279 replies to this topic

[TennesseeAnts]

Quintuple post!

Edited by Ant_Dude2908, October 9 2019 - 6:05 AM.

[NickAnter]

Quintuple post!

New record!  Before I think it was Sweetgrass, with a triple post.

[Aaron567]

Does the P. leptosus colony have a queen?

[NickAnter]

They are all queens, from what I understand.

[Ferox_Formicae]

Does the P. leptosus colony have a queen?

Yes, one alate and one dealate.

[Ferox_Formicae]

Two of the Pseudomyrmex ejectus pupa in the leptosus 'colony' are about to eclose, and another pupa has appeared. All of the brood seems to be doing very well, and the leptosus queens are taking good care of all the brood, whether it's theirs or not.

 

I captured a decent sized colony of Camponotus castaneus, with around 125 workers, and surprisingly no brood whatsoever. The queen is very thin, and is likely on a laying break, and at that, she hasn't laid in at least 2 months, and probably won't lay again until next spring.

 

The Aphaenogaster (rudis group) sp. still has yet to move into the nesting area, and instead have two nesting sites, one in the tubes and another in the water in the outworld. I gave them some honey last night and they definitely seemed to enjoy it. When I checked on it this morning, they had completely filled it up with pieces of soil, which I was kind of expecting, considering every Aphaenogaster colony I've had in the past did that.

[Aaron567]

Why not get some pictures of those leptosus?

[Ferox_Formicae]

Here you go:

 

[Ferox_Formicae]

The new Camponotus castaneus colony has been moved into one of my vivariums.The vivarium is bioactive, inhabited by isopods, Ornate Harvestmen, and tons of springtails. They decided nearly immediately to make a nest under the main log in the vivarium, which I was expecting from them. They do not seem to be attacking any of the harvestmen, but the harvestmen seem to be terrified of them, either running away when one of the harvestmen's feelers (2nd pair of legs) touches them or freezing if there's no time to run.

[Mdrogun]

I'm surprised they're going through such a long hibernation considering where you live. Up here I usually hibernate my ants for ~3-4 months.

[Ferox_Formicae]

I'll probably start hibernating them in late December and probably take them out in late February.

[Ferox_Formicae]

First up some updates on the big vivarium. The Camponotus workers rarely come to the surface, usually only 2 or 3 workers at a time at night. The harvestman are doing very well and seem to be liking the dead insects I drop in for the ants, though they really like picking at the dead plant material and bark. I have also moved in two more ant colonies, a Temnothorax curvispinosus colony I've had for a few weeks now and a large Pseudomyrmex gracilis colony I found a few days ago. I don't plan to move any more colonies into it, but we'll see how it goes.

 

I captured another Camponotus castaneus queen from under a rock. She's a single queen with only a few eggs.

 

While at my local park, I was able to capture a large colony of Cyphomyrmex rimosus. I'm not sure if I captured the queen though, as I do not see her in the mass of workers in their temporary holding container, though she may be there, I'm just not seeing her. I'll see tonight when I move them into their temporary nest. It's a petri dish setup, but instead of hydrostone I'm using cotton. I will be getting hydrostone soon however, and I'll be able to create an actual, proper lab-style setup.

 

While collecting the Cyphomyrmex colony, I managed to find a Crematogaster sp. queen. Once she gets her workers, identification will be a bit easier.

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

Exciting! Keep us posted!

[TennesseeAnts]

Good luck on the Cyphomyrmex! I hope they do well.

[ponerinecat]

hey, any advice on finding pseudo nests? I'm looking but have only found 4 sattelite nests

[Ferox_Formicae]

hey, any advice on finding pseudo nests? I'm looking but have only found 4 sattelite nests

If all you're finding are satellite nests, try going back to the areas you found the nests at and keep looking for dead twigs cracking them open whenever you find them. In my experience, satellite nests are never more than a meter or two away from the main nest, and some of the satellite nests may have queens in them as Pseudomyrmex are highly polygynous.

[ponerinecat]

ok, thanks

[Ferox_Formicae]

The Cyphomyrmex rimosus colony is doing pretty well, though they don't have any fungus and no queen either. I've gotta go back to the park and collect the rest of the colony. I've been giving them some honey to supplement their fungus with.

 

I've been working on the Aphaenogaster rudis nest, adding some soil and taking out some of the random stuff. It looks a lot more neat and organized now. I gave them a pre-killed Dubia roach, and after only a few minutes, they were all over it.

 

I'm sad to inform that all but one queen in the Strumigenys silvestrii colony have died. I'm hoping I can regrow the colony from a single queen, but I kind of doubt it.

 

The single Pseudomyrmex ejectus queen has also died.

 

My Pheidole bicarinata queen has gotten her first two workers!

 

The Camponotus nearcticus colony has also gotten another worker, finally!

 

I collected another Camponotus castaneus queen. She has a batch of about 10 eggs.

 

The Solenopsis invicta queens have some absolutely massive larva. I can tell the workers are going to be far larger than normal nanitics.

 

In the large vivarium, the single queen colony of Temnothorax curvispinosus has decided to tunnel into the the large central piece of wood. The Camponotus castaneus colony has created some tunnels up against the side of the plastic. They haven't finished up the tunnels, but I'm hoping they decide to make some brood chambers against it. I'm going to get some red cellophane and put it against the side so they can feel comfortable while I'm still able to view them.

[Ferox_Formicae]

The Pseudomyrmex leptosus "colony" has died. I didn't expect for them to last too long, as workerless inquilines are extremely difficult to care for, especially when starting them from scratch.

 

I've made six artificial cavity nests to place outside in various locations to attempt to attract cavity nesting ants such as Strumigenys, Temnothorax, and potentially Camponotines, as one will be placed in a tree.

 

I'm almost done making a plaster style formicarium for my smaller colony of Camponotus castaneus. Pictures will be placed when finished.

 

The Aphaenogaster rudis colony has randomly decided to move into the smaller test tube from their petri dish nest. I'll rehydrate their nest and see if they move back in.

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

Sounds cool, you should open up a shop. No one has really explored artificially cavity formicariums