6/4/17
On 6/4/17, I found a wandering Myrmica cf. rubra queen on the Plum Island beach, MA. It was in between the beach sand and a vegetated area. No wonder that I found the queen here, as the invasive M. rubra have spread dramatically on the coast of New England.
ID thread: http://www.formicult...317/#entry62978
As she switched collection containers a couple times, I finally moved her to a semi-claustral setup earlier today. Here is her glass 16 x 125 mm test tube setup:
As you can see, there is a piece of straw under the cotton bung, so she can exit the tube to forage yet also feel nice and cozy in her test tube:
I then coated an outworld with some Byformica Fluon:
Outworld: https://www.amazon.c...ss food storage
I placed the tube in the outworld, and on the heating cable the outworld went:
Heating cable: https://www.amazon.c...epti heat cable
I placed a plastic petri dish down with a few drops of Sunburst Ant Nectar:
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At the moment, the queen is doing well. She is sure liking the wet cotton, sticking herself right on it. She is in the light for the most part, but nothing bright. The next update will be if she lays eggs or starts going on a little antyboo expedition in her outworld. I am planning on giving her a small mealworm ont he petri dish. I am not sure however, if they will forage if they don't have larvae, or need a sugar source at this founding stage.
Edited by Nathant2131, June 10 2017 - 4:50 AM.
