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AntsCali's Awesome Aphaenogaster meggommenta

#apheanogaster #journal #aphaenogastermeggommenta

20 replies to this topic

#1 Offline AntsCali098 - Posted October 10 2023 - 7:05 PM

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Its time for my second desert ant journal, and its an awesome species, Aphaenogaster meggommenta  :yahoo:

 

Never heard of them? Well hardly anybody keeps them, let along getting them to workers. I am really excited for this semi rare species. They are extremely nocturnal so I was lucky to spot one at my blacklight. I originally thought this was M.navajo in the darkness, but I identified her later. Super glad I caught her, because I assumed she was infertile since she was still flying fine, but she shed her wings when I git home and laid 6 eggs in her test tube.

 

She now has one worker and one that is very close to eclosing, maybe a few hours. I noticed the worker helping the developed "pupae", cleaning her legs  :). The queen took about a month and 15 days to get her first nanitic. She was pretty chill in her founding stage, but is now a bit more jumpy after her first worker eclosed. From my observations, this is pretty common. Maybe because the young worker is weak, so her mother is more defensive over the worker? I also noticed the same thing with my P.hyatti, found in my Pheidole journal.

 

Heres a picture and a video of the colony:

 

Meg

 

(the video is currently uploading so it may not show up if you are reading this shortly after it has been posted)

 

Hoping for an awesome Aphaenogaster meggommenta colony in the future!

 

Thanks for checking out my journal 


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#2 Offline 100lols - Posted October 10 2023 - 7:08 PM

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Wow!!! I really love yellow ants… I have a feeling this species is going to be so cool. Wishing you the best :D
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#3 Offline bmb1bee - Posted October 10 2023 - 7:38 PM

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Will be following this journal carefully.  :lol:


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"Float like a butterfly sting like a bee, his eyes can't hit what the eyes can't see." - Muhammad Ali

 

Check out my shop and Camponotus journal! Discord user is bmb1bee if you'd like to chat.


#4 Offline ANTdrew - Posted October 11 2023 - 1:52 AM

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Excellent! Aphaenogaster are perhaps the best ants to keep.
  • bmb1bee, AntsCali098 and 100lols like this
"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#5 Offline AntsCali098 - Posted October 11 2023 - 12:15 PM

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Excellent! Aphaenogaster are perhaps the best ants to keep.


They are underrated!
  • bmb1bee and 100lols like this

Interested buying in ants? Feel free to check out my shop

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Wishlist:

Atta sp (wish they were in CA), Crematogaster cerasi, Most Pheidole species

 

 


#6 Offline AntsCali098 - Posted December 20 2023 - 6:00 PM

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It's been a while since the last update due to the slow growth of these beauties. They are now up to 6 workers but have quite an appetite. They are still my most relaxed ants, and they hardly care when exposed to light.

In my experience, they've been quite slow growers. My theory is that they start to grow faster with more workers, similar to Camponotus.

They currently have some small larvae and a batch of eggs.

PXL_20231221_015131197.MP.jpg PXL_20231221_015155445.MP.jpg PXL_20231221_015216313.MP.jpg PXL_20231221_015226780.MP.jpg PXL_20231221_015252216.MP.jpg
  • TacticalHandleGaming, rptraut, bmb1bee and 4 others like this

Interested buying in ants? Feel free to check out my shop

Feel free to read my journals, like this one.

 

Wishlist:

Atta sp (wish they were in CA), Crematogaster cerasi, Most Pheidole species

 

 


#7 Offline bmb1bee - Posted December 20 2023 - 8:31 PM

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Would recommend fruit flies or termites. Small and soft-bodied insects could boost their brood production, like with my Camponotus and Formica. They go more crazy with those than they do with dubias and mealworms lol.


  • rptraut, AntsCali098 and 100lols like this

"Float like a butterfly sting like a bee, his eyes can't hit what the eyes can't see." - Muhammad Ali

 

Check out my shop and Camponotus journal! Discord user is bmb1bee if you'd like to chat.


#8 Offline AntsCali098 - Posted December 20 2023 - 9:09 PM

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Would recommend fruit flies or termites. Small and soft-bodied insects could boost their brood production, like with my Camponotus and Formica. They go more crazy with those than they do with dubias and mealworms lol.

I've wanted to get fruit flies for a while. I do prefer the pre-killed feeders, but if I see some I might get them.
  • 100lols likes this

Interested buying in ants? Feel free to check out my shop

Feel free to read my journals, like this one.

 

Wishlist:

Atta sp (wish they were in CA), Crematogaster cerasi, Most Pheidole species

 

 


#9 Offline AsdinAnts - Posted December 20 2023 - 9:50 PM

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omg, those ants are absolutely stunning! I would love to keep a colony of those. I love the pale yellow coloration on those ants. Keep going and I hope you get a very big colony of these ants.
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#10 Offline ANTdrew - Posted December 21 2023 - 3:35 AM

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Would recommend fruit flies or termites. Small and soft-bodied insects could boost their brood production, like with my Camponotus and Formica. They go more crazy with those than they do with dubias and mealworms lol.

I've wanted to get fruit flies for a while. I do prefer the pre-killed feeders, but if I see some I might get them.
Fruit flies should also be fed pre-killed to prevent grain mites. I use a fluon lined funnel to shake a bunch into a test tube that I then pop in the freezer. I then dip them in boiling water a few seconds. Most commercial fruit fly cultures are literally teeming with grain mites.
  • rptraut, bmb1bee, AntsCali098 and 1 other like this
"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#11 Offline AntsCali098 - Posted December 21 2023 - 8:36 AM

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Would recommend fruit flies or termites. Small and soft-bodied insects could boost their brood production, like with my Camponotus and Formica. They go more crazy with those than they do with dubias and mealworms lol.

