145 replies to this topic

[ANTdrew]

Update 6-5-2019

C. chromaiodes

Big update! I sold one of my Holy Thursday queens yesterday to new forum member Aliallaie. When I opened the shoe box to show him the queens, lo and behold, there was the first nanitic!

The worker probably eclosed at some point Monday. It's relatively tiny for the species, but still almost as big as my other queens! I encouraged him to take this queen for obvious reasons, which leaves me with three others that still have larvae and cocoons. I plan to only keep one of these, so if you are in Virginia and interested, PM me.

 

C. castaneus

As far as I can tell, Gunnlod is doing great. They are up to 14 workers now and feeding well. They totally hollowed out a large beetle I gave them, but they ignored a serviceberry I dropped in. A few more foragers come out at night now, but they are still pretty skittish. I'm almost ready to make their terrarium, but my wife used the bucket of special clay/loam soil I had gathered for a potting project by accident.

I'll gather up some more soil this weekend along with plants, moss, and a decomposer clean up crew.

[ANTdrew]

Update 6-6-2019

Well, I way underestimated how my C. castaneus were doing as well. After a careful count last night, I found that they are up to 25+ workers. Several callow workers were in their tube. Obviously, these ants are doing very well. I'm giving them lots of variety in their protein and keeping them at a natural 82+ degrees. Luckily, no one in my home is big on artificial climate control, so we keep things warm.

Edited by ANTdrew, June 6 2019 - 5:44 AM.

[Acutus]

Very nice!!!! Good work!!

Edited by Acutus, June 6 2019 - 5:47 PM.

[ANTdrew]

Update 6-10-2019

Yesterday I received good news about the colonies I sold last week. Of the four C. chromaiodes queens I found in April, the one I sold had the most brood, a second batch of eggs, and her first worker last Tuesday. I actually really regret selling her now.  The other three will catch up, but this one seemed pretty prolific. In any case, I'm glad I set my customer up for success. She now has five workers! She'll be moved into a mini-hearth soon. 

 

I also made progress on my "castanarium." I've collected some cool looking drift wood and some mossy rocks. I also got a new load of clay/loam forest soil from my mom's garden yesterday, so I'll hopefully be able to complete this this week. I'm considering what kind of plants to put in, perhaps some ajuga or Salvia lyrata, a cool looking native sage. Violets will be a good fit, too. Here's what I've got so far. 

 

[ANTdrew]

Update 6-12-2019

My 13th year of teaching is winding to a close, and I'm looking forward to having a lot of time to enjoy my ants. I got some work done last night on the Castanarium. I've put in a bunch of moss, a purslane seedling, and a violet so far. I'm still working on the lid, so that it doesn't capture too much humidity to render the fluon ineffective. I also need to stock this with ispods and springtails. The castaneus will have two rocks to choose from and a piece of driftwood for nesting options. I'm almost certain they'll just stay in their tube, but whatever. Here is what I have so far:

Edited by ANTdrew, June 12 2019 - 9:39 AM.

[Acutus]

Looking Good!! Hope you have beeter luck with the move than I'm having! LOL!

 

There's a guy here "Herdo" He built a glass out world and the top he made would work perfect! PM him. It's like your Crematogaster top.

[Herdo]

Acutus messaged me and asked me to leave this here.

http://www.formicult...esives/?p=22733


The completed lid.

http://www.formicult...esives/?p=23540

If you can find a cheap glass company in your area, this would probably be your best option. This one only cost me $7 to make and makes a perfect lip/ceiling to place fluon under. You just have to do the measurements for your outworld.



Nice setup by the way!

Edited by Herdo, June 12 2019 - 12:29 PM.

[ANTdrew]

Thanks, guys! I should have been clearer, though. The thing comes with a great snug fitting lid. I just need to ventilate it sufficiently.

[ANTdrew]

Update 6-19-2019

A lot has happened in the past week for me and these colonies. The C. chromaiodes queens I found on 4/18 all have multiple workers now. I'm still just feeding them direct in their test tubes with drops of Sunburst on waxed paper and cut up bits of roaches or mealworms. I absolutely hate feeding colonies like this, so I need to get in gear to make some out worlds for these girls. One queen has four workers and lots of brood, while the winged queen has five workers and even more brood.

Photo time:

 

C. castaneus:

This colony continues to exceed my expectations. They eat a lot and they've basically tripled in number since I got the colony. At my last check, I counted 50 workers plus lots of brood. I chose to introduce them to terrarium set-up on Monday by just placing the two tubes they were inhabiting in there. They still haven't left the tubes, but that doesn't surprise me at all.

