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Lasius niger (Wegmier)


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#61 Offline Antkid12 - Posted August 15 2020 - 8:51 AM

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Nice.


Ants I have: Tapinoma sessile(2 queen colony). RED MORPH Camponotus neacticus(now has pupae!), Tetramorium immigrans (x3), Aphaenogaster sp, Temnothorax sp, Brachymyrmex sp.   possibly infertile   :(,  Ponera pennsylvanica, and Pheidole morrisi!  :yahoo: 

 

Other insects: Polistes sp. Queen

                    

Ants I need: Pheidole sp., Trachymyrmex sp., Crematogaster cerasi , Dorymyrmex sp. Most wanted: Pheidole morrisii

 

                    

                   

 

 


#62 Offline AntsDakota - Posted August 15 2020 - 9:11 AM

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You could design another outworld after the Colosseum. 


"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. (including ants) And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version


#63 Offline Wegmier - Posted August 15 2020 - 9:16 AM

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You could design another outworld after the Colosseum.


Derp! Of all the decorations I considered, the Colosseum didn’t pop up in my head 😂
That will go in the Italia Outworld
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1 x Lasius niger -  https://www.formicul...-wegmier/page-6

1 x Lasius flavus - https://www.formicul...flavus-wegmier/

4 x Camponotus fedtschenkoi - https://www.formicul...-wegmier/page-2


#64 Offline Wegmier - Posted August 17 2020 - 5:10 PM

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Not an update but found this cool, the size difference between nanitic-sized pupae and those of my semi-mature colony

FFDiPn2.png


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1 x Lasius niger -  https://www.formicul...-wegmier/page-6

1 x Lasius flavus - https://www.formicul...flavus-wegmier/

4 x Camponotus fedtschenkoi - https://www.formicul...-wegmier/page-2


#65 Offline NickAnter - Posted August 17 2020 - 5:22 PM

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You could also do Britiania as another theme. Specifically Scotland, as it was never tamed.

Hi there! I went on a 6 month or so hiatus, in part due, and in part cause of the death of my colonies. 

However, I went back to the Sierras, and restarted my collection, which is now as follows:

Aphaenogaster uinta, Camponotus vicinus, Camponotus modoc, Formica cf. aserva, Formica cf. micropthalma, Formica cf. manni, Formica subpolita, Formica cf. subaenescens, Lasius americanus, Manica invidia, Pogonomyrmex salinus, Pogonomyrmex sp. 1, Solenopsis validiuscula, & Solenopsis sp. 3 (new Sierra variant). 


#66 Offline DIACAMMAWORLDCOOL - Posted August 19 2020 - 7:38 PM

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awesome



#67 Offline Wegmier - Posted August 26 2020 - 3:02 PM

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Update 33: Outworld cleaning (August 27 2020)

Removed a bunch of rocks and trash from their outworld. There were a lot of ants just sitting idle under the decorative pebbles

There was a 1,5 month build-up of insect carcasses - so the outworld was long overdue for a cleaning session. 

The nests appear a lot more full this week

3R3jyxq.jpg

Left: The outworld as it looks now. Still not done cleaning it.
Right: The trash that I threw in a separate container. A lot of the trash still contains ants, so I dump it and wait for the ants to move to the water-tube I provide in there. Then I tap them back into the outworld.

vDdIoZ8.jpg


Edited by Wegmier, February 25 2021 - 3:16 PM.

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1 x Lasius niger -  https://www.formicul...-wegmier/page-6

1 x Lasius flavus - https://www.formicul...flavus-wegmier/

4 x Camponotus fedtschenkoi - https://www.formicul...-wegmier/page-2


#68 Offline Wegmier - Posted September 18 2020 - 2:39 PM

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Update 34: Escape! (September 19 2020)

 
There's a lot to cover here. I went on a week long vacation and got my cousin to feed the ants once, halfway the holiday. I left 4 emergency test tubes of water in the outworld, just in case their nests dried out.

