32 replies to this topic

[Kowal]

A bit of a photo dump type of post. First picture shows better comparison between the queen and large worker - can't say it's the largest, but I think it's safe to say Cataglyphis rosenhaueri workers reach same size as the queen. Others are just shots I like.

[Ernteameise]

These are very beautiful ants.

[Stubyvast]

Agreed. Are the yellow ones callow, or is that their natural colouring? I like the three little Oceli (is that how you spell it?) on their heads, so cool!

[Kowal]

These are very beautiful ants.

 One of the prettiest I ever kept. The red shade is matched only by Camponotus lateralis (RIP). I currently also keep Cataglyphis nodus and I have to admit - I like the colours of rosenhaueri a bit more. But it is very likely that I will get rid of one of the Cataglyphis colonies and just sheer size and aggression of C. nodus suggests that it will be they who will stay... I have a plan to keep Formica rufibarbis just like I keep Cataglyphis to see how will they develop with good daily light and heat, so I'll need their halogen setup next year. 

 

Agreed. Are the yellow ones callow, or is that their natural colouring? I like the three little Oceli (is that how you spell it?) on their heads, so cool!

The yellow ones are callow, yes. Their final colour is this rosey shade of red

[Kowal]

I've decided to give them a nest. It's my own creation, based on 15x10 cm glass piece. I think it was well deserved. I don't see many larvae, and there are no eggs visible, so this colony might be nearing diapause. I expected longer period of activity, honestly. 

Edited by Kowal, July 28 2024 - 10:32 AM.

[Kowal]

It turns out they were trolling me. There is definitely more to come this season.

[Kowal]

I took two videos: one of the outworld, and one of the nest. Not same day, but same time of the day - morning, when they are the most active. As soon as the halogen turns on and soil starts getting hot, they pour out of the nest, By the evening they are all back in the nest - they are aware that evening is coming and competition might start foraging, so they are back in the nest before halogen turns off. 

I hope those videos (in form of one youtube video) will be helpful to imagine how these ants behave.

[Kowal]

Still not giving up on growth. 

[Kowal]

They have entered diapause, for good. 

 

I've realised I have never posted their full setup. Which is a shame since I write my journals not just for my own ego boosting and entertainment, but also for you, the reader - so you will be able to use my experience when deciding whether to keep this species and what worked for me.

The setup is based around a 20 W halogen light bulb. It's important to provide the thermophilic, diurnal ants a strong signal to let them know when is the foraging time and when it is nighty nighty time. These ants show the strongest daily rythm I have ever seen, beating even the other Cataglyphis I've kept. They rush out in the morning, as the outworld gets hot, and some time before the bulb turns off - they mostly go back to the nest, clearly being aware that the day will end at some point and it's better to get to safety before competition starts foraging in the evening. That's why I use a time switch, so the halogen bulb is on for about 10 hours a day during the peak of the season, and a bit shorter at the beginning and the end.
I've elaborated a bit about the topic in another thread: https://www.formicul...-ant-outworlds/

 

The bulb is held by a regular ceiling fixture (well, slightly modified to allow a cable to go out in the back) which allows me to pivot the bulb a little, so I can choose whether I want it to heat back of the nest more or less. It will always heat it to some extent - enough to cause water to evaporate in the back of the nest and condensate on the front glass. Due to that I designed my own heated - it's a printed circuit board with 64 meters of 0,2 mm wide, 0,035 mm thick trace, acting as a heat mat. It turns out it was not powerful enough when powered from 12 V, but fortunately I have implemented places to short bits of the heater, effectively using only one side of the board is right for keeping them warm, but not too hot, and prevent any condensation from occuring. The non-clear parts of the glass are not a result of condensation and ants placing trash in there - that's just poop    Even though Cataglyphis are terrible climbers they still can occasionally get some grip and walk on the front glass, decorating it with feces. For some reason my other colony - of C. nodus - doesn't do that to this extent. 

Speaking of terrible climbing I have noticed they will reach the top of the vertical surfaces, so it is not advised to just keep them in an open aquarium or other container without a rimmed lid. My setup has a 5 cm wide rim all around, which is very wide but still comfortable, as whole outworld is a square tightly fitting a Kallax shelf (33,5 x 33,5 cm). I used mineral oil as a barrier on the underside of the rim, but I believe it is unnecessary, as I have not seen a single worker even reach it - just the fact they are hanging upside down is enough to ensure lack of grip. Perhaps many seasons of paving a road with poop would change that. 

I feed them honey, served on aluminum foil trays and sprinkled with sand. They easily drown without the sand coat. This is a trick universal for many species prone to getting too much into heavy sugars. They have access to sugars almost all the time, but more often than not it is dried, as water quickly evaporates in a dry, heated outworld. 
For protein they are getting pretty much anything they are able to drag back to the nest, and as they don't cooperate too well - they are adapted to solitary foraging - the prey must be small enough for a single worker to handle. They take fresh red runner roaches very well, small mealworms too, dead ant queens as well, generalist and not fussy about their protein - as long as it is easy to get back into the nest. I've observed they often do not waste time for such trifles like killing the prey - they will happily carry a wiggling mealworm into the nest, as in their natural world you can always kill it later, but if you stand still for too long - you might become prey yourself or die in the scorching sun. 

