45 replies to this topic

[AntBoi3030]

About a month ago i caught a colony budding it was one queen plus 10 workers running around. They were doing well in a test tube they didn't have any brood though so i set out to catch some brood and some workers to boost them. i found some under a mulch bed and scooped up a pile of eggs. i also went around my house every day for 30 minutes scoping up the workers i saw running in my house and adding them to the colony. When i added the brood found  realized i had scooped up some queens four of them. I found some queen alates too so now the colony has seven queens! and also a lot of workers too maybe 200-300 so i moved them into an acrylic setup and they love it. they have a massive amount of eggs from all of the queens. i feed them meal worms and spiders and occasionally a termite or two. I also like giving them ham as the cut off pieces of it and bring it back to the nest much resembling leaf cutter ants. they let the meat dry for a few days then proceed to gnaw on it and eat it. i also notice that they cover everything with sand via there out world. even there byformica liquid feeder with agave nectar in it was covered. i do think they still can drink from it too. i have been experimenting with feeding chips and bread they hate them lol. i am exited for this new generation of workers! i will be sure to update you all on them.

[Kaelwizard]

You posted this twice. Only click the post button once next time.

[AntBoi3030]

Heheh sorry it lagged how can I delete it

[ZTYguy]

You can’t. Only a mod can I believe.

[AntBoi3030]

New larvae batch

[AntBoi3030]

Some are pink from jelly

Edited by AntBoi3030, March 31 2023 - 2:37 PM.

[Lillyrose]

Oh.. I'm sorry! I'll respond on this one. Love the pictures.

[AntBoi3030]

thanks, sorry I made two

And i did end up adding a much larger out world and moving the feeder. in the smaller out world i added a thin line of floun and they just walked across it. they also were squeezing thought tube connectors to i had to line that with bluetack and now they are completely contained.

Edited by AntBoi3030, May 10 2021 - 4:41 AM.

[AntBoi3030]

Going to brood boost these guys. Found a huge nest at a freinds house they were constantly invading it. This is a small portion of there pupae pile so don’t feel bad for them. I am boost them because when I captured them I didn’t get any brood so there is only eggs and young larva. I’ll be sure to uploads a picture of the pupae inside the nest

Edited by AntBoi3030, March 31 2023 - 2:38 PM.

[PetsNotPests]

Good luck! I just caught a T. Sessilie queen, and she only has a few larve. Beautiful spiecies! 

Edited by PetsNotPests, May 12 2021 - 12:48 PM.

[AntBoi3030]

Update: I haven't fed thees guys for 3 days ( I gave them a large spider) there was a large response and they sent out 40 workers to munch on it. I also attempted to brood boost them. I put in a tube with 5 workers and a lot of pupae (possibly some alates) they actually killed 4/5 of the workers each grabbing on them and pulling them apart  I'm 100% sure this is the same sp. this was also a different colony but it is known that they will merge together. they were confused by the pupae carrying a few and putting them in the trash. at this point I  was freaking out but then they started to move them into the tubing leading to the nest *Whew   unfortunately I noticed that a few workers would fight out of no where,anyone know why. they have quite the egg pile and i'm wondering if i'll get alates. tapinoma sp seem to get alates early.

Edited by AntBoi3030, May 27 2021 - 5:17 AM.

[AntBoi3030]

This is about a third of there eggs

Attached Images

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Edited by AntBoi3030, May 20 2021 - 1:36 PM.

[Lillyrose]

They may have smelled the other colony maybe? I don't know... all I know is when I had these they were always breaking the rules and doing stuff they were supposed to... like murdering each other

[AntBoi3030]

it seems to have slowed down but there were still a lot of killings

[AntBoi3030]

Looks like an alate pupae. It is the season for them to start flying.

Edited by AntBoi3030, March 31 2023 - 2:38 PM.

[AntBoi3030]

Update:
So far two alates have eclosed one male and one queen. The queen most likely just eclosed as she is really light in color. The male however probably eclosed yesterday as he is dark brown and black. I am guess many more will eclose over night. This colony is also booming with huge amounts of brood. I also added up a mock “Antpartment”(thanks ANTdrew) some are sitting in here too. I tried fish flakes and they only collected the red ones. I am exited as I heard this sp has nuptials in captivity and will inbreed. Here are some photos of the new formicaruim and the alates. Sorry the queen alate was really hard to get a good picture:(.

Edited by AntBoi3030, March 31 2023 - 2:43 PM.

[ANTdrew]

I’d love to see a photo of the whole formicarium you made.

[AntBoi3030]

Anyone know when these guys generally fly? I want to be ready as possible when the mating starts

Edited by AntBoi3030, May 20 2021 - 4:00 PM.

[ANTdrew]

Looks good. I would try to mold some chambers in by pouring a thicker layer of plaster and using clay or wet sand.

[AntBoi3030]

Well the male is dead the workers killed him. i'm guessing the alates may have came in when i boosted them. the ants are grooming the queen alate though so i'm kinda confused. hopefully i won't wake up to more dead alates...

Edited by AntBoi3030, May 20 2021 - 7:03 PM.