24 replies to this topic

[cooIboyJ]

Hello everybody! I caught some Brachymyrmex patagonicus queens this summer. I caught 7 and put 3 in one test tube, 3 in another test tube, and one all alone. They were caught two days ago and are now in my shoebox. I really hope these colonies are successful. I don't have any pics right now, but I'll post some next when I check up on the queens. Enjoy!

[Hiromilovesmealworms]

Cute rewarding species! Your 3 queen colonies will grow really fast, even at room temperature.

[cooIboyJ]

What would be the most queens I could safely put in 1 test tube? Because I am always finding tons of this species of queens at my neighborhood pool.

Edited by cooIboyJ, August 28 2025 - 10:48 AM.

[RushmoreAnts]

Solenopsis molesta are around the same size, and I have around 80 of them in a tube together. They're doing fine.

[ANTdrew]

The sweet spot for polygynous queens is usually three to a group. Just putting that out there.

[RushmoreAnts]

The sweet spot for polygynous queens is usually three to a group. Just putting that out there.

For most polygynous species, yes. I have personally observed Solenopsis molesta and Lasius brevicornis colonies with hundreds if not thousands of queens in the wild. Solenopsis molesta have been recorded to breed in the nest as well. I have experimented with introducing queens to workers, and it seems colonies in our local population readily accept new queens. For most normal polygynous species having this many queens is more detrimental than helpful, but it seems with some species I will deem as 'hyperpolygynous', this is not the case. If I founded a 3 queened molesta colony, they would multiply into 80 on their own soon enough.

[cooIboyJ]

I have wondered if Brachymyrmex patagonicus specifically would accept queens after the nanitic stage. If someone could tell me specifically for this species if they do or not it would be helpful. If not I will probably do some tests on my own on this in the future. Also if they would add queens on their own. Thanks!

Edited by cooIboyJ, August 28 2025 - 7:02 PM.

[RushmoreAnts]

I'm not sure about Brachymyrmex patagonicus. It seems Brachymyrmex depilis is pretty typical, and colonies do best with 2 - 5 queens. I would assume B. patagonicus would be the same. I would try a small group of queens to start with, then see if they accept new queens later on.

[cooIboyJ]

 

I checked on my queens and took some pictures. They all have eggs now and I also caught some more and put 5 queens in one test tube. Since there were so many queens when I caught them all I was able to cherry pick and get only wingless ones (I do know that that doesn't guarantee fertility but the chances are better).

Edited by cooIboyJ, August 29 2025 - 8:42 AM.

[cooIboyJ]

I quickly glanced at my queens while I was adding some new queens of a different species to the shoebox (I’ll probably post an ID and a journal on them) and saw that for sure the 5 queen colony has larvae now and the queens I caught a few days before the 5 queen colony also probably do but I didn’t see for sure (I’m assuming they do because I caught them before the 5 queens and they laid eggs first).

Edited by cooIboyJ, September 2 2025 - 1:44 PM.

[cooIboyJ]

Would it be safe to have a fifteen watt cable in a shoebox?? It has a towel in it to damp vibrations.

[cooIboyJ]

I checked on my ants yesterday and they are doing very well! One has a pupa and the rest just have larvae and a few eggs.

 

These are all my ants as of right now.

[cooIboyJ]

The queens are doing extremely well, with the three queen colonies having lots of pupae, and the five queen colony having what looks like 20 pupae! The single queen colony has around 8-10 pupae and a few larvae still. I recently also caught two more and put them together, and one has shed her wings, and they have a small brood pile.

 

[cooIboyJ]

Nanitics!!!!!    I checked on the queens last night and saw that they had little nanitics running around! One of the three queen colonies has the most nanitics so far, but once the rest of the nanitics hatch the 3 and 5 queen colony will have close to 30 workers. I will be going to petco later today to get some mealworms, lizard jelly, and fruitflies. 

 

Pictures:

 

 

I even got a few pictures of one of the queens of one of the 3 queen colonies feeding one of the new workers.

Edited by cooIboyJ, September 26 2025 - 10:15 AM.

[cooIboyJ]

Gave the ants their first feeding, I used some of the lizard jelly I got from Petco and soaked a tip of the ants blocking cotton ball in it, then place it back in. For one colony though, I wrapped a cotton ball around a Q-Tip and soaked the Q-Tip in the lizard jelly juices, then swapped the old cotton with the Q-tip cotton.

Pics:

Also got some pretty nice looking pics of the ants with their workers:

[cooIboyJ]

Recently made my ants an outworld, I got out my stepped drill bit and made some holes in the sides and for one container, the lid. Then using some sand as the substrate and some talcohol as the barrier I finished it up. I replaced the ants test tubes with a bit of vinyl tubing surrounded by cotton and placed the ants in their new outworlds. Then I made some little covers for their test tubes, and here I am now.

 

Pics:

 

Lastly, I also gave my ants some fruit flies from Petco.

Edited by cooIboyJ, September 29 2025 - 12:37 PM.

[cooIboyJ]

The ants have been doing very well, but the five queen colony moved into the caked sand in their outworld. I removed the sand above them and they moved back into their test tube. Them moving into the sand proves that they are not very sensitive to the light because they were nested against the plastic, with sunlight shining on them from the window.

[ANTdrew]

The ants have been doing very well, but the five queen colony moved into the caked sand in their outworld. I removed the sand above them and they moved back into their test tube. Them moving into the sand proves that they are not very sensitive to the light because they were nested against the plastic, with sunlight shining on them from the window.

Myrmy’s Law!

[cooIboyJ]

I removed some of the sand on top of their new nesting spot, and by the time I next checked they were all back in their test tube, and since then another 10 workers have eclosed. 

[Zhuge]

Wow those are fast growing