123 replies to this topic

[ANTdrew]

Have you thought of giving the Camponotus bird droppings or urea? They may have some lack of nutrients. I think it may also have to do with the symbiotic Bloachmania bacteria, which may get depleted over time in captivity somehow. There's just something missing in terms of our long-term care for Camponotus.

 

As for seeing the queen, it's kind of overrated. Even in my $150 Nucleus nest, I can't see my Crema queen at all. She's always under a massive dogpile/ mini-bivouac of workers, plus they chose the backside of the nest facing the wall to do all their brood care, of course.

[Canadant]

Have you thought of giving the Camponotus bird droppings or urea? They may have some lack of nutrients. I think it may also have to do with the symbiotic Bloachmania bacteria, which may get depleted over time in captivity somehow. There's just something missing in terms of our long-term care for Camponotus.

As for seeing the queen, it's kind of overrated. Even in my $150 Nucleus nest, I can't see my Crema queen at all. She's always under a massive dogpile/ mini-bivouac of workers, plus they chose the backside of the nest facing the wall to do all their brood care, of course.

Yeah I gotta get over the bird dropping idea. Lol. Funny thing was, the other day we came across a beautiful Barred Owl staring down at us with big beautiful black eyes. Then it took a crap and flew off. A life event for me. I immediately started to collect the dung and I think I freaked out the fam. Lol. So I decided to do it alone on my own terms. My wife loves my outdoor adventures and knowledge but I think that was the limit.

I'll collect some today.

Thanks.

[Canadant]

C. novaeboracensis

 

Holy excavation shavings, Batman! These gals have been hard at it all day. Wow! I'm not sure what the outcome will be, but they're definitely working like ants and not sitting around anymore. Mission accomplished.... so far. 

 

Top down shavings in focus:

 

Kinda funny, today they had an assembly line. Some ants would bring some shavings out and place them at the entrance and then other ants would pick those up and discard them off the piece of wood. It was nice to see. Top down ant coming to the edge and dropping a small piece:

 

Front on shavings pile:

 

These are the two pupae I have my eye on. One is slightly large. Hope things turn around for these guys. I want to see some callow ants!

[Canadant]

C. cerasi 

 

The great Crematogaster Caper!

 

First, I love my Crematogaster! They're just the cutest little guys with their bums wagging in the air. They're like little puppies. lol. However, I have a mystery - actually I have two crematogaster mysteries. Hopefully, someone with a little more knowledge may have an answer to at least one of them. 

 

Crematogaster Caper #1: If you've followed my journal or have seen my posts from the previous year, I caught a Crema queen last summer and brood boosted her by several hundred pupae. The colony began at a very fast pace. However, I could not keep them contained and I had a mass jail break. I woke up just as the colony was pushing the queens fat gaster over the lip of their outworld. Phew! They form a long line headed to my door frame about 20 feet away. They moved in there. Not sure if they got brood there or not, but I lost a lot. So, I decided to move them into half of their natural nest which was an old piece of 2x4. They have not tried to escape since. I guess they're comfortable. So, mystery #1, to this day I'm still finding them around the door frame. I must have placed at least 64 back in the colony in one day about 4 weeks ago. They have since stopped accepting them and newcomers are killed. I guess their scent has changed.I found about ten more yesterday and even found one bringing a morsel of food back to the door frame. Is that not crazy? Every day or two I find more. Sometimes 5-6 and sometimes 1-2. I did not think they could live that long. It baffles me that there could be so many. Also, I'm not 100% sure the queen is in the natural nest. I'm about 98% sure. Could they have gotten her to the door frame one night under my sleeping nose? Could the colony be growing there?

 

Crematogaster Caper #2: In the natural nest set up I have a few Crematogaster ants (I've seen only 2 at one time) that are exceptionally small. Much smaller than the adult workers. I mean, you can't miss it when you see them. It's not a debate. They're much smaller. Do Crematogaster have a caste? I don't think so. Perhaps small starter seasonal ants? Something to get the force up to speed early in the season? Perhaps eggs laid last fall and developed over the winter? I'm trying to get pictures, but it's hard with the set up I have. I'm wondering if the queen I caught was a different species than cerasi and in time all my Cremas are going to shrink? They exceptionally cute too. None of the others have a problem with them either. I fed them some cooked shrimp today and here's som e pics. In only one can you see the small guy but it's hard to tell at a distance. What do you think?

 

Here's my set up with the nest on the right:

 

 

Eating shrimp and egg yolk:

 

Hauling Shrimp up the branch ladder:

 

Another pic:

 

Finally the little guy. You can see her to the right of the byformica feeding dish. try to judge using the other ants in the pic. There is barely any depth to the image. She's probably a millimeter behind all ants on the twig below her. She's half to less than half the size of the other ants. Hard to tell her size, but perhaps you'll get a feel. 