On the morning that I was supposed to leave, I noticed dozens of ants walking over the desk!
I went into full damage control mode and scooped up as many as I could with pieces of cotton. I found about ~100 escapees in total. A number of ants died during my attempts to plug the leak. Those that fell down and got lost in my room, God have their tiny ant-sized souls.
A number of escaped ants near the 3D nest:
 
9FoqTlO.png


The escape was caused by a cottonball that was supposed to plug an exit in their 3D nest. It had become too wet and the workers were chewing on it 24/7. They managed to make a small opening in it. I have now taped the holes shut.
I am very lucky that I extensively fed the colony the night before, so they didn't have much reason to escape and there were only a few outside. And I am extremely lucky that they escaped on the morning I was supposed to leave - and not one day later. If this had happened while I was away, most of the colony would have been lost.

The colony as it is looking now: 
 
Xd90F3y.jpg

Also noteworthy to mention is that the queen has now reverted her physogastry. I didn't manage to take a photo, but her massive swollen gaster shrunk in size over past two weeks and she is now the size of a normal niger queen (I'll post a picture in this thread when she shows herself again). Maybe she's sensing the approach of hibernation as my room temperature dropped. Good for her. The queen has laid thousands of eggs this year, she deserves a rest!

Lastly their new vertical nest is almost finished. It's not the same nest as in Update 31, but a new slightly smaller one
I had bought a dremel tool a few months ago, but I can't find it anywhere in my house anymore, so I had to carve it with a drill and a screwdriver (blisters)
 
wOnLgA8.jpg


Edited by Wegmier, September 18 2020 - 3:54 PM.

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1 x Lasius niger -  https://www.formicul...-wegmier/page-6

1 x Lasius flavus - https://www.formicul...flavus-wegmier/

4 x Camponotus fedtschenkoi - https://www.formicul...-wegmier/page-2


#69 Offline ANTdrew - Posted September 18 2020 - 3:29 PM

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Just last night I noticed a big pile of shredded cotton under a hole I had plugged with cotton in my Crematogasters’ outworld. I promptly replaced it with a recently freed up rubber stopper I had. It felt so good to foil their latest escape attempt. Muahahahaha!!!

Edited by ANTdrew, September 18 2020 - 4:31 PM.

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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#70 Offline Wegmier - Posted September 22 2020 - 6:50 AM

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Update 35: A new home (September 22 2020)

 
The new vertical nest is finally done. The watering system didn't exactly work out the way I hoped it would. There's a small breach in the glue layer around the water reservoir, allowing water to pour out instead of slowly diffusing through the Ytong like I wanted. It's not too bad though, and I'm sure the ants won't care hah. This new home is more of an experiment. I think I'll stick with horizontal nests in the future.

I hooked up the new nest to the ants' outworld. It doesn't have a direct connection to the other 3 nests - instead the ants have to go through the outworld to reach it, kind of making it a satellite nest. Immediately a few workers started exploring this new space. I'm letting the old nests dry out a bit so that more will move.

The finished product:
 

IkIQlMf.jpg

 

Introduction
Left = 30 minutes after conncetion
Right = 12 hours after connection

VizxNOV.jpg


Edited by Wegmier, October 21 2020 - 5:08 AM.

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1 x Lasius niger -  https://www.formicul...-wegmier/page-6

1 x Lasius flavus - https://www.formicul...flavus-wegmier/

4 x Camponotus fedtschenkoi - https://www.formicul...-wegmier/page-2


#71 Offline Wegmier - Posted October 21 2020 - 5:08 AM

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Update 36: Fridge time (October 21 2020)

 
Hibernation has come. Over the past few weeks I dropped the temperature in my room. Yesterday I finally finished relocating this colony into the fridge! It was a challenge removing and re-connecting the tubing without having too many escapees.

The top 3 shelves are for this colony. Next year I'm going to have to stack them.
I also provided the colony with a little outworld so that I can still offer sugarwater during hibernation (not a necessity, but just in case)

XmJ3Euf.jpg

 

The new vertical nest filled up nicely too:

GZj5PqT.jpg

They will be going into hibernation with thousands of larvae this year. This pile below is like 2% of the total amount of larvae, many rooms are stacked with them:

foEobmU.png


Edited by Wegmier, October 21 2020 - 5:19 AM.