I've wanted to get fruit flies for a while. I do prefer the pre-killed feeders, but if I see some I might get them.
Fruit flies should also be fed pre-killed to prevent grain mites. I use a fluon lined funnel to shake a bunch into a test tube that I then pop in the freezer. I then dip them in boiling water a few seconds. Most commercial fruit fly cultures are literally teeming with grain mites.

Thanks for the suggestion. That seems like a good idea
  • rptraut and 100lols like this

Interested buying in ants? Feel free to check out my shop

Feel free to read my journals, like this one.

 

Wishlist:

Atta sp (wish they were in CA), Crematogaster cerasi, Most Pheidole species

 

 


#12 Offline 100lols - Posted December 21 2023 - 7:46 PM

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Absolutely stunning!! Also I do agree, and feel some soft bodied insects are important :) plus the more variety the better!!
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#13 Offline dspdrew - Posted December 21 2023 - 8:44 PM

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Would recommend fruit flies or termites. Small and soft-bodied insects could boost their brood production, like with my Camponotus and Formica. They go more crazy with those than they do with dubias and mealworms lol.

I've wanted to get fruit flies for a while. I do prefer the pre-killed feeders, but if I see some I might get them.
Fruit flies should also be fed pre-killed to prevent grain mites. I use a fluon lined funnel to shake a bunch into a test tube that I then pop in the freezer. I then dip them in boiling water a few seconds. Most commercial fruit fly cultures are literally teeming with grain mites.

Thanks for the suggestion. That seems like a good idea

 

 

I just recently started using fruit flies myself. Luckily I never got any grain mites in my culture and I've been breeding my own ever since, grain mite free. I found the easiest way to breed them in smaller amounts for feeding ant colonies. I'll post a thread on it later.


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#14 Offline 100lols - Posted December 21 2023 - 11:00 PM

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Would recommend fruit flies or termites. Small and soft-bodied insects could boost their brood production, like with my Camponotus and Formica. They go more crazy with those than they do with dubias and mealworms lol.

I've wanted to get fruit flies for a while. I do prefer the pre-killed feeders, but if I see some I might get them.
Fruit flies should also be fed pre-killed to prevent grain mites. I use a fluon lined funnel to shake a bunch into a test tube that I then pop in the freezer. I then dip them in boiling water a few seconds. Most commercial fruit fly cultures are literally teeming with grain mites.
Thanks for the suggestion. That seems like a good idea
I just recently started using fruit flies myself. Luckily I never got any grain mites in my culture and I've been breeding my own ever since, grain mite free. I found the easiest way to breed them in smaller amounts for feeding ant colonies. I'll post a thread on it later.
Cool! that would be awesome, *edit: thank you Andrew!!!

Edited by 100lols, December 21 2023 - 11:01 PM.

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#15 Offline AntsCali098 - Posted January 8 2024 - 5:48 PM

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I took some nice photos of this colony, so this will be a bit of a photo dump. The eggs have grown into larvae, and much faster then I expected, as they are already almost pupae  :D

 

Aphaenogaster brood
Aphaenogaster
Aphaenogaster 2
Aphaenogaster 3
Aphaenogaster 4
Aphaenogaster 5

  • ANTdrew, TacticalHandleGaming, rptraut and 4 others like this

Interested buying in ants? Feel free to check out my shop

Feel free to read my journals, like this one.

 

Wishlist:

Atta sp (wish they were in CA), Crematogaster cerasi, Most Pheidole species

 

 


#16 Offline bmb1bee - Posted January 8 2024 - 7:52 PM

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I absolutely love these new photos of them, especially the 4th and 5th ones. Keep up the good work in caring for these desert gems!


  • AntsCali098 and 100lols like this

"Float like a butterfly sting like a bee, his eyes can't hit what the eyes can't see." - Muhammad Ali

 

Check out my shop and Camponotus journal! Discord user is bmb1bee if you'd like to chat.


#17 Offline michiganantsinmyyard - Posted January 23 2024 - 10:23 AM

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Crazy beautiful ants.


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#18 Offline BleepingBleepers - Posted February 4 2024 - 10:24 PM

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Very cool looking ants and neat pictures! Good luck on your colony! (y)


JOURNAL: Camponotus CA02 - First Time At Ant Keeping CLICK HERE

JOURNAL: Ectomomyrmex cf. astutus - Ant Species #2 CLICK HERE


#19 Offline AntsCali098 - Posted March 18 2024 - 6:16 PM

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Eggs!

Screenshot_20240318-191252.png

The queen laid for the first time since last year, and the colony is well on their way to a good future! They remain at 6 workers.

Screenshot_20240318-191306.png

Thanks for checking out my journal!
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Interested buying in ants? Feel free to check out my shop

Feel free to read my journals, like this one.

 

Wishlist:

Atta sp (wish they were in CA), Crematogaster cerasi, Most Pheidole species

 

 


#20 Offline bmb1bee - Posted March 18 2024 - 7:58 PM

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That looks like mold on the sponge. I'd move them to a fresh tube if I were you, as the mold I get in some of my tubes seems to grow over and kill the eggs if not taken care of.


  • AntsCali098 likes this

"Float like a butterfly sting like a bee, his eyes can't hit what the eyes can't see." - Muhammad Ali

 

Check out my shop and Camponotus journal! Discord user is bmb1bee if you'd like to chat.






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