 

 

 

 

[ANTdrew]

Those are some real mysteries. I can say for sure that Crema workers live a long time, at least a year. I think the runt workers are ones that grew up in times of scarcity over the winter.

[AntsDakota]

Have you thought of giving the Camponotus bird droppings or urea? They may have some lack of nutrients. I think it may also have to do with the symbiotic Bloachmania bacteria, which may get depleted over time in captivity somehow. There's just something missing in terms of our long-term care for Camponotus.
 
As for seeing the queen, it's kind of overrated. Even in my $150 Nucleus nest, I can't see my Crema queen at all. She's always under a massive dogpile/ mini-bivouac of workers, plus they chose the backside of the nest facing the wall to do all their brood care, of course.

My Lasius americanus only have 500 workers, and I can’t even see the queen. Lasius are super proactive about covering their queen. Pogonomyrmex are the exact opposite.

[TennesseeAnts]

 

Currently Raising:

 

 

 

Camponotus Novaboracensis (3rd Year)

 

Camponotus Pennsylvanicus

 

Tetramorium Immigrans

 

Crematogastor sp. (cerasi I think)

 

Aphenogastor sp. (Picea or rudis, I think)

 

Formica sp. (Integra, I think)

 

Formica sp. (subsericea, Ithink)

 

 

 

 

 

Intro 

This is my third year anting. I fell in love with it instantly about 3 years ago in the spring of 2017. I watched an AC video with Mikey Bustos (Thanks Mikey) and realized that all those things I wanted to do as a young bot are now possible with shared information on the web. I absolutely love it. I find it fascinating, calming and of therapeutic value to me. And I LOVE creepy crawlies. Throwing insects into anthills when I was a boy.... hell ya eh!

 

Unidentified Species/Formica

I have 4 species that remain unidentified. Two Formica and a crematogastor and Aphenogastor. I will post pics of these for others to aid my in ID later. I don't want to disturb my Formica (Integra) queen at the moment. There are about 15-20 nanitics at the moment. They're quite small and extremely skittish so I want to give her time to grow the colony before I try to get a pic. But I definitely want to ID that species. I've always loved Formica ants. They're fast and healthy at the moment, and I just moved them into a new test tube attached to an AC mini outworld. I've tried this species two winters before this both unsuccessful but third time's a charm.

 

Camponotus Novaboracencis

 

This is my 3 year old colony. She is the second queen I caught. The colony grew a lot in it's second year so much so that I had to move them from my old AC Hybrid nest. Thank god. They chewed right through the plastic mesh. Now they're in my new Hybrid nest 2.0 and it's waaaayyyy better. I went into last winter with about 500 ants. I don't hibernate in the fridge as I just don't have the space. However, they go into a type of torpor. I lost a lot of ants over the winter. I think the colony was halved. Rough, and maybe because of the no hibernation thing. They have been my last species to wake up but the eggs that were undeveloped in the fall are still there and now I see some larvae. The ants have become bigger and I have some majors and super majors these days. They'll be even bigger this year! The goal this year for all my ants and myself is a more varied diet. Too many crickets! I've just ordered some roaches and flightless fruit flies also some bloodworms. Thanks for all the tips on the forum, guys (meaning guys and gals). Here are some pics of the colony and outworld. This is a pic of the colony just when they woke up. They piled some garbage and bodies in their formicarium but like the last formicarium the cleaned it when they needed room.

 

I will update my other colonies in the coming days.

 

Yeah, umm, Camponotus don't actually have supermajors... Some Pheidole have supermajors, though. 

 

Edit: And, northern Camponotus absolutely require at least 3 months of hibernation. 

Edited by Ant_Dude2908, May 29 2020 - 5:08 PM.

[ANTdrew]

The lack of hibernation may be a big part of the issue with your Camponotus.

[TennesseeAnts]

The lack of hibernation may be a big part of the issue with your Camponotus.

Indeed. Here in TN, you may get away with not hibernating certain Camponotus, but it is smart to give them 2-3 months of diapause.

[AntsDakota]

The lack of hibernation may be a big part of the issue with your Camponotus.

Especially in Canada. I live in a similar climate, and I can testify to this with Formica. The other Ants_Dakota didn’t hibernate his colony, and it is not thriving at all. This seems to happen with most northern natives.

[Canadant]

Hmm.... probably gonna have to make room in the fridge then. They definitely go into a sort of dormancy but just not a full dispause. Wish I could keep them outside in like a large container, say my large beer cooler stuffed with hay or something- or between two bales of hay. We'll see.

Edited by Canadant, May 29 2020 - 7:30 PM.