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1 x Lasius niger -  https://www.formicul...-wegmier/page-6

1 x Lasius flavus - https://www.formicul...flavus-wegmier/

4 x Camponotus fedtschenkoi - https://www.formicul...-wegmier/page-2


#72 Offline Kaelwizard - Posted October 22 2020 - 9:03 AM

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This is insane! The nest looks awesome too!

Edited by Kaelwizard, October 22 2020 - 9:04 AM.

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#73 Offline Wegmier - Posted December 4 2020 - 4:53 PM

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Update 37: Hibernation Update (December 5 2020)

The colony has been in the fridge for a month and two weeks now.

At one point I had accidentally set the fridgerator temperature too low. It dropped close to freezing (0,5 °C), oops
This didn't seem to harm the colony and hibernation is still going smoothly.

Death:
The colony is dumping dead workers in their small hibernation-outworld. A lot of these workers were probably already old or weak when the colony went into hibernation. Many succumb to the cold. The shriveled dark yellow things are dead larvae:

no3F659.png

In hibernation, workers stack the larvae into huge (1.5cm - 2cm tall) piles. Probably to help them with moisture?:

ivaE4d6.png

Edited by Wegmier, December 4 2020 - 6:04 PM.

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1 x Lasius niger -  https://www.formicul...-wegmier/page-6

1 x Lasius flavus - https://www.formicul...flavus-wegmier/

4 x Camponotus fedtschenkoi - https://www.formicul...-wegmier/page-2


#74 Offline Antkeeper01 - Posted December 6 2020 - 10:10 AM

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amazing


1X Pogonomyrmex occidentalis 40-50 Workers

1X Solenopsis molesta 10 Workers (mono)

Ants I Want: Crematogaster sp, Camponotus Sp., Ponera Pennsylvanica, Mymercocystus sp.

 

My Youtube channel: https://www.youtube....kUjx-dPFMyVqOLw

 

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#75 Offline Ants_Dakota - Posted December 7 2020 - 7:14 AM

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WOW! that is a ton of growth! how much does that colony eat!!!


Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. -Proverbs 6: 6-8

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#76 Offline AntsDakota - Posted December 7 2020 - 7:56 AM

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At one point I had accidentally set the fridgerator temperature too low. It dropped close to freezing (0,5 °C), oops
This didn't seem to harm the colony and hibernation is still going smoothly.

Yes, temperate ants are very resilient in the cold. I myself feel comfortable in keeping my ants only a few degrees (couple degrees C) above freezing all the time.
 


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"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. (including ants) And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version


#77 Offline Ants_Dakota - Posted December 7 2020 - 8:00 AM

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At one point I had accidentally set the fridgerator temperature too low. It dropped close to freezing (0,5 °C), oops
This didn't seem to harm the colony and hibernation is still going smoothly.

Yes, temperate ants are very resilient in the cold. I myself feel comfortable in keeping my ants only a few degrees (couple degrees C) above freezing all the time.
 

 

mine range from 38F to 55F(trying not to let them get to 55F right now)


Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. -Proverbs 6: 6-8

My South Dakotan Shop Here

Attention Ant-Keepers in South Dakota! Join the SoDak(Society Of Dakotan Ant Keepers)


#78 Offline AntsDakota - Posted December 7 2020 - 8:09 AM

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Yeah, to me 35-39 is preferable. Anything above that and they're still fairly active and even in their outworlds.


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"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. (including ants) And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version


#79 Offline Ants_Dakota - Posted December 7 2020 - 8:12 AM

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Yeah, to me 35-39 is preferable. Anything above that and they're still fairly active and even in their outworlds.

yup. mine are active right now. i need to get them that heating pad so they can hibernate outside.


Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. -Proverbs 6: 6-8

My South Dakotan Shop Here

Attention Ant-Keepers in South Dakota! Join the SoDak(Society Of Dakotan Ant Keepers)


#80 Offline AntsDakota - Posted December 7 2020 - 8:13 AM

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My garage is insulated, so it stays warm enough for their good health, and besides I have them in a cooler.


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"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. (including ants) And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version





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