Jump to content

  • Chat
  •  
  •  

Welcome to Formiculture.com!

This is a website for anyone interested in Myrmecology and all aspects of finding, keeping, and studying ants. The site and forum are free to use. Register now to gain access to all of our features. Once registered and logged in, you will be able to create topics, post replies to existing threads, give reputation points to your fellow members, get your own private messenger, post status updates, manage your profile and so much more. If you already have an account, login here - otherwise create an account for free today!

Photo

Dspdrew's Dorymyrmex insanus Journal [4] (Discontinued)

Dorymyrmex insanus Dspdrew journal

  • Please log in to reply
21 replies to this topic

#1 Offline dspdrew - Posted September 17 2013 - 12:04 AM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA
5-19-2013
 
I found this Dorymyrmex insanus queen in Southern California, March 10th 2013, walking along the side of a dirt road.
Original ID thread: http://antfarm.yuku....02#.UZx0_fWL6IA

gallery_2_7_431.jpg

gallery_2_7_2836.jpg

Four days later she laid about six eggs.

Around May 5th her first two little workers eclosed.

She now has six workers, and a pretty good sized pile of brood.

gallery_2_7_39504.jpg

gallery_2_7_66805.jpg

gallery_2_7_88001.jpg

gallery_2_7_35285.jpg

gallery_2_7_31698.jpg

#2 Offline dspdrew - Posted September 17 2013 - 12:05 AM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

Update 6-4-2013

 

She's up to 15 workers now. I think I better get a formicarium ready for them soon.



#3 Offline dspdrew - Posted September 17 2013 - 12:06 AM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA
Update 7-12-2013
 
The colony still has about 15 workers, but also has what looks like about 45 larvae and a few pupae, so I really need to get something setup for them within the next couple weeks.

gallery_2_7_17594.jpg

#4 Offline dspdrew - Posted November 20 2013 - 6:29 PM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA
Update 11-20-2013
 
This colony hasn't grown all that fast, but it is up to around 80 workers now and still has a good amount of brood too. They're still in their test tube, but I have put the test tube inside a container to make feeding them a bit easier.
 
gallery_2_7_28146.jpg
 
gallery_2_7_25935.jpg
 
gallery_2_7_60817.jpg

#5 Offline dspdrew - Posted February 17 2014 - 10:32 AM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA
Update 2-17-2014
 
This colony has exploded in growth in the last month or two, it is now up to about 500 workers, and has an enormous amount of brood.

gallery_2_7_25171.jpg
 
gallery_2_7_27325.jpg
 
gallery_2_7_72325.jpg
 
gallery_2_7_35192.jpg
 
gallery_2_7_48281.jpg
 


#6 Offline Crystals - Posted February 18 2014 - 4:44 PM

Crystals

    Advanced Member

  • Moderators
  • PipPipPip
  • 2,048 posts
  • LocationAthabasca, AB (Canada)

Wow.  That is a growth explosion.

They look nice and active.


"Always do right. This will gratify some people, and astound the rest." -- Samuel Clemens

 

List of Handy Links   (pinned in the General section)

My Colonies


#7 Offline dspdrew - Posted April 18 2014 - 1:06 AM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA
I just pieced together some photos of my colony just to show its size and brood.
 
gallery_2_7_329876.jpg

#8 Offline Matt - Posted April 18 2014 - 1:28 AM

Matt

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 37 posts
  • LocationFrance

Amazing!



#9 Offline Crystals - Posted April 18 2014 - 6:08 AM

Crystals

    Advanced Member

  • Moderators
  • PipPipPip
  • 2,048 posts
  • LocationAthabasca, AB (Canada)

Wow.  Hard to believe one queen is responsible for all of that.

 

I think you are going to need another test tube shortly.  :D


"Always do right. This will gratify some people, and astound the rest." -- Samuel Clemens

 

List of Handy Links   (pinned in the General section)

My Colonies


#10 Offline antsinmypants - Posted June 9 2014 - 8:23 AM

antsinmypants

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 124 posts
  • LocationFresno, CA
What is the red substance in that feeder?

#11 Offline dspdrew - Posted June 9 2014 - 9:49 AM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

Hummingbird nectar.



