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Nylanderia Notebook

Started By ANTdrew , Sep 15 2020 10:56 AM

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167 replies to this topic

#41 Offline KitsAntVa - Posted October 28 2020 - 6:24 AM

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that's cool! The ones in my yard look like a invasive species but they still have like little repletes, and somehow the sugar or whatever they are storing is red!? Don't know how that happened but its still cool.


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We don’t talk about that

#42 Offline ANTdrew - Posted October 28 2020 - 7:47 AM

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You may have Nylanderia flavipes then. They are a nice red color.


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

#43 Offline KitsAntVa - Posted October 28 2020 - 7:48 AM

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Yes that's what they look like and they have a sorta reddish orange body with black ish head.


We don’t talk about that

#44 Offline ANTdrew - Posted November 12 2020 - 11:44 AM

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Update 11-12-2020

 

 My Nylanderia vividula  colony had way outgrown their mini-hearth, so I designed them new set up using a dollar store storage container and Perfect Cast plaster from Hobby Lobby. The outworld is made from a BoxBox container.

 
 I hooked up their mini-hearth last weekend via tubing and waited a few days, but no movement happened. I decided to dump them out because the old mini-hearth was beyond nasty with creepy mold even growing up in the foraging area, plus it was impossible to lift their lid or clean.
 
 Nylanderia are probably faster than any other species I've kept, so this was not a fun endeavor. I drained the water tower first with a syringe, then I basically swished as many as I could out with my goose feather. The queen and a lot of stragglers refused to budge, so I shook them out with some hard whacks to the back of the mini-hearth. I lost sight of the queen for a while, which freaked me out, but it turns out that she jetted into the nest part pretty quick.  
 
Here's them as they started moving in.
 
And here is a crummy photo of all the colony settled in now. They chose the middle chamber mostly, and piled as much loose sand as they could find on my mock water tower. Go figure.
 
There is not much brood left at the moment, so I will be hibernating this colony very soon. In all the hub-hub, I did see a worker carrying a dead male alate, though, which is exciting.

 

 

 


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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.

#45 Offline KitsAntVa - Posted November 12 2020 - 12:04 PM

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That is a lot of ants :0 how did they fit in that mini hearth!?
We don’t talk about that

#46 Offline MinigunL5 - Posted November 12 2020 - 12:52 PM

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Update 11-12-2020

 

 My Nylanderia vividula  colony had way outgrown their mini-hearth, so I designed them new set up using a dollar store storage container and Perfect Cast plaster from Hobby Lobby. The outworld is made from a BoxBox container.

 
 
 I hooked up their mini-hearth last weekend via tubing and waited a few days, but no movement happened. I decided to dump them out because the old mini-hearth was beyond nasty with creepy mold even growing up in the foraging area, plus it was impossible to lift their lid or clean.
 
 Nylanderia are probably faster than any other species I've kept, so this was not a fun endeavor. I drained the water tower first with a syringe, then I basically swished as many as I could out with my goose feather. The queen and a lot of stragglers refused to budge, so I shook them out with some hard whacks to the back of the mini-hearth. I lost sight of the queen for a while, which freaked me out, but it turns out that she jetted into the nest part pretty quick.  
 
 
Here's them as they started moving in.
 
 
And here is a crummy photo of all the colony settled in now. They chose the middle chamber mostly, and piled as much loose sand as they could find on my mock water tower. Go figure.
 
 
There is not much brood left at the moment, so I will be hibernating this colony very soon. In all the hub-hub, I did see a worker carrying a dead male alate, though, which is exciting.

 

 

 

 

How good is the plaster you used compared to Plaster of Paris and other better ones like hydrostone?


#47 Offline NickAnter - Posted November 12 2020 - 1:45 PM

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Your colony is bigger than mine now! Awesome job!


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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). 

#48 Offline ANTdrew - Posted November 12 2020 - 1:47 PM

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It’s basically the same, if not better than hydrostone and much cheaper. I give it 10/10.
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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.

#49 Offline Ants_Dakota - Posted November 12 2020 - 3:10 PM

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It’s basically the same, if not better than hydrostone and much cheaper. I give it 10/10.

wow. no mold?


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)

#50 Offline ANTdrew - Posted November 12 2020 - 4:30 PM

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It’s basically the same, if not better than hydrostone and much cheaper. I give it 10/10.

wow. no mold?
I need to test it long term, but this stuff is basically off-brand hydrostone.
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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.

#51 Offline MinigunL5 - Posted November 12 2020 - 4:39 PM

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It’s basically the same, if not better than hydrostone and much cheaper. I give it 10/10.

I'm def gonna buy some then


#52 Offline ANTdrew - Posted November 14 2020 - 7:33 AM

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Photo bomb of their new nest, "The Antpartment"

 

 
 
 

 


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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.

#53 Offline KitsAntVa - Posted November 14 2020 - 11:41 AM

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HOW?!?! HOW DID THEY ALL FIT IN THAT MINI HEARTH


We don’t talk about that

#54 Offline ANTdrew - Posted November 14 2020 - 12:08 PM

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HOW?!?! HOW DID THEY ALL FIT IN THAT MINI HEARTH

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

#55 Offline KitsAntVa - Posted November 14 2020 - 3:17 PM

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Looks like there already producing alates! Nice and in their first year. 


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#56 Offline DDD101DDD - Posted November 14 2020 - 3:25 PM

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Have you tried adding new queens with them yet?


He travels, he seeks the p a r m e s a n.

#57 Offline ANTdrew - Posted November 14 2020 - 5:43 PM

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Have you tried adding new queens with them yet?

No. Can that be done?
"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#58 Offline Kaelwizard - Posted November 16 2020 - 5:37 AM

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Have you tried adding new queens with them yet?

No. Can that be done?

 

With that growth I wouldn't even if you could.


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#59 Offline ANTdrew - Posted November 16 2020 - 6:22 AM

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I know, right?


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

#60 Offline Kaelwizard - Posted November 16 2020 - 6:29 AM

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I know, right?

They would need the space of a whole house.


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