44 replies to this topic

[Ferox_Formicae]

Little white ones.

That's probably the species I'm feeding mine, and mine are eating them just fine. Did you ever find out what species of Strumigenys you had? It probably had to do with the species.

[Ferox_Formicae]

I updated their setup to something a little better and more aesthetically pleasing. I'm still using that clear, rectangular container, but I've turned it into the ant's outworld, and I've embedded it into a large block of plaster. Into the plaster, I carved a nest chamber, perfect to house these ants. I carved a tunnel to connect the chamber and the outworld. I fitted the chamber to snugly fit a small connection tube, just big enough for the ants to crawl through. I've made sure to seal up any cracks where the ants could potentially crawl through. The nest looks pretty nice, and I think I'll post some pictures of it soon. In more news, I knew the ants were catching springtails, but I wasn't entirely certain whether or not they were actually eating them. Well, I got my answer to that last night, when I saw the worker feeding from the hemolymph of one of the dead springtails! So they definitely are eating them, thank goodness. I'm gonna have to raise more of this species of springtail, as the ants seem to like them.

[Ferox_Formicae]

The queen hasn't been moving from her one spot in the outworld at all, which makes me think she has eggs, but I won't really be able to tell until the larva get bigger, or until I'm able to get a closer look, but I really won't be able to do that until they move into the nest, which may not be for a while, unless I tempt them into the nest, which I have yet to do, as they are very sensitive, and I don't want to risk these ants dying. They are too rare and too precious to me. I'll just let them do their own thing, and when they move in, they move in.

[ponerinecat]

The queen hasn't been moving from her one spot in the outworld at all, which makes me think she has eggs, but I won't really be able to tell until the larva get bigger, or until I'm able to get a closer look, but I really won't be able to do that until they move into the nest, which may not be for a while, unless I tempt them into the nest, which I have yet to do, as they are very sensitive, and I don't want to risk these ants dying. They are too rare and too precious to me. I'll just let them do their own thing, and when they move in, they move in.

advice for all new ant keepers.

[Ferox_Formicae]

It had been a few days since I had seen the worker, and I was starting to get worried. I finally found her last night though. She was inside of the tube that connected the outworld to the nest. I tried to get her out, but she wasn't moving. I soon figured it out that she had drowned in a water droplet. I put her into the outworld with her mother. I came back a few hours later to check on the queen. I saw the worker, and it almost looked like she was standing. I went to go grab a pin to move her with, and when I turned back around, the worker was walking around! I'm going to move them into something a lot smaller for now, just until the colony really starts going. I may get a petri dish or something along those lines to move them into, and I may be able to keep the colony in that, even when it gets really large. I'm really glad that this colony has lasted as long as it has. It's been almost two weeks, and they're doing just fine.

[Ferox_Formicae]

The queen finally laid some eggs! I saw the worker carrying something white around in her jaws. I took a closer look with my loop to see if it could just be a springtail, as it seemed to be very large. I looked and saw that there were at least two eggs! They're huge in relation to the queen. I'm really glad that the queen is finally laying again, and hopefully the workers come before the current one dies, just so that they can help out around the nest and whatnot.

[Acutus]

Congratulations!!!  

[ForestDragon]

you are doing very well on this one dude GG

[Ferox_Formicae]

you are doing very well on this one dude GG

Yeah, I'm surprised how well this colony is doing! I can't wait until the colony gets larger. Maybe they'll get larger by next year.

[AntsAreUs]

I don't know. They had PLENTY of water in their nest. Maybe they weren't eating.

This probably sounds strange but when I kept my Strumigenys their lifespan was quite short. However the queen(s) laid eggs constantly to make up for it. Plus their brood develops rather quickly.

[TennesseeAnts]

Found a colony of these today. No queen though.

[ponerinecat]

Found a colony of these today. No queen though.

you should dig around where you found them.

[Ferox_Formicae]

The queen may be a little hard to pick out from the workers.

[TennesseeAnts]

I looked through the entire stick, and the massive amount of workers, and no queen. Lots of larvae though. Imma go find more.

[ForestDragon]

I would like to find a queen of this species or a colony but like I don't know if i could they are so small and hard to feed

[TennesseeAnts]

I found 3 colonies of a different species. One large colony with 15-20 workers and 3 queens, 1 huge colony with 30-40 workers and 4 queens and 1 massive colony with 100-115 workers and 5-6 queens. Not S. louisianae though.

[TennesseeAnts]

Kidding. Where would I find some of these?

I've found them under rocks before. I found these ones at the base of an elm tree, however. They also like to hang out around Aphaenogaster tennesseensis nests, although I've never seen Aphaenogaster tennesseensis. They also like to nest in rotting wood. Just look for drier to semi-moist areas with lots of springtails. They love their springtails!

The colony I found was in an Aphaenogaster tennesseensis nest. I know where more nests of A. tennesseensis are, so I will check around there.

[Ferox_Formicae]

I've had to move them into a smaller container in order to move my smaller colony of Trachymyrmex septentrionalis into it. I will probably move them into a Petri Dish once I get some. There is some bad news though, I've completely lost track of the worker and the eggs. The eggs may have been accidentally left in the old formicarium, and I think the worker has either escaped or is simply hiding under the soil and I haven't seen her in a few days. I will continue to update, and I hope the queen will do okay if she is alone. I also collected a whole bunch of springtails from under a barrel, and I'm going to be collecting even more when I find a whole bunch.

[Ferox_Formicae]

New update after almost 2 years! The colony mentioned here died out, as both the worker and queen escaped. Also since then I've learned that S. louisianae is the most common native Strumigenys in my area. Last night I was able to collect a colony I've had my eye on since July or August. They were nesting adjacent to some ex Camponotus castaneus chambers under a rock. The colony is large, with around 150 or so workers. I'm still trying to finish up collecting the colony, as I've put a lot of soil the ants were found in in a container, and am still trying to collect the last few remaining workers along with the queen. I'll probably try housing them in a small container with a plaster floor coated with soil. I'll update this whenever I find the queen.

[Ferox_Formicae]

I just cannot get a break from this colony! I've been trying to collect this queen, but all I can find are more workers. This has got to be the largest Strumigenys louisianae colony I've ever seen, nearly at 200 workers now. However, the total lack of brood and my inability to find the queen suggest to me that this is a queen-less colony, so either I have the perfect candidate for my Strumigenys margaritae study or I need to find a colony with a queen that'll accept these.