#12 Offline dspdrew - Posted July 15 2014 - 11:38 AM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA
Update 7-15-2014
 
This colony has been slowly declining in population for months now. It looks like it's mainly just an excessive amount of deaths. I have no idea why this would be happening, and I even moved them all into a freshly cleaned container, but they continue to die. Right now the colony is down to about 150 workers. For the longest time I had two test tubes in there because they refused to move out of the old one, and instead just moved into both. Finally the other day I dumped the dry one with the queen and a small amount of brood out into the out world container, and shortly after the workers had all the brood moved into the newer test tube with the rest of their brood. For some reason the queen hasn't gone in the test tube, and instead seems to keep hanging around the same exact spot in the out world. It looks like workers are continually harassing her or trying to get her to go into the tube, I can't really tell which it is, I just know something doesn't seem right.
 
About a week and a half ago, I dug up another Dorymyrmex insanus queen from out in the Mojave Desert next to Phelan, California, where I saw a huge P. rugosus mating flight. This queen is way bigger than any other D. insanus queen I have ever seen, but I'm pretty sure that it is D. insanus. Being that D. insanus is actually more than one species, I guess this makes sense, as this could be different than the ones I found in the lower elevation mountains closer to where I live. Most of these queens, from what I have seen are around 6 mm in length, while this one is about 8.5 mm. So far she has a small pile of eggs, so we'll see what happens with her.
 
Here are some pictures showing the size difference.
 
gallery_2_7_76235.jpg
 
gallery_2_7_20263.jpg

#13 Offline dspdrew - Posted July 29 2014 - 7:00 PM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

Update 7-29-2014
 
The large colony is still continuing to die off. Today I finally forced the queen inside the test tube, and I took it out of the foraging container and just put a cotton plug back into it.

 

As for the new large queen, she only lays a few eggs and then seems to eat them, so I boosted her with some of the left over brood from the other colony.



#14 Offline dspdrew - Posted August 14 2014 - 12:16 PM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

Update 8-14-2014
 
The old colony seems to be doing okay for what is left of it. I think the queen might even be laying more eggs again.

 

The new large queen seemed to have laid more eggs after being boosted, but then died a few days ago. I took most of the boost brood out of her test tube and put it back in with its original colony.



#15 Offline dspdrew - Posted October 15 2014 - 6:16 PM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

Update 10-15-2014
 
The old colony is still shrinking and is now at around 15 workers and brood count of about 50. She must still be laying eggs, but at a very slow rate.

 

About a month and a half ago, I found three more D. insanus queens, which have now just gotten their first workers.



#16 Offline Tpro4 - Posted October 15 2014 - 6:18 PM

Tpro4

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 304 posts
  • LocationNorth Hills, CA
Good job, and good luck with them
Remember Dragon Warrior, anything is possible when you have inner peace. - Master Shifu

Current Queens:
1 Unknown Pogomyemex
1 Solenopsis Xyloni

#17 Offline dspdrew - Posted November 9 2014 - 3:01 AM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

Update 11-9-2014
 
The old colony's queen finally died. I gave all the left over brood to one of the new colonies. I have about five new colonies left, all with a little under 10 workers.



#18 Offline dspdrew - Posted July 9 2015 - 6:20 AM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

Update 7-9-2015

 

For a while now I've been down to just one new colony. Last night I raided that colony for most of its brood to give to all my new D. bicolor queens.

 

While anting in Goffs, California 7-7-2015 right after it rained, I found three more of these on my black light. One of them died already, and one of the remaining is a lot lighter than I'm used to. I decided to keep these because of the one being a lot different than the usual.



#19 Offline dspdrew - Posted July 13 2015 - 8:14 PM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

Update 7-13-2015

 

The last colony I had lost their queen, and the two I recently found in the desert are clearly not fertile, so I let them loose. I'm discontinuing this journal for now.



#20 Offline Gregory2455 - Posted July 13 2015 - 8:16 PM

Gregory2455

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 3,286 posts
  • LocationCalifornia

Update 7-13-2015

 

The last colony I had lost their queen, and the two I recently found in the desert are clearly not fertile, so I let them loose. I'm discontinuing this journal for now.

Bad idea to raid them?







Also tagged with one or more of these keywords: Dorymyrmex insanus, Dspdrew, journal

0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users