[Canadant]

C.novaboracensis

On my anting adventures today I came across a C.novaboracensis nest with two queens. I was looking for eggs, larvae and pupae for my colony. Thought I'd brood boost a bit. There were very few eggs and larvae for such a large log. But there were definitely two queens. Even if they were from different colonies the were in very close proximity. I believe same nest. It's a no doubter for me. That's odd because C. novaeboracensis are thought not to be polygynous. Cool. I also caught a huge major. Someone stated in my journal that Camponotus do not have super majors. That's a slight bummer and probably debatable. Either way this gals head is HUGE! It's bigger than my queens'! 

 

It's amazing what you'll find when tearing apart an old fallen log. Huge larvae, spiders with egg sacks, ants, beetles, worms etc. They're all packed in there. Lots of male alates ready to fly tomorrow after the rain no doubt. I'll see if I can get a shot of that major.

 

 

The pics just don't do this thing justice. A Canadian dime is about 1.8-1.9 cm. This gal was about 1.7 cm long. Huge for an ant. The biggest I've ever seen barring a Camponotus queen of course. it swam for safety. I need to get a better cam. Someday soon. 

 

Back to the larvae.... There were a lot of participants who came out to gather the larvae and eggs. The single pupae was disposed of. They gathered the larvae and eggs outside in a pile then other ants transported them into the tubing and another set then took them into the nest. It took a lot longer than I thought. At first I did not think they were accepted. They're in the nest now though. There was not a lot to begin with. 

Edited by Canadant, May 30 2020 - 1:42 PM.

[TennesseeAnts]

C.novaboracensis

On my anting adventures today I came across a C.novaboracensis nest with two queens. I was looking for eggs, larvae and pupae for my colony. Thought I'd brood boost a bit. There were very few eggs and larvae for such a large log. But there were definitely two queens. Even if they were from different colonies the were in very close proximity. I believe same nest. It's a no doubter for me. That's odd because C. novaeboracensis are thought not to be polygynous. Cool. I also caught a huge major. Someone stated in my journal that Camponotus do not have super majors. That's a slight bummer and probably debatable. Either way this gals head is HUGE! It's bigger than my queens'!

It's amazing what you'll find when tearing apart an old fallen log. Huge larvae, spiders with egg sacks, ants, beetles, worms etc. They're all packed in there. Lots of male alates ready to fly tomorrow after the rain no doubt. I'll see if I can get a shot of that major.

Yeah, Camponotus don't have supermajors. They have minors, media and majors. Those larger majors are simply referred to as majors. In order to be supermajors, I believe they need a specialized role, as well as different body proportions. You can see this in Pheidole rhea and Ph. tepicana.

[Canadant]

Camponotus novaeboracensis

Just on my way out the door today I found some semi fresh bird droppings. Quickly dropped it into my Camponotus outworld. Had to run but we'll see how they took to it when I get home. Camponotus should fly here today or tomorrow. Good spring day to all you guys!

[AntsDakota]

C.novaboracensis
On my anting adventures today I came across a C.novaboracensis nest with two queens. I was looking for eggs, larvae and pupae for my colony. Thought I'd brood boost a bit. There were very few eggs and larvae for such a large log. But there were definitely two queens. Even if they were from different colonies the were in very close proximity. I believe same nest. It's a no doubter for me. That's odd because C. novaeboracensis are thought not to be polygynous. Cool. I also caught a huge major. Someone stated in my journal that Camponotus do not have super majors. That's a slight bummer and probably debatable. Either way this gals head is HUGE! It's bigger than my queens'! 
 
It's amazing what you'll find when tearing apart an old fallen log. Huge larvae, spiders with egg sacks, ants, beetles, worms etc. They're all packed in there. Lots of male alates ready to fly tomorrow after the rain no doubt. I'll see if I can get a shot of that major.
 
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The pics just don't do this thing justice. A Canadian dime is about 1.8-1.9 cm. This gal was about 1.7 cm long. Huge for an ant. The biggest I've ever seen barring a Camponotus queen of course. it swam for safety. I need to get a better cam. Someday soon. 
 
Back to the larvae.... There were a lot of participants who came out to gather the larvae and eggs. The single pupae was disposed of. They gathered the larvae and eggs outside in a pile then other ants transported them into the tubing and another set then took them into the nest. It took a lot longer than I thought. At first I did not think they were accepted. They're in the nest now though. There was not a lot to begin with.

One of the queens could be unmated.

[ANTdrew]

Yum! Bird poop.

