147 replies to this topic

[AntsAreUs]

My last queen died today, and with her, my hope of raising a colony of these extraordinarily amazing and fascinating ants.

Don't give up hope, there are still many years to come...

[Gregory2455]

Recontinued!
Update: 11/12/2014
I got a new colony! This colony has workers and a queen that does not reject the fungus.
The colony currently has three workers, and of what I can see, one pupa, and three larvae of variable size, but there are probably a lot more hidden in the fungus.

 

 
A worker with the pile of brood.

 
The queen. Some of her fungus has hitched a ride on her thorax, this is common and completely safe for the ant.

 
The whole colony. (The other two workers and the brood is on the underside of the fungus in these images.)


 
A video!


Thank you Drew!!!

Edited by Gregory2455, November 12 2014 - 1:18 AM.

[dspdrew]

Hopefully you have much better luck this time.

[AntsAreUs]

Just one unsignificant problem, you did not completely raise it yourself so it does not give you entire success. Still TAKE GOOD CARE OF IT!!

[Gregory2455]

Yeah, I know. I am crazy about Attine, I just need a colony of these to stay sane.

[AntsAreUs]

Now you know how I feel living in Indiana!

[Gregory2455]

The pupa is starting to gain pigment, so she should eclose in a few days. Also, there have been some new eggs laid on a patch of fungus, so everything is looking good today.

[Gregory2455]

I started a new thread to monitor the growth of the fungus.

http://forum.formicu...rowth-progress/

[Gregory2455]

[Gregory2455]

Update: 11/14/2014

This morning, I saw them add the first piece of substrate to the fungus since I got them.

 

About 7:45 AM: Breaking the big chunk up.

 

About 4:00 PM: Small broken up pieces scattered all over the fungus and seemingly fertilized!

There were more pieces on the side of the fungus I did not take a picture of...

[dspdrew]

It's nice when they just know what to do, unlike some of them it seems. I gave my last "reject" queen some fungus from the queen that died, and even though it's adding substrate to the fungus, it doesn't seem to be growing. I also notice that it's never wet, so I think the problem is she's failing to fertilize it. That may have been the problem with some of these other "rejects".

[AntsAreUs]

Hey Greg you ever going to get a nest for them when they get big enough, I would love to see that.

[Gregory2455]

That pupa is going to eclose any day now. Also, I have found some new brood in the fungus, including a lot of eggs and a few larvae.

[Gregory2455]

I found a second pupa that is seemingly going to eclose at the same time the other one will, so it seems they will be getting two workers instead of one, within the next few days.

Judging by how dark their pigmentation is, I am going to forecast they will eclose tomorrow.

[Gregory2455]

Update: 11/19/2014

I forgot to update this immediately in my excitement, but here are the two new workers.

 

[Tpro4]

Nice, how exactly, if ever, are you going to extract the fungus and the ants out of there when it gets really big?

[Gregory2455]

When it gets nice and large, you can simply just add another test tube and a worker will take a fungal pellet (as the queens do for a nuptial flights) and start a new garden. However, I will not be doing that, but instead moving them into a formicarium once they outgrow the first test tube.

[dspdrew]

Those are some fresh callows.

[Gregory2455]

"Fungus huggers" -Alza rofl

[Gregory2455]

Update: 11/22/2014

Well, if you have been looking at the fungus growth, you will see three days ago, a worker stuck a bit of fungus onto the roof of the test tube. (Visible on the Left Side view, in the upper right corner):

 

Well, it has been three days, and look how big it is now!

 

The other big thing about these photos: I captured every individual in the colony into one image!!! 

 

An overview of the whole test tube:

 

Right Side:

 

Three new eggs!

 

The rooftop fungus garden:

 

Video:

Edited by Gregory2455, November 22 2014 - 1:32 AM.