212 replies to this topic

[AntsDakota]

*when mad biologist is more popular than you*

Than who? ANTdrew, or you? No offense, but since when was Mad more popular than AD?

[ANTdrew]

He was referring to himself, I believe.

[ANTdrew]

I’m trying out posting a video here of my Formica. Hope this works for you all!
https://drive.google...Y3KZ92P1BtlEVUf

[Antkid12]

Yup, works for me! 

[AntsDakota]

Works for me too. Nice colony, btw. Mine has 15 eggs, and just ate a mealworm.

[AntsDakota]

Also, how did you upload those videos? Might try it myself.

[ANTdrew]

I uploaded them into my Google drive. Then I set the sharing to “everyone with the link.” Then I posted the sharable link.

[ANTdrew]

Update 5-29-2020

 

This colony continues to kick butt (or kick gaster, more like it). I examined their tunneling again on Wednesday evening, and it continues to grow! I even got a great look at Yrse herself, and she appears to doing great. I tried to get a photo of her majesty, but I slightly tapped something, and they did the typical Formica freak-out and disappeared.

I added another scoop of springtail rich soil from my culture box, and mold seems to be basically eliminated. The colony had its biggest feeding response yet last night when I gave them a chopped up dubia roach. I even got to see their first full size, next gen worker. All the remains of the roach were gone by morning. This colony may definitely be above 20 workers now, but it's hard to accurately count them in the dirt box.

Edited by ANTdrew, May 29 2020 - 6:25 AM.

[AntsDakota]

Seems like your is doing great! I need a heating cable, as yours is definitely outpacing mine. My heat mat is full, heating my Pogonomyrmex, who need it more than any native species. However my Formica have around 10ish workers, 20ish eggs, and a super fat queen (however the eggs are still eggs after two weeks, much to my disappointment).

[NickAnter]

I can't wait until the Formica perpilosa here fly. Just one more month......

[ANTdrew]

Seems like your is doing great! I need a heating cable, as yours is definitely outpacing mine. My heat mat is full, heating my Pogonomyrmex, who need it more than any native species. However my Formica have around 10ish workers, 20ish eggs, and a super fat queen (however the eggs are still eggs after two weeks, much to my disappointment).

Heat will definitely help. I actually put away their cable for the season, though. Their room is currently 86 degrees natural heat since my AC is disconnected.

I can't wait until the Formica perpilosa here fly. Just one more month......

I hope you find some.

[NickAnter]

Thank you!

[ANTdrew]

Update 6-3-2020

 

Yrse's colony continues to do well. I removed the felt covering to examine her tunnels, and I counted over twenty pupae. There was also a pile of eggs and smaller larvae, so she's been pumping out brood. I fed them 15 frozen termites the other day (sorry, Nare!), and they crushed them! They also got really excited over some hard boiled egg yolk I gave them.

My plan for these in the short term is to hook my second dirt box to their current one for more tunneling space.

Looking ahead, I plan to make a giant dirt box style set up with a plastic display box and an inner box made of acrylic sheets. I ordered Milliput, an epoxy putty, so I'll use that to glue the inner box together. Basically I'm stealing Dspdrew's design he uses for his Acromyrmex.

 

Photos of tunnels and pupae:

Attached Images

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Edited by ANTdrew, March 5 2021 - 11:38 AM.

[ANTdrew]

Update 6-12-2020

 

These girls continue to progress nicely. They eat everything I give them, and I feed them every single day. I felt they needed more space, so I hooked my second dirt box to theirs with some tubing. Of course the Formicas immediately blocked up the tube with dirt, and I don't think they're even aware of the new space. I may just unhook it for now; these ants are so dang shy. The issue is that they are depositing lots of dirt up above and started to tunnel in it. I guess that's a sign that they are growing in numbers, though.

 

I fed them banded crickets for the first time last night, and they loved it:

 

 

Dragging a piece into the lair:

 

 

Attached Images

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Edited by ANTdrew, March 5 2021 - 11:39 AM.

[ANTdrew]

Update 6-24-2020

 

There's not much to update with this colony, but they continue to grow a lot! I estimate they are at least 40 workers now, but exact counts are tricky in the soil nest they are in. They never showed any interest in the second dirt box I hooked up, so I disconnected it. I noticed some workers tending brood up on the surface of the soil the other day, and I realized that I had over-filled the hydration tank and that the bottom part of the dirt box was slightly flooded. I'm just letting it air out now, and it seems to be fine. Interestingly, some of the pupae they had brought up were naked with eyes forming already. These ants really like fruit flies!

[TechAnt]

Cool.

[ANTdrew]

Update 7-13-2020

 

My Formica argentea colony, Yrse, continues to do well, but when I look in her tunnels, I don't see any new brood. She has a lot of workers now, though, probably around 40. They also keep taking in lots of protein, so I'm hopeful there's some brood in her tunnels. Is it likely she's taking an egg laying break or something? Being my first Formica colony, I don't know what to expect really.

 

In other great news, on Friday, 7/10, I found a bright red Formica pallidefulva queen wandering in the grass by the Theodore Roosevelt Island parking lot. Roosevelt Island is a small island in the middle of the Potomac River that has been turned into a park. There are lots of mature woods in the area, so probably great habitat for Formica. This is one of the coolest queens I've ever found, in my opinion. It's a shame I couldn't find more to observe their polygyny.

 

 

Please let me know if this is not pallidefulva. If she gets a colony going, I'll name her Bestla and morph this into a general Formica species journal. No way in heck I'm selling this beauty!

[NickAnter]

I mean she could be any other species in the pallidefulva group that is present in northern virginia.

[Kaelwizard]

I mean she could be any other species in the pallidefulva group that is present in northern virginia.

Not all Formica in the pallidefulva group look like that. That is quite ignorant. Also, it is most likely pallidefulva as they do have a solid orange morph like that that is only present in the south. The northern variety is black and brown/red.

[Antkid12]

She looks beautiful!