[Canadant]

My Anting Adventures May 31st, 2020

 

I would have killed to have one of you guys with me today. I've always been a huge nature guy, but I'm still relatively new to the world of anting and identification. Would have had a great time with a fellow anter. This is where I ant (that's the verb if there is one) on most occasions: 

 

 

This is the old Canadian railroad in the Maritimes. They've made it into a trail and there are old broken railway ties strewn on either side. Since it's paved, it's great to spot queens running back and forth. No flights yet here, but you can see the rain in the distance. That means Camponotus tomorrow! This path has tonnes of different genera and species of ants - So many that I could not identify all I saw today. Some very colourful ones and some so small I could barely see them. I needed that expert to tell me what was what. Crematogasters love to nest in the old ties and I found several nests today with tens of thousands. By the time I walked 700 meters I had in my bag: 3 snakes, a cricket, a grub, hundreds of Crematiogaster eggs, unidentified ants, spider with egg sac and a sun burn! Man, I had fun! And I'm a middle aged man. LOL! This path has a lot of Formica on either side as well. I bet there's lots of slave raiding here in the mid summer. I'll have to see if I can spot a raid.

 

A baby Ring-Necked snake (I found two under a rock). These two were a stunning colour. Must be just hatched.

 

 

A now very rare smooth green snake. These guys are getting hard to come by here sadly. I was happy to see him. They're so docile. Beautiful. All three snakes were shown to my daughters and returned to their homes where they belong. I want to educate my daughters about nature and don't want them to be afraid.

 

 

I'm seeing bulkier jumping spiders here since I've returned home.

 

 

And could it be? Ant lions this far north? I found a lot of these strewn over a nest of some small species of ant. However, the didn't seem to have any active ant lions in them so I could not discern what they really were. I didn't want to go mucking about trying to find one either. They're pretty small and it was getting a little late.

 

 

So... Updates:

 

Camponotus novaeboracensis 

 

These guys have really excavated a large portion of their little log. They just don't want to stop. I've been feeding lots of protein to them in hopes that the queen begins to grow her gaster a bit. There is sawdust everywhere now but I'm cool with it. They've began excavating a lower chamber as well. Busy, Busy, Busy! I'm happy for them. 

 

Tetramorium immigrans 

 

These guys a growing very fast. They started with one AC Omni nest chamber last week and now they're up to three. I'll have to remove the cotton blockage and allow them more room soon. I'm feeding them lots of protein. They need a bigger outworld. Not sure what to do about that just yet.

 

Formica neorufibarbis

 

These guys are a very shy ant. They're currently in two test tubes lying in a small outworld. I don't see them out too often. However, they're growing. They must be getting close to forty now. I hope their size gets larger as they grow. I hope to see more action in the future. 

 

Crematogaster cerasi

 

My purpose today was to get more brood for my Camponotus, howerer, I could not find a nest. Odd they're usually everywhere. I think the Crematogasters are taking over this section of the railway. I like that though. So, I opened up a tie and low and behold I found a HUGE nest of cremas! Tens of thousands and brood up the wahzoo! So, with my trusty aspirator I sucked up a bunch. I got bit several times too. Buggers! But that's the nature of the hobby. I'm glad they put up such a good fight. In the evening I dumped the brood into their outworld not too far from their nest. Slowly but surely they emerged and sniffed around. Withing an hour it was a full team effort. I've been watching them all night. They're taking them in one by one. I'm happy to see it. 

 

A question for Crematomasters out there: What is the size of the ants when your colonies started. Like I said in my previous posts I have the odd mini crema walking around. In the nests I opened today the cremas were huge. I assumed because they were such a mature colony. However, I did find one smaller colony with a bunch of only miniature cremas. Smaller because they're just starting out? Or a different species?This is the mystery I'm trying to solve. My queen was brood boosted last year with mature eggs and perhaps the cremas I'm seeing now are those of a small colony because the queen is just starting to lay? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

Brood Pile. Several hundred.

 

 

Brood pile being stashed away in the nest.

 

 

They're really all hands on deck here now. 

 

Wish I had an anting buddy. Guys like me are very hard to find. America is in turmoil and I wish my fellow Americans peace. You've got a bad complicated mess on your hands. Stay safe and I will be praying for you all. 

Edited by Canadant, June 1 2020 - 2:25 AM.

[FeedTheAnts]

About the small ants, it's completely normal for Crematogaster to have petite workers. It just depends on how well the larva was fed. They aren't a different caste, just anatomically identical mini workers. Even the largest of colonies will have petite workers btw.

[AntsDakota]

About the small ants, it's completely normal for Crematogaster to have petite workers. It just depends on how well the larva was fed. They aren't a different caste, just anatomically identical mini workers. Even the largest of colonies will have petite workers btw.

Usually small workers develop when there are few resources around, which is why the larvae aren’t fed as much.

[ANTdrew]

Nice trail, brother. I would join you if I was up there. Here's a king snake I found on my trail last week!

 

I picked that sucker up, Steve Irwin style, because I also want to show my kids they don't need to be afraid of things like snakes. My girl loves spiders and snakes more than anything now.