAnter - Posted January 21 2021 - 3:50 PM

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I wish I could find bicolor... Just insanus here it seems.... :ugone2far:


Hi there! I went on a 6 month or so hiatus, in part due, and in part cause of the death of my colonies. 

However, I went back to the Sierras, and restarted my collection, which is now as follows:

Aphaenogaster uinta, Camponotus vicinus, Camponotus modoc, Formica cf. aserva, Formica cf. micropthalma, Formica cf. manni, Formica subpolita, Formica cf. subaenescens, Lasius americanus, Manica invidia, Pogonomyrmex salinus, Pogonomyrmex sp. 1, Solenopsis validiuscula, & Solenopsis sp. 3 (new Sierra variant). 


#3 Offline antsandmore - Posted January 21 2021 - 3:59 PM

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ender ants has bicolor, maybe you can ask him where he caught them.


Ants I am keeping:

 none for now, planning on being more active this year


#4 Offline Manitobant - Posted January 21 2021 - 4:00 PM

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I wish I could find bicolor... Just insanus here it seems.... :ugone2far:

I’ve seen them in Palm Springs if you are looking for a place to find them. They only really exist in desert habitats.

#5 Offline CheetoLord02 - Posted February 7 2021 - 10:41 PM

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Update 2/7

This colony's done nothing but continue to develop crazy fast, and I want to get another update in before I end up upgrading their formicarium. Next in line is a Fortress III.

You can see their pile of pupae is massive, at least be over 100 pupae. They've also gotten up to a few hundred workers now, probably 200-300 or so, and that growth isn't stopping anytime soon.
 

IMG 20210207 232136950

 

 

They've also got a ton of younger brood. The newest batch of eggs is starting to hatch, which is going to be crazy. The egg batch was larger than the queen, and she didn't even get slightly physogastric, so I'm expecting this colony to be able to get some pretty substantial numbers in the long run.
 

IMG 20210207 232139626 HDR


I'm expecting to end up moving them to the Fortress within a few weeks, and I'll be sure to update once I end up doing that.


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#6 Offline CheetoLord02 - Posted February 17 2021 - 11:10 AM

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Update 2/17

As of a few days ago I ended up moving this colony to their Fortress. They look really good in it, and definitely seem to be doing well, as the queen just can't seem to stop laying eggs! Almost every time I look in there she's laying, and you can tell from the huge piles of eggs they've got going on.
 

IMG 20210217 120107091


As of now they use 4 of the 6 chambers, which is perfect since it gives them plenty of growing room without worrying about the nest being too big. Although I have a feeling it won't last too long at the rate they're growing.
 

IMG 20210217 120115693 HDR
IMG 20210213 143419306 HDR


I also snapped a quick video of them the day that I moved them, which you can check out here!


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#7 Offline ANTdrew - Posted February 17 2021 - 11:32 AM

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Awesome! How did you move a crazy colony like that??
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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#8 Offline Kaelwizard - Posted February 17 2021 - 11:33 AM

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%) Wow.


Edited by Kaelwizard, February 17 2021 - 11:34 AM.


#9 Offline antsandmore - Posted February 17 2021 - 11:48 AM

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wait this is one queen correct?


Ants I am keeping:

 none for now, planning on being more active this year


#10 Offline Antkeeper01 - Posted February 17 2021 - 1:09 PM

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Dorymyrmex are cool

Attached Images

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1X Pogonomyrmex occidentalis 40-50 Workers

1X Solenopsis molesta 10 Workers (mono)

Ants I Want: Crematogaster sp, Camponotus Sp., Ponera Pennsylvanica, Mymercocystus sp.

 

My Youtube channel: https://www.youtube....kUjx-dPFMyVqOLw

 

 Join Our Fledgling Discord Server https://discord.com/...089056687423489


#11 Offline CheetoLord02 - Posted February 17 2021 - 1:14 PM

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Awesome! How did you move a crazy colony like that??

