27 replies to this topic

[Dan_Not_Found]

I got 2 colonies of myrmecocystus navajo today! I've tried to keep this species in the past but with no luck. Hopefully it will be different this time!
Currently they have ~20 workers each.

One colony has a replete already but she's hiding under the queen.

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[AntsCali098]

Very nice! Navajo are cute little ants.

[Dan_Not_Found]

The colonies are still alive, but there doesn't seem to be much brood or progress at all. They both only have a few medium sized larvae, no eggs, no cocoons, and I'm getting sort of concerned as it's been like this ever since I moved them into mini hearths. I might just be overthinking this, but is there something I'm doing wrong? Their water towers are filled, they have sand, they're on a heating pad, and I offer them protein every week (which they rarely ever accept). Any help at all would be much appreciated!

Edited by Dan_Not_Found, March 21 2023 - 6:49 PM.

[Locness]

What protein are you feeding?

[Dan_Not_Found]

What protein are you feeding?

Mostly mealworms, should I try a different feeder insect?

[rptraut]

I don't raise this kind of ant, but I know all of my small colonies readily accept cooked chicken liver.  It's the first thing I feed them because I know they will always accept it.  I also find my colonies absolutely love flies, not just fruit flies, but house flies, deer flies, cluster flies, hover flies .....really any kind of fly.  However, they won't care much about any kind of protein if they haven't got brood to feed.   For that you need the queen to lay eggs.  Consider why she might not be doing this.  Does she need more privacy.  In your photos she looks pretty forlorn in a barren landscape, my queens usually like a dark hole where they can feel secure and go about the business of laying eggs.  Maybe this kind of ant doesn.t require this, but if there is one thing I've learned it's that every queen is different.  Some queens will lay eggs in broad daylight in a test tube while others will eat their brood the first time you check on them.  Try giving her a dark place to hide and she if she responds.  As I said, I don't raise these kinds of ants, but hopefully some of these suggestions might help.

[aznphenom]

Very nice! Navajo are cute little ants.

they're too small for my taste. I like to call ghost ants because they're so transparent looking. But we have the choice between mexicanus and navajo, most would pick mexicanus for the size

[UtahAnts]

Sometimes these small colonies just need to be force-fed. I'd recommend cutting your meal worms into very small and manageable sizes and placing them directly down the tube into the nest. Many on this forum may be opposed to directly feeding colonies in the nest for a variety of valid reasons, such as mold. But as long as the serving sizes are manageable, I find small bits of food in the nest stimulates foraging and trash removal, not to mention the larvae start bulking up after a couple of feeding sessions. 

Edited by UtahAnts, March 22 2023 - 10:15 AM.

[Locness]

What protein are you feeding?

Mostly mealworms, should I try a different feeder insect?

I've fed my pots almost exclusively on fruit flies. They are easy to hunt for the ants. For starting colonies, I prekilled the flies. If they had trouble getting the food, I dropped the dead flies into the nest. Worked every time.

[rptraut]

I have one small colony (I think they're neoniger) that are reluctant to eat anything out in the open. I now put their food in an entrance and cover it with a pull tab from a cream container. As soon as it's covered, they swarm it and pull it into the nest. If they don't want it I clean it out next day. They are also very good about bringing garbage out. Make sure you only feed them as much as they can clean up between feedings. Mold mostly grows on uneaten food. If they're eating everything, no mold!
RPT

[Dan_Not_Found]

It seems as though the "force feeding" has worked, and both colonies have a batch of eggs!!! Thanks for your guys' help! Hopefully I can make a proper update soon 

[Dan_Not_Found]

Both colonies are doing very well!

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[Dan_Not_Found]

Colonies are doing good. Both are at 23 workers. They haven't grown much but I'm still playing around with how much I feed them.

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[AntsCali098]

Beautiful repletes

[Dan_Not_Found]

Unfortunately one of the queens have died. They were doing perfectly fine until I found her dead on the floor

I was really hoping I would manage to raise 2 navajo colonies but I guess luck just isn't on my side.

