25 replies to this topic

[ColAnt735]

You know what? I've decided for the first time since I joined this forum and AntBoi3030 said that I should make a journal on this species I'm actually going to do it. So Ant keepers of all ages gather round for some backstory of my Lasius brevicornis colony (sorry for the bad pictures):

These queens were caught on September 11th.There were originally a total of twenty-three queens that helped found this colony at the moment there are only twelve queens in the colony as six queens sadly passed away and I gave away five queens to a friend because if you are like me you don't want to destroy your mental health and feeder supplies with just the sheer number of ants twenty three queens in a single colony can create. These queens got a consistent egg pile on December 12th mainly because I think there was one unmated queen that just constantly ate the eggs being laid. On December 20th I noticed their first larvae and then  for almost a two month period nothing happened no growth nothing happened at all. I got pretty impatient during this time and I had to wait until until February 12th when the queens got a cocoon and I got excited and I mean super excited it started getting REALLY hard to not check up on these queens, and then disaster struck. One of the queens ate the cocoons. I was super annoyed and pretty much gave up on them and for one and a half months I didn't even peek in on them and when I did I basically squealed in delight as I was overjoyed to find out that a single worker had enclosed. Which brings us to today where I have worker and brood boosted them and now they have around one hundred workers. I really am excited about this colony and I hope all of you enjoy this journal!

(For all of the Europeans that may read this journal Lasius brevicornis is the North American equivalent of Lasius flavus)

Pictures:

September 15th 2021:

December 12th 2021:

April 16th 2022:

April 24th 2022(The condensation made this photo really bad):

Edited by ColAnt735, April 25 2022 - 6:49 AM.

[United-Ants]

Looking forwerd to seeing this colony grow

[ColAnt735]

Looking forwerd to seeing this colony grow

Thanks!

[T.C.]

Have you ever founded queens of this species together? I tried to do it it with Lasius flavus and it did not end well.

[ColAnt735]

Have you ever founded queens of this species together? I tried to do it it with Lasius flavus and it did not end well.

I founded all of these queens together and they got six nanitics. Then I brood and worker boosted them with workers and brood from a wild colony.

[T.C.]

 

Have you ever founded queens of this species together? I tried to do it it with Lasius flavus and it did not end well.

I founded all of these queens together and they got six nanitics. Then I brood and worker boosted them with workers and brood from a wild colony.

 

Good luck, following.

[AntBoi3030]

Yay! thanks for making this its own journal. I actually have a 3-queen colony.

[ColAnt735]

Yay! thanks for making this its own journal. I actually have a 3-queen colony.

I guess that means you have three times the egg production of a single queen .If this is the case then I have twelve times a single queens potential egg production. (this was such a great idea)

Edited by ColAnt735, April 25 2022 - 7:35 AM.

[AntsDakota]

 

Yay! thanks for making this its own journal. I actually have a 3-queen colony.

I guess that means you have three times the egg production of a single queen .If this is the case then I have twelve times a single queens potential egg production. (this was such a great idea)

 

Number of queens actually isn't the ultimate determining factor on egg production. The two main factors are amount of food and heating. If you wanted to limit their growth, don't feed them a ton (don't starve them either) and don't heat them. If you feed them the exact same as a 1-queen colony, they wouldn't grow a lot faster (except during the founding stages, which is the only time in a colony's life where having multiple queens is the main factor for faster colony growth).

[ColAnt735]

Sorry I phrased that wrong what I meant was potential egg production.

Edited by ColAnt735, April 25 2022 - 7:48 AM.

[ColAnt735]

This colony seems to enjoy all sugars and ate a little bit of Darkling Beetle.

 

Pictures:

One of the two areas where the queens normally hang out:

A portion of the boosted brood. I've noticed these larvae move quite a bit:

A worker cleaning a queen's gaster:

Edited by ColAnt735, April 25 2022 - 6:13 PM.

[Polyacanthus]

I caught some queens last fall. I didn't know they were polygenous. Oops! They all have eggs separately though.

[ColAnt735]

I have been busy these past three weeks studying for EQAO( For every non Canadian out there EQAO basically ranks schools across Ontario and is a MASSIVE exam that ranks every public school with a score in order to help parents pick schools for their children and it occurs in Grade three, Grade six, Grade nine, and Grade ten). Sorry for the delay of this update.