Basically just attached a tube from the mini hearth to the fortress and used light and airflow to make the old nest unfavorable, and heat and darkness to make the new nest favorable. Then once all the brood and queen had moved I picked out the stragglers with an aspirator. It didn't taste very good. I did also have a few workers get out when I first attached the tubing, but it wasn't the end of the world.

 

wait this is one queen correct?

Yes, they're monogynous.


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#12 Offline CheetoLord02 - Posted March 21 2021 - 3:00 PM

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We're gonna need a bigger nest.

Only a month-ish later and the Fortress is bursting at the seams. I bet by the end of the month they'll have to start nesting in the outworld or something.
 

IMG 20210321 145552056

 

 

Their feeding responses also haven't slowed at all. Just look at this!
 

IMG 20210321 145625499

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#13 Offline ANTdrew - Posted March 21 2021 - 3:44 PM

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The Fortress doesn’t really have much more space than a mini-hearth to be honest.
"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#14 Offline Lillyrose - Posted March 21 2021 - 4:14 PM

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Wow .. they're growing fast

#15 Offline CheetoLord02 - Posted April 8 2021 - 11:15 AM

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Since last update I moved them into a Nucleus III. Here's a video briefly showing how that went:




Despite the looks it was actually relatively painless, and to my relief the ants really love the new nest.

 

IMG 20210407 110040603 HDR
IMG 20210407 110115213
IMG 20210407 110122619
 
 
Even with me having this colony on the backburner recently, their growth doesn't seem to have slowed in the slightest. I'm really excited, albeit a bit worried, for when they eventually outgrow even this nest.

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#16 Offline Canadant - Posted April 8 2021 - 3:05 PM

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So cool. Loved the video if the move. So do you cover the nucleus glass pane?
"You don't get what you want. You get what you deserve".

#17 Offline Antkeeper01 - Posted July 21 2021 - 9:12 AM

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update?


Edited by Antkeeper01, July 21 2021 - 9:12 AM.

1X Pogonomyrmex occidentalis 40-50 Workers

1X Solenopsis molesta 10 Workers (mono)

Ants I Want: Crematogaster sp, Camponotus Sp., Ponera Pennsylvanica, Mymercocystus sp.

 

My Youtube channel: https://www.youtube....kUjx-dPFMyVqOLw

 

 Join Our Fledgling Discord Server https://discord.com/...089056687423489


#18 Offline NicholasP - Posted July 21 2021 - 5:35 PM

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I think he might have stopped updating for a while this journal for suspense or something.



#19 Offline CheetoLord02 - Posted August 29 2021 - 3:02 PM

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We're back!

Ever since I moved this colony into the Nucleus, I just kinda stopped caring about them. The way I had the nest positioned on my shelf made it essentially impossible to view the ants, and they started making a huge mess of their outworld and climbing over the barrier. I eventually just got sick of it and reduced their feeding a lot, and sort of just forgot about them.

Well a few days ago I got a new order of Formisquarium XL containers and decided to make one for my Dorymyrmex bicolor, since I really do enjoy keeping them, at least when I can actually see them. I moved them out of the Nucleus and within a day or so they had fully moved into the new nest.
 

IMG 20210828 175025945 HDR
IMG 20210828 121512135
 
 
I feel like the colony has definitely shrunk in size a bit, but they have a lot more brood than I expected still. I probably still won't end up growing them at crazy speeds like before, as I'd like this nest to last at least more than 2 weeks.
 
IMG 20210828 175034394
IMG 20210828 121503678

 


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#20 Offline Antkeeper01 - Posted August 29 2021 - 5:51 PM

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thank you for finally updating this journal!!


1X Pogonomyrmex occidentalis 40-50 Workers

1X Solenopsis molesta 10 Workers (mono)

Ants I Want: Crematogaster sp, Camponotus Sp., Ponera Pennsylvanica, Mymercocystus sp.

 

My Youtube channel: https://www.youtube....kUjx-dPFMyVqOLw

 

 Join Our Fledgling Discord Server https://discord.com/...089056687423489





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