Just like my camponotus colony, the queen looks in mint condition, although the gaster is a bit shriveled up...

 

I am thinking about merging the colonies, but I don't know how successful that would be. My knowledge and care with myrmecocystus is farily limited as this is the farthest I've gone with this genus. Any advice or knowledge would be greatly appreciated! 

[Dan_Not_Found]

I just finished adding the last worker, and I would say it was a success.

This was pretty stressful especially because of how small they were, and their aggression, but I was able to make some observations.

 

While I was moving the repletes, I didn't know how to really do my usual process of chilling and vinegar without potentially harming the ant. So I decided to add them straight into the nest. I was suprised to see how passive the colony was compared to the normal workers I added with the chilling and vinegar. In fact, they were hanging around on the ceiling with the rest in just a few minutes.

 

I also noticed how the worker ants of the recieving colony would respond differently to the newly introduced ant. Some would immeditely become hostile and start biting / spraying acid, but some others were far more relaxed, either avoiding conflict or even started cleaning the newcomer!

 

I did a rough final count and I counted around 30-35 workers. I'll have to recount them later since their count should be around 40, but after 2+ hours of carefully manipulating these tiny ants with a toothpick and constantly smelling vinegar, my brain is fried. Thanks for reading! 

[BleepingBleepers]

Glad you got the help on the force feeding and got the colony going, I was worried for you for a moment while going through your journal. Sad to hear about the one queen dying but glad you were able to integrate the leftover workers into your current one.

 

Nice pictures. Love checking out people's honeypots as I am hoping to get mines sometime next week with luck on shipping too. And I also hope I do a good job with them.

 

Side convo: I've seen folks move repletes and dropping/splattering them and the whole time, in my mind, I'm thinking "why don't the person just hold a large piece of paper underneath the replete so that if it falls, it would fall on the paper inches below them instead of all the way down onto the hard desk below?" I dunno, if it ever comes time for me to move the repletes, I hope I do better.

 

GL with your colony!

[100lols]

Glad the merge went well!! This journal is suspenseful

Did you purchase these colony with workers? Also, are you heating the minihearth?

Edited by 100lols, July 24 2023 - 10:48 AM.

[Dan_Not_Found]

Glad you got the help on the force feeding and got the colony going, I was worried for you for a moment while going through your journal. Sad to hear about the one queen dying but glad you were able to integrate the leftover workers into your current one.

 

Nice pictures. Love checking out people's honeypots as I am hoping to get mines sometime next week with luck on shipping too. And I also hope I do a good job with them.

 

Side convo: I've seen folks move repletes and dropping/splattering them and the whole time, in my mind, I'm thinking "why don't the person just hold a large piece of paper underneath the replete so that if it falls, it would fall on the paper inches below them instead of all the way down onto the hard desk below?" I dunno, if it ever comes time for me to move the repletes, I hope I do better.

 

GL with your colony!

Thanks! It is a bit sad she died but there's not much I can do about it.

 

I will say, I thought that too and it turns out repletes are a lot more clumsy than you would think. A creature that hangs upside down its entire life should be pretty good at doing that right? Not really! There were multiple occasions where I would be completely still and they seem to drop from whatever they were hanging from out of nowhere. I actually lost the big replete after I let my guard down for a second and she dropped from my finger

They're also suprisingly hard to manipulate, they're very stubborn ants lol

 

Essentially, with the proper technique and procedure, there shouldn't really be any accidents, but when people aren't careful, you can end up with a few splatters

 

Best of luck!

[Dan_Not_Found]

Glad the merge went well!! This journal is suspenseful

Did you purchase these colony with workers? Also, are you heating the minihearth?

Lol I'm glad you're enjoying it!

 

Yes, I did purchase 2 colonies, each with around 20 workers from Nurbs. I immediately moved them both into minihearths and put them on heating! Right now, I have the heating mat off since the heat's starting to ramp up and the house regularly reaches 80 F.