 

Update 10/5/22

 

This colony has grown quite a bit with around one hundred fifty workers. Many of the introduced workers passed away most likely due to stress I have replaced them because of the large amount of larvae I would rather not have their deaths on my hands. I replaced the deceased workers with around 50-100 worker ants and they have been flourishing ever since. Sadly two of the twelve queens passed away and had their bodies eaten but on a lighter note the queens laid a few eggs overnight, only around two hundred, like I said a few. The queens that passed away were by far the least cared for queens in the entire colony with only two to three workers at most tending to them while other queens had at least twenty ants tending to them at all times. They seem to love Crickets, Mealworms, and all sugary liquids I've given them. I believe that this colony will reach around a thousand workers at the end of the year and I can't wait for it to happen. These ants are beautiful and are quite timid being not nearly as aggressive as all of my colonies except for maybe my Temnothorax curvispinosus. I have big plans for this colony that I hope will happen this year. Fingers crossed these ants will be problem free! It was after saying this that ColAnt735 realized that he had just dug his own grave and would most likely face major problems with this colony in the future.

 

EDIT: most of these photos were taken before the second worker boost.

 

Here are some photos of the colony:

A queen prior to the second worker boost and eggs:

 

A few workers and larvae:

Eggs:

One of the queens that passed being eaten:

A queen laying an egg:

One of the root aphids this colony tends to:

https://imgur.com/lWNgCgn

 

A few of the queens:

A Queen's Ocelli:

I love the different colourations of the queens:

Edited by ColAnt735, May 11 2022 - 4:34 AM.

[lazyant]

Just read the whole thing, now am invested will follow!

[Leptomyrmx]

I have been busy these past three weeks studying for EQAO( For every non Canadian out there EQAO basically ranks schools across Ontario and is a MASSIVE exam that ranks every public school with a score in order to help parents pick schools for their children and it occurs in Grade three, Grade six, Grade nine, and Grade ten). Sorry for the delay of this update.

 

Update 10/5/22

 

This colony has grown quite a bit with around one hundred fifty workers. Many of the introduced workers passed away most likely due to stress I have replaced them because of the large amount of larvae I would rather not have their deaths on my hands. I replaced the deceased workers with around 50-100 worker ants and they have been flourishing ever since. Sadly two of the twelve queens passed away and had their bodies eaten but on a lighter note the queens laid a few eggs overnight, only around two hundred like I said a few. The queens that passed away were by far the least cared for queens in the entire colony with only two to three workers at most tending to them while other queens had at least twenty ants tending to them at all times. They seem to love Crickets, Mealworms, and all sugary liquids I've given them. I believe that this colony will reach around a thousand workers at the end of the year and I can't wait for it to happen. These ants are beautiful and are quite timid being not nearly as aggressive as all of my colonies except for maybe my Temnothorax curvispinosus. I have big plans for this colony that I hope will happen this year. Fingers crossed these ants will be problem free! It was after saying this that ColAnt735 realized that he had just dug his own grave and would most likely face major problems with this colony in the future.

 

Here are some photos of the colony:

A queen prior to the second worker boost and eggs:

 

A few workers and larvae:

 

Eggs:

 

One of the queens that passed being eaten:

 

A queen laying an egg:

 

One of the root aphids this colony tends to:

https://imgur.com/lWNgCgn

 

A few of the queens:

 

A Queen's Ocelli:

 

I love the different colourations of the queens:

 

 

Nice photos. Do you have a shot of the whole nest?

I had something that seems like an Australian equivalent of EQAO today. Didn't study I was fine though.

Edited by Leptomyrmx, May 12 2022 - 10:10 PM.

[Antlover09]

Lovely queens and beautiful. I hope you will have a colony.

[ant_]

I just caught three of these queens and was wondering about the aphids you put in their nest. Is it necessary to add them or did you do it because it would make them feel like they were in the wild farming aphids. If you say yes I think it would be very cool to have aphids in the nest just like in the wild. 

[ColAnt735]

I just caught three of these queens and was wondering about the aphids you put in their nest. Is it necessary to add them or did you do it because it would make them feel like they were in the wild farming aphids. If you say yes I think it would be very cool to have aphids in the nest just like in the wild. 

It is not required to put aphids in the nest. I collected around fifty of them just because I thought it would be cool to see if the ants could raise them.

[Dumpling]

 

I just caught three of these queens and was wondering about the aphids you put in their nest. Is it necessary to add them or did you do it because it would make them feel like they were in the wild farming aphids. If you say yes I think it would be very cool to have aphids in the nest just like in the wild. 

It is not required to put aphids in the nest. I collected around fifty of them just because I thought it would be cool to see if the ants could raise them.

 

Did you give them a plant as well?

[ColAnt735]

 

 

I just caught three of these queens and was wondering about the aphids you put in their nest. Is it necessary to add them or did you do it because it would make them feel like they were in the wild farming aphids. If you say yes I think it would be very cool to have aphids in the nest just like in the wild. 

It is not required to put aphids in the nest. I collected around fifty of them just because I thought it would be cool to see if the ants could raise them.

 

Did you give them a plant as well?

 

Yes a piece of grass with roots.