 

With all the additional cover in the castanarium, I'm seeing workers out foraging a lot more. Last night, they voraciously devoured an earwig.

 

The frustrating thing is that the lid was once again trapping too much humidity, and this morning I found a worker foraging in my kitchen! I quickly removed the lid and hoped that reduced humidity would make the fluon effective again. I will have to cut out the donut opening in their lid whenever I get some time. That job will take me forever with my crap tools.

 

[MonsieurMaru]

i'm assuming you'll have to water this set up at some point due to the live moss and such, will there be concerns for mold and if so how will you deal with it? 

[Acutus]

Dude! No offense but I'm so glad they didn't leave the tubes LOL!!    

 

Also what are you feeding them?

Edited by Acutus, June 19 2019 - 3:19 PM.

[ANTdrew]

i'm assuming you'll have to water this set up at some point due to the live moss and such, will there be concerns for mold and if so how will you deal with it?

Thanks. I’ll just sprinkling water over the tank sparingly to simulate rain. To deal with mold, I’m putting in springtails and isopods as a clean up crew. There is a false bottom in the tank to prevent any flooding.

[ANTdrew]

Dude! No offense but I'm so glad they didn't leave the tubes LOL!!

Also what are you feeding them?

Lol, bro!
This species is a mystery to me. I’m frankly amazed how fast they’re growing, though because I basically see them doing nothing. Part of that is how nocturnal they are. I’ve fed them mealworms, dubia roaches, spiders, earwigs, and a wood beetle. They have constant access to Sunburst in a byFormica feeder.

[ANTdrew]

Mini-update:
Removing the lid did the trick to stop the castaneus from escaping. They aren’t Houdini Crematogaster after all. I love how these girls eat all the insects I throw at them; they’ll get some pre-frozen termites as a special treat tonight.

[Kaelwizard]

In those pictures the castaneus are really bright! They look like callows!

[ANTdrew]

Update 6/25/2019

 

C. chromaiodes:

I'm happy to report that Queen Christine has her first two workers! She was found by my friend's wife in late April and delivered to my classroom half drowned in a plastic cup. I'm so happy to see her rebound like this. She is redder than my other queens and so are her workers. Here is her first worker:

 

I'll be selling one of the other two queens I have this week. I hope to make either a firebrick or hydrostone formicarium for the one I keep.

 

C. castaneus:

No surprise really, but my big colony still hasn't moved out of their tubes and into the castanarium. I'll just trust their judgement, I guess.

The really cool news is that the castaneus queen my brother found in the middle of downtown DC has a nice pile of eggs now! Just as FeedTheAnts reported, they are the same golden color we all love about this species.

[ANTdrew]

Update!!!!
Just ovserved a castaneus worker digging out under one of the rocks in their tank. Could it be that they overcame their laziness to move??

[ANTdrew]

The castaneus queen moved, but Tapinoma found the nectar in the tank and are all over. I need to make a moat to keep them out. Damn, I hate those things!

[ANTdrew]

Update 7-9-2019

Dang - this summer is going by fast. Thankfully things continue to go well for these Camponotus colonies.

 

C. chromaiodes:

All three of these colonies have between 5-9 workers. They feed really readily, plus they're no good at scaling fluon, so I am enjoying keeping them so far. My biggest colony is the queen who never removed her wings. I decided to get these girls an out world, and I even was bold enough to try designing a firebrick formicarium for them. I just hooked this to their BoxBox container, and I'll let them explore it a bit before I make any real efforts to get them to move. Any tips on this would be welcome!

The nest is basically a poor man's Fortress that I painted black with acrylic paint:

 

C. castaneus:

I'm happy to report that this whole colony has moved under one of the mossy rocks in their castanarium. Tapinoma sessile from my "free-range" kitchen colony managed to infiltrate their terrarium on Saturday, though. I solved the issue by setting their container in a foil baking tray full of a water/vinegar mixture as a moat. Still, a leaf from a nearby house plant was touching the edge, so this made a bridge for them to get in. I think I have it Tapinoma-proofed now, finally!

[ANTdrew]

Update 7-16-2019
After twelve days hooked up to the new nest, I decided to shake these ants out of their nasty founding tube and into their outworld. They huddled up in a corner for a few hours, but when I put a flashing mag-light on them, they started to move in. I happened to catch the very moment the queen squeezed through the entry tube, and, damn, she was so fat she could BARELY fit.
I’ll post some pictures soon.
Can any CampoMasters well versed in this species let me know how much moisture they need? I’m literally just pouring water down a hole in the firebrick to hydrate.