34 replies to this topic

[Domagoj]

I realized that the other thread I started for the purpose of terrarium making starred to turn into a journal documenting the progress of the queens I caught, so in order to keep those two topics separate, let's see if I keep this clean.

Condensed chronology so far:

 

June 28th 2020, around 11 PM I caught 4 queens of Lasius genus, jury is still out on what specific species they are.

A week later, on July 5th 2020, around noon, I caught another one.

July 13th 2020 two queens have eggs.

July 20th 2020 all five queens have eggs.

July 30th the queen creatively named E (the fifth one caught) has larvae.

 

Latest pics of the queen E and her brood:

 

Are these cocoons in the second picture?

Edited by Domagoj, July 30 2020 - 8:20 AM.

[TechAnt]

Awesome! Can’t wait to see how they grow.

[AntsDakota]

Yes, those are pupae.

[Domagoj]

Just received my freeze dried mealworms.

Hope the ants like them. They look kind of empty, not much meat in them at all.

Is there some secret preparation recipe? Something like crush, hydrate, mix clockwise three times, pour into an dish and mix one more time counterclockwise? Or is just dropping in a few dry bits ok?

[ANTdrew]

Your ants will need fresh mealworms chopped up. Most ants are incapable or unwilling to eat dried foods. You can, and indeed should, freeze live feeder insects to humanely kill them, prevent mites, and help with storage.

[CatsnAnts]

I use freeze-dried mealworms for my colonies, just rehydrate them for about an hour and your good to go.

[AntsDakota]

I still think a lot of the nutrients are lost in the freeze-drying process, though.

[CatsnAnts]

I still think a lot of the nutrients are lost in the freeze-drying process, though.

That’s actually false, freeze-drying anything will help to preserve the nutrients within it. The amount lost is the process is extremely small. When I rehydrate the mealworms, the inner exoskeleton/material becomes soft and the ants go crazy for it, even my wild P. tysoni colony had the entire inside carved out within a few hours. I think as long as you rehydrate it for a long enough time, it’s basically equivalent to using frozen live mealworms.

Edited by CatsnAnts, July 31 2020 - 6:49 AM.

[Domagoj]

There is still some time until first workers, but I hope they'll eat them since I'd like to avoid having a worm farm.

[CatsnAnts]

There is still some time until first workers, but I hope they'll eat them since I'd like to avoid having a worm farm.

Even if the freeze-dried mealworms don’t work, you can always just buy a bunch of live one’s and freeze them, no need to raise them. However, I recommend that you buy crickets over mealworms next time. I made that mistake too.

[Domagoj]

I've got some freeze dried blood worms and freeze dried larvae of chironomid midges on order, so I can test if those work.

If not, I will buy live, but hope these will do. They seem to be much easier to store and handle.

[Domagoj]

Unfortunately, there has been a death in the ranks.

I was worried when I first caught her as her wing tips were a bit damaged and seemed wrong. Looking at these pictures, I now wonder if she was already ill when I caught her.

There was not much mold in the test tube, but under this sort of magnification it seems as if her entire thorax is filled with mold. Makes me sad to think she suffered like this.

 

As for other four queens, E looks fine and her brood is plentiful,the others are not nearly as far along.

[NickAnter]

Fruit flies are excellent food. And most flies in general. My Lasius go nuts over flies of any kind, but arent the biggest fans of mealworms.

[BlueLance213]

Yeah, I have Lasius Flavus and they readily abduct any fruit flies I give them, I would assume that these will probably follow a similar nature, so far its given me no mess to clean up either which is grand.

 

Good luck with the colony

[Domagoj]

Nanitics! 

One appears to be fully eclosed, another one looks like is in the process of emerging. The first one is already dark, the second one is starting to get her color.

They are absolutely tiny.

[ANTdrew]

Cheers!

[Antkid12]

Pics?

[Domagoj]

Here you go.

It turns out there are three of the tiny ones.

Poor image, but good enough for head count.

 

 

One a bit clearer, but only two in frame. Mom's head for scale.

They seem to already be busy taking care of the brood.

[Domagoj]

So, I connected the test tube with the small foraging area, and since the test tube is no longer under the cardboard box, I wrapped the test tube in aluminium foil. Hope that's dark enough and not too much light is leaking though the connection. The room they are in is usually fairly dark itself.

 

A few honey drops to reward the brave nanitics that dare to venture into the vastness of a petri dish.

I also made preparation for a nest that will be the next stage, but the connecting tube is blocked for now. The decision regarding the timing for the expansion is something I'll rely on you guys to help decide, but prep work is done.

 

Now I need to cook some dinner for both myself and the little ones.

[TechAnt]

Awesome!