I always provide a test tube with water in the outworld as a fresh drinking water source, but I don't really see them using it. They like a bit of a humidity gradient in the nest, keeping the egg and small larvae in deepest, moistest and coolest chambers and progressively moving the bebes up as they grow. 

 

The outworld was initially shaped to have slopes at the edges, to provide any form of horizon for the ants. Or to make it bowl shaped. Or shaped like a skate park. Whichever you want it to be. At some point workers started to bore in the parts close to the nest, forming shallow dry chambers. They never brought any brood there and never dug deeper, or at least I have not spotted any deeper chambers. For now they are not used and just make the outworld look a bit trypophobia triggering. 

Edited by Kowal, November 16 2024 - 12:40 AM.

[Kowal]

This journal comes to an end*, as I have decided to give this colony to a friend of mine. Due to space constraints I cannot afford owning as many large colonies as I would like to, and since I own another colony of Cataglyphis (nodus) I decided one has to go to make room for more variety of ants. I did not anticipate both colonies becoming a success and this decision was not an easy one - personally, I think Cataglyphis rosenhaueri are prettier than nodus on the individual level, but the sheer size, scale of polymorphism and recklessness of nodus made me prefer to stay with them. 
I hope I was able to bring light to the rather rarely kept genus and species, showing details of their lives from antkeeping perspective and how to keep them successfully.

In the meantime, I have stripped the rosenhaueri outworld to prepare it for Formica rufibarbis. Or cunicularia. Yes, I have done it again, I have caught queens of two even more similar ant species and I am sitting on the fence. At least I am more decided when it comes to theme of the outworld - I am trying to mimic a habitat familiar to the part of world I come from, a sandy dune emerging from a pine forest, with bits of sun baked pine wood and a clump of dried Corynephorus canescens. Those areas are mostly inhabited by Formica cinerea, so perhaps I should be choosing between one more species...

*at least from my side

[Ants_Dakota]

This journal comes to an end*, as I have decided to give this colony to a friend of mine. Due to space constraints I cannot afford owning as many large colonies as I would like to, and since I own another colony of Cataglyphis (nodus) I decided one has to go to make room for more variety of ants. I did not anticipate both colonies becoming a success and this decision was not an easy one - personally, I think Cataglyphis rosenhaueri are prettier than nodus on the individual level, but the sheer size, scale of polymorphism and recklessness of nodus made me prefer to stay with them.
I hope I was able to bring light to the rather rarely kept genus and species, showing details of their lives from antkeeping perspective and how to keep them successfully.

In the meantime, I have stripped the rosenhaueri outworld to prepare it for Formica rufibarbis. Or cunicularia. Yes, I have done it again, I have caught queens of two even more similar ant species and I am sitting on the fence. At least I am more decided when it comes to theme of the outworld - I am trying to mimic a habitat familiar to the part of world I come from, a sandy dune emerging from a pine forest, with bits of sun baked pine wood and a clump of dried Corynephorus canescens. Those areas are mostly inhabited by Formica cinerea, so perhaps I should be choosing between one more species...
20250601_185508.jpg
*at least from my side

What substrate is the outworld made out of? Is it just loose sand or is it hard?

[ANTdrew]

A beautiful outworld! I really like the dried grass idea, and Formica are probably well behaved enough not to trash it like my ants would.

[Kowal]

 

This journal comes to an end*, as I have decided to give this colony to a friend of mine. Due to space constraints I cannot afford owning as many large colonies as I would like to, and since I own another colony of Cataglyphis (nodus) I decided one has to go to make room for more variety of ants. I did not anticipate both colonies becoming a success and this decision was not an easy one - personally, I think Cataglyphis rosenhaueri are prettier than nodus on the individual level, but the sheer size, scale of polymorphism and recklessness of nodus made me prefer to stay with them.
I hope I was able to bring light to the rather rarely kept genus and species, showing details of their lives from antkeeping perspective and how to keep them successfully.

In the meantime, I have stripped the rosenhaueri outworld to prepare it for Formica rufibarbis. Or cunicularia. Yes, I have done it again, I have caught queens of two even more similar ant species and I am sitting on the fence. At least I am more decided when it comes to theme of the outworld - I am trying to mimic a habitat familiar to the part of world I come from, a sandy dune emerging from a pine forest, with bits of sun baked pine wood and a clump of dried Corynephorus canescens. Those areas are mostly inhabited by Formica cinerea, so perhaps I should be choosing between one more species...
20250601_185508.jpg
*at least from my side

What substrate is the outworld made out of? Is it just loose sand or is it hard?

 

It is loose sand in most of the outworld. I did mix some with clay to reinforce soil just above the tube exit, just next to the grass, so the ants will have a harder time caving in their nest entrance. I am worried about ants upsetting the grass and causing it to tilt, allowing for escapes... so the idea might get redone once the grass dries fully, with a bit of plaster holding it in one position. 
 

Edited by Kowal, June 4 2025 - 12:19 PM.