36 replies to this topic

[Foogoo]

Update: 3/17/2015

Among the eggs in their brood pile, I am noticing small larvae in the brood piles of the new queens I caught in February. Their brood development seems to be taking forever.

 

Came here to look for this. My brood seems to be sloowww and I wasn't sure if it was just mine. Did you put them in the fridge for hibernation or just room temp?

[Gregory2455]

I caught them only a month ago, but the colony's brood development is pretty slow too, and they were kept at room temps but now have a heating cable along with most of my other ants.

[kellakk]

My lone queen from February also has a single larva now.  They develop so much slower than Veromessor ...

[Foogoo]

My lone queen from February also has a single larva now.  They develop so much slower than Veromessor ...

 

I think I need a Veromessor colony to balance out the development time average. Watching Dorymyrmex, Pogonomyrmex and Camponotus brood develop makes for a boring party!

[Gregory2455]

All the queens I caught in February have larvae now. The colony lost three workers, but four larvae have pupated.

[Gregory2455]

Update: 4/21/2015

Five of the queens I caught earlier this year have workers now. There is a good chance that at least four of these will be on sale later. Meanwhile, here is a video of a worker in one of the new colonies eclosing. Look at the little legs moving.

Edited by Gregory2455, April 21 2015 - 9:36 PM.

[Gregory2455]

Update: 5/31/2015

The original colony died out. I think this was the last of the die-outs from earlier this year, as all the rest of my colonies are just growing now. Hopefully one of the five new colonies do good.

[dspdrew]

I had one good colony a while back that eventually died off. Every one of these I've gotten since then have not done well at all.

[Foogoo]

Are yours still eating Blue 100? Mine seem to reject everything I give them or eat it for a few minutes then pile trash on it. 

[Gregory2455]

Are yours still eating Blue 100? Mine seem to reject everything I give them or eat it for a few minutes then pile trash on it. 

Mine love Blue 100. I do not have a single species that turns down Blue 100.

[Gregory2455]

Update: 7/28/2015

Photo update on all colonies. They are all doing pretty good.

Colony 1:

Colony 2:

Colony 3:

Colony 4:

Colony 5:

[Gregory2455]

Also, I caught 7 more of these queens on my recent trip to the desert, except they were the inland variation so they are all larger, which is cool.

Edited by Gregory2455, July 28 2015 - 3:01 AM.

[Gregory2455]

All five colonies are now for sale. http://www.formicult...nia/#entry25758

[Gregory2455]

Update: 12/10/2015

I have allowed most of these to die out.

[Foogoo]

Update: 12/10/2015
I have allowed most of these to die out.

Why? Just weren't doing much?

[Gregory2455]

Yeah...

[Kaelwizard]

Wow that really looks like a parasite queen!

I caught them thinking that so I released them.