2121 replies to this topic

[noebl1]

P. imparis are flying in MA today!  Just caught my first alate.

[Connectimyrmex]

Somehow, my Prenolepis imparis queen is pretty stress-free. Except for the time her tube rolled, she has never eaten her eggs. She's doing fine in a low-light condition right now!

[RhodyAnts]

I don't think i'm gonna get any p. imparis this year. I think they flew mon I. northern ri

[Myrmidon]

Apologies about my abrupt disappearance the last few months. Life and all that jazz. Since the season is about to start up again I thought I'd pop back in and say hello! My foray into ant keeping last year was fun but only one of my queens (Formica sp) survived hibernation so I'll certainly be interested to hear about the nuptial sightings in MA in the coming weeks/months. 

[noebl1]

Apologies about my abrupt disappearance the last few months. Life and all that jazz. Since the season is about to start up again I thought I'd pop back in and say hello! My foray into ant keeping last year was fun but only one of my queens (Formica sp) survived hibernation so I'll certainly be interested to hear about the nuptial sightings in MA in the coming weeks/months. 

 

Welcome back!  I missed the P. imparis flying Saturday, and will probably miss them Wed as well as will be WFH and not at the office that I've caught them before.

 

Sorry to hear about the loses during hibernation.  I lost a couple myself, including all my Myrmica which really bummed me out (though most of that was my fault.)  I also lost my Camponotus as well. Will try again for those this season as usually fly in large enough numbers so easy to find, though Myrmica I may have to get lucky and hopefully find a dealate foraging from last year.

 

My Aphaenogaster picea colony is doing great and seem to have a new worker eclose every week now.  Painfully waiting for my other new queens to have their first nanitics....  I'll probably have some extras to give away to MA people if my Lasius and Crematogaster are all fertile.

[Myrmidon]

Welcome back!  I missed the P. imparis flying Saturday, and will probably miss them Wed as well as will be WFH and not at the office that I've caught them before.

 

 

 

Sorry to hear about the loses during hibernation.  I lost a couple myself, including all my Myrmica which really bummed me out (though most of that was my fault.)  I also lost my Camponotus as well. Will try again for those this season as usually fly in large enough numbers so easy to find, though Myrmica I may have to get lucky and hopefully find a dealate foraging from last year.

 

My Aphaenogaster picea colony is doing great and seem to have a new worker eclose every week now.  Painfully waiting for my other new queens to have their first nanitics....  I'll probably have some extras to give away to MA people if my Lasius and Crematogaster are all fertile.

 

 

 

Thank you! I was bummed but I'm not surprised since it was my first attempt at trying to raise my first colonies. I think I've learned quite a bit from the experience so I'm hoping this time around I'll have a little more success. I'm also striving to successfully house some Camponotus queens so I'll be on the hunt with you!

 

Sorry about your losses but best of luck on your new queens!

[noebl1]

This is now my 3rd season keeping ants, and I find every year I learn more and more, and it keeps it interesting.  Still plenty of mistakes for me to make too, hehe

 

Also reminds me I need to run do a pet store to get some crickets, as I was finding some mosquito like insects flying in huge numbers the last couple weeks (ants loved them), and they stopped flying.

 

Based on last year, the Camponotus should start flying very soon.  I actually wouldn't be surprised with after the rain we got, if there's a small flight on Wed or Thurs.  Though we're still a month or so away from any of their big flights that typically happen in May/June.   I'm also curious to see if we have larger flights this year, as last year was 18 Camponotus flights I observed, however due to the 2016 draught, they were definitely smaller than the 2016 flights. 

[noebl1]

Oh, one of the guys on Discord in Boston believes he saw a Camponotus castaneus flying with P. imparis on Sat.  Said he tried to grab it, but got away.  Was quite orange/yellow for a Camponotus.  I had heard they are in MA, but haven't seen evidence of any.  I'm not sure if he's here on FC, I'll find out.

[Myrmidon]

Very cool! That's a fun looking species!! If you get the details about which region in MA, I'd love to hear about it. 

[noebl1]

Saw a small Camponotus flight today, about a couple dozen C. pennsylvanicus, and a couple C. Mrymentoma that I couldn't grab as too high.

 

Someone else observed P. imparis flights in Arlington? I think today on Discord.

Edited by noebl1, May 3 2018 - 3:08 PM.

[zkublin]

Saw a small Camponotus flight today, about a couple dozen C. pennsylvanicus, and a couple C. Mrymentoma that I couldn't grab as too high.

Someone else observed P. imparis flights in Arlington? I think today on Discord.

There’s a discord for mass flight sightings?

Also sorry for going MIA....I got married, bought a house and got a puppy....but I’m back for the start of the season!

[noebl1]

 

Saw a small Camponotus flight today, about a couple dozen C. pennsylvanicus, and a couple C. Mrymentoma that I couldn't grab as too high.

Someone else observed P. imparis flights in Arlington? I think today on Discord.

There’s a discord for mass flight sightings?

Also sorry for going MIA....I got married, bought a house and got a puppy....but I’m back for the start of the season!

 

 

WELCOME BACK!!  I may have some extra Lasius if you need some   Congrats on all the life changes too, sounds like you had a busy year!

 

Discord invite link: http://discord.gg/qrAqPAQ   

 

Camponotus males and queens were flying after dark last night, not a big flight, but not bad for this time of year.   Only say C. pennsylvanicus;  I can grab some for MA people if they need any, just let me know.

[Myrmidon]

Welcome back zkublin and congrats!!

 

Looks like the season off to a start then! Didn't see any Camponotus queens yet, I thought I would last night but I guess not! I saw a lot of L. umbratus queens on Wednesday walking but that's the extent of queen sightings right now. A nearby colony of C. nearticus was active with alates peaking out of their nest but I don't think they flew. 

[Aquaexploder]

So my Lasius neoniger and Crematogaster (still unidentified) are the only ones that survived the winter. However they are also thriving! They all have a nice batch of eggs and have full gasters. I was just curious about how long it takes for an egg to turn into a worker for these genus.

[noebl1]

I find they take several weeks.  I have Lasius and Crematogaster I caught this Fall, all of them went into hibernation by the end of October.  I started taking them out the very beginning of March.  A couple of the Lasius laid before hibernation (not common, but not unusual), those Lasius have had pupae for the last 3 weeks (this also lines up to my Fall 2016 Lasius colonies also with pupae.)  The Lasius that laid post hibernation all have huge piles of eggs or larvae, but all quite small.  My Crematogaster, also who laid shortly after coming out of hibernation, have a mix of eggs, small larval, and a handful of late larval stage.  This is with the room in the upper 60Fs/low 70Fs until very recently (now that it's warmer and room has been in mid-70Fs) without any direct heating for them.  I noticed once the room warmed up into the upper 70Fs, development seemed to speed up for their larval stages.

[randeee]

Hey guys! Season's back and so am I.

I caught a few things this week including a Lasius Umbratus and I believe a Formica sp. but not sure.

[noebl1]

RANDEEE!  Was going to send you an email to see how you were doing; glad to see you back

[randeee]

Thanks, noebl1! Feels good to be back.

I just got a Mini-Hearth from THA and its stunning. She's laid a few eggs already as well. Fingers crossed for an easy season.




 

[Connectimyrmex]

Y'all are getting Camponotus queens already?! I didn't know that they flew this early!

My local termite nests are stocked to the brim with alates right now! 

[Aquaexploder]

My local termite nests are stocked to the brim with alates right now!

If you don't mind could you give me tips on how to look for termite nests and there queens?