Well, we all better learn how to keep Brachyponera chinensis since that’s the only species we’ll have around here in a few years I fear.

The size difference in americanus workers is crazy 

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Edited by OiledOlives, October 19 2022 - 7:08 AM.

My pilifera queen got its one and only nanitic a couple days ago. I put the rest of my chromaiodes colonies and Lasius queens in diapause around two weeks ago. My big chromaiodes colony has been in the fridge for around 2.5 months by now, so I'll probably bring them out in 3-4 weeks. I caught quite a few Colobopsis obliqua queens this year, which got nanitics around 3 weeks ago I believe.The group that I'll be keeping has 15 queens, but only has 2 nanitics. Some of my smaller 3-5 queen groups already have over 6. While Colobopsis are known for being awful at founding, I had less than 15% of my queens die. I did nothing special for these queens besides keeping them in groups of 3 to 5 queens and feeding sugars 3-4 times over the founding period. My colonies this year are already doing significantly better this year since I didn't use cork in the tubes.

Lasius americanus, Aphaenogaster lamellidens, Dorymyrmex bureni, and Colobopsis obliqua

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This is one of the two successful Temnothorax ambiguus queens I caught this year. They are slightly smaller than curvispinosus, workers have better coloration, and the spines are significantly shorter.

 

 

The Pheidole bicarinata have put enough substrate between the glass to go through now. They've also burrowed through their trash pile and made their entire outworld smell awful.

 

 

The Camponotus novaeboracensis are still doing good and will probably be going into diapause in a couple weeks.

 

 

P. occidentalis will probably go in within the next month.

 

 

P. morrisii had a ton of brood, but they killed 100-200 pupae a couple days ago for unknown reasons. I've darkened their entire setup in an effort to stop them from being dumb.

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Edited by OiledOlives, October 4 2022 - 4:23 AM.

Big colonies of P. bicarinata  are really fricking annoying. I suggest sealing any gaps with 100% silicone. It won't harm the ants in any way. 

I know I posted like, yesterday, but I never posted a full nest picture for the occidentalis.

The Fallen Fortress that the bicarinata are currently in has decided to crack out a little on the side connected to the outworld, so I guess there's just gonna be a little gap between the nest and the outworld until I move them out of the nest.

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Aphaenogaster tennesseensis doing awesome

I also took my Camponotus chromaiodes out of hibernation

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Camponotus sp. hibernating is always so cool to see.  As well, how is it your Pogonomyrmex nest is so clean. Mine always look like I poured black dirt in them. lol

I'm guessing that it's because I keep their nest covered to minimize disturbance. Another possible reason is, since the heating cable was directly on top of the nest, it prevented the ants from being able to stick trash on the ceiling since there wasn't any water to keep it stuck.

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Pheidole bicarinata eating mealworms. I recently moved them into a vivarium and they have had huge die offs but it is awesome to watch them dig.

Ponera pennsylvanica queen drinking sugar water

 

Dorymyrmex bureni chilling

Edited by OiledOlives, November 14 2022 - 7:58 AM.

Where do you find Dorymyrmex around here?

Where do you find Dorymyrmex around here?

This queen was actually from Florida and did not found successfully, which is why I felt comfortable taking it out for pictures and stressing it out. In Virginia, I have found D. bureni at Virginia Beach and most records on iNaturalist and antmaps are congregated around the Southeast. (https://www.inatural...taxon_id=319444)

However, I have never found any Leptomyrmecini in Northern Virginia, which doesn't really make sense to me since they should probably be here.

Some short videos of my bicarinata:
Day after I moved them in: https://www.youtube....rts/3cEi2X-r2bc
Feeding response to mealworms: https://www.youtube....rts/4ld1WF4Wyf8
Feeding response to apples: https://www.youtube....rts/WNjEg4_suxA
Feeding timelapse: https://www.youtube....rts/gVGUZwl5wJU

Wow nice colonies!

Formica subsericea

I took my subsericea out of diapause three weeks ago and they already have pupae. I moved them from my big tubs+tubes setup into a 3 sides Casita.

Formica pallidefulva
I moved one of my two colonies into a fallen fortress. Originally, I was debating whether or not moving a tiny 15 worker colony into this nest was a good idea but it definitely was. I started feeding half a mealworm every day after they got larvae and the amount of pupae for the size of the colony is amazing.
After the other colony still only had eggs after a month, I moved them into a deli cup setup and the eggs immediately hatched.

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis
I took these out of a 2.5 month diapause in a cold room last week. The queen has already laid 40+ eggs and I will continue feeding this colony 10 mealworms a day.

Camponotus chromaiodes
This colony continues to exhibit exponential growth. While they do not eat many mealworms (only 3-5 a day), they drink quite a bit of sugar.

Pheidole morrisii
I have solved their pupae killing issue by covering the nest and limiting disturbance as much as possible. Every time I touch the table near their minilab lightly, they go insane so I am continuing to try to keep them sane.

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Is the pilifera I gave you still alive?

Is the pilifera I gave you still alive?

Yes, they're finally having Pheidole levels of brood

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Is the pilifera I gave you still alive?

Yes, they're finally having Pheidole levels of brood

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Cool, sounds like she did what my last queen did. She got like 7 workers her first year and halfway into last year had almost 1k.

I took my Camponotus novaeboracensis out of diapause last week. The queen was pretending to be dead but after around three days, she finally woke up. She laid eggs yesterday.


After nearly four months, I took my Colobopsis obliqua out of diapause. Here's a picture of a queen drinking sugar water


Pogonomyrmex occidentalis


Finally, my Formica fusca-group. Seeing the red coloration on the workers' legs and antennae makes me wonder if it's argentea but I will have to key a worker to prove it. They have been getting their first workers of the year recently.