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Phasor's Lasius Journal (First Time Antkeeping!)


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92 replies to this topic

#81 Offline ANTdrew - Posted February 21 2021 - 7:02 AM

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True. It’s an unfair comparison because few ants reach nanitics faster than Crematogaster cerasi. L. neoniger are probably the slowest growing of small species.
"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#82 Offline PhasorShift - Posted February 28 2021 - 6:08 PM

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Update 2/27/2021

Still not much development for the Lasius. Still only brood, though some piles seem like they may be smaller than they were before... Hopefully not a bad sign.
I know Lasius develop slower than the Crematogaster, but I still feel like I should be seeing larvae by now. And I mean actual larvae, not the jellybeans I kinda see here. Am I just being impatient? *worry worry*

Anyway, here's pics.

IPC_2021-02-27.13.04.32.1120.jpg
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You may have noticed in that first pic, there's a mite. I asked on discord, and I guess it's kinda common on Lasius? I haven't done anything about it yet, but if you have any advice regarding it please let me know.
IPC_2021-02-27.13.04.32.1120~2.jpg

Anyway, that's all for now. Hopefully they start showing more development soon.

#83 Offline PhasorShift - Posted March 6 2021 - 12:56 PM

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Update 3/06/2021

Still no change, really. All the queens are still alive, they all have some amount of eggs. No clear larvae yet though. Still see that mite crawling around on the one Queen's brood.

I'm about to leave town for a week or two, so hopefully they show some development when I get back.

Edited by PhasorShift, March 6 2021 - 3:16 PM.


#84 Offline ANTdrew - Posted March 6 2021 - 3:14 PM

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Don’t hate me, but my L. neoniger has cocoons now.
"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#85 Offline PhasorShift - Posted March 6 2021 - 3:15 PM

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Don’t hate me, but my L. neoniger has cocoons now.


That's great! Maybe it means mine are coming soon. What is your setup like?

#86 Offline ANTdrew - Posted March 6 2021 - 3:26 PM

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It’s a clear box sitting on a loop of heat cable on one end. I put extra cable on top.

Attached Images

  • 15E80465-1F2B-4942-A539-B7BFA4B36640.jpeg

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

#87 Offline PhasorShift - Posted March 6 2021 - 3:27 PM

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Test tubes inside?

#88 Offline ANTdrew - Posted March 6 2021 - 3:56 PM

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Yes. They’re wrapped in the towel inside the box.
"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#89 Offline PhasorShift - Posted March 18 2021 - 4:59 AM

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Update 3/15/2021(ish...)

 

I was just on the road for work, for over a week, so it's a bit longer than normal since my last check. That means that any change is easier to spot! And change there was, but still not much. Many of my queens now have large larvae! The ringed grub looking kind, that will probably be spinning cocoons soon (I think this so I does that?) Anyway, here's some pics.

 

IPC-2021-03-14-18-32-59-4240.jpg

(She still has that mite in there)

 

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I'm still trying to figure out good settings and lighting for taking pictures...
 
Anyway, I'm leaving again for another week (ugh), so hopefully when I come home again, I'll have cocoons and maybe??? nanitics? Probably not but pupae at least.

  • DDD101DDD likes this

#90 Offline NickAnter - Posted March 18 2021 - 6:02 AM

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The Lasius pupal stage is *extremely* lengthy, and I believe it took about 3 weeks for my queens. The larval stage is very quick however, so you might indeed see pupae.


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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). 


#91 Offline Dino - Posted March 22 2021 - 10:46 AM

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I think it depends I agree the larval stage is quite quick but the pupal stage isn't all that long my own workers enclosed in about 2 weeks.


Ants I'm keeping 

 

Lasius niger 15-20 workers

Journal


#92 Offline PhasorShift - Posted April 1 2021 - 7:36 PM

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Update 3/31/2021ish... Again...

Things are a little slow, so I'm not gonna try to post so often.

But they aren't that slow. We've got cocoons.

The first couple queens still look like they only have eggs... Unfertilized? Or just slow?

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The next few have a decent number of cocoons. Very different than the Crematogaster, it's interesting.

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The multi queen colonies have big egg piles, and larvae, but don't seem to have as many cocoons as the others. It'll be very interesting to see how they compare.

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Here's the rack again. Most of the tubes seem to be running low on water... Not dry yet, but definitely getting there. I'm wondering what I will need to do. I'm planning on selling most of these colonies, will I need to get them into new tubes before I do? There's probably enough water for another month maybe, though I don't know if that will change once there's more ants in there.

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And a close up! I'm headed out of town again for the weekend, I'm hoping there's nanitics when I return!

IPC-2021-03-31-22-48-06-3270.jpg

That's it for now, hopefully soon I'll have workers!
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#93 Offline ANTdrew - Posted April 2 2021 - 3:12 AM

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Congrats. With small species like this, I fill the tubes up with water all the way up to an inch from the top.
"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.




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