ANTSTORE World of Ants

[MilitANT]

Colony A
Species: Tetramorium
Population count: Queen, two larvae, several eggs
the colony is kept in a test tube set up.

Colony B
Species: Tetramorium
Population count: Two Queens, several eggs
the colony is kept in a test tube set up.

Colony C
Species: Unknown (Aphaenogaster perhaps?)
Population count: Queen, 22 workers, two alate females, two larvae, several eggs
the colony is kept in a test tube. the test tube is placed in a sealed plastic container to allow the ants foraging opportunities.


June 25th, 2007

Colony A:

Checked on the Queen and discovered her larvae two larvae have grown. More larvae are present. It's difficult to count the exact amount considering their size and placement on the mound of eggs. She has still not shed her wings.

Colony B:

The two Queens have a much larger mound of eggs. For some reason they are keeping them stacked on the side of the test tube right next to the count plug. One Queen is always positioned under them while the other hangs off the cotton plug beside them.

This colony originally began with one Queen in a test tube. She had no eggs for several days until I placed the second with her.

Colony C:

I recently captured this mature colony from a log near the James River. The log was split right down the middle. I tried to split it completely but the ants began pouring out right after one gentle tug. The Queen was the first appear out of a small entry way on the surface. The colony was massive but buried deep within the log. I only managed to capture 23 individuals and some brood.

I have had the colony for 4 days now. They have had time to settle down and get used to their new home. The Queen has already begun egg reproduction -- I noted a nice fat clutch of eggs being tended by a worker.

I have moved their test tube into a plastic container. I opened one end which will act as their nest entrance. The container will be their foraging grounds. Right now I am only offering them sugar water. They seem to be only exploring at night.

June 26th, 2007

Colony A:

I counted seven large larvae and a mound of eggs. The Queen seems very sensitive movement which makes me reluctant to make my daily check ups. One good thing is that she isn't sensitive to light. I think I will spare her the stress and start checking on her every two days.

Colony B:

The two Queens have two separate piles of eggs, each still attached to the test tube wall. They both continue to watch them from their separate posts. I have not spotted any larvae yet. I hope these two can raise a successful colony together.

Colony C:

When I captured this colony I captured as many of the colony as I could and placed them in a square tupperware container. There was a lot of wood chips and partial bits of the original nest in there that made it hard for me to pick out individual ants. I spent last night retrieving the remainder of the nest from this tupperware and placing them with the original colony. The ants ran around like mad -- some of them found the test tube quickly while others tried to find other places to hide (there were none). The ants that were already settled in the test tube buzzed with excitement when their long-lost nestmests ran in. Everything settled down quickly. I gave them a bug I killed to eat and more sugar water. I saw two ants at the cotton ball soaked in the sugar water but the bettle hasn't been touched.

MINOR UPDATE: COLONY C

I placed the bettle closer to the opening of the test tube. The ants are now beginning a tender investigation. So far that don't seem too interested in the bettle. I'm going to run out in a moment to pick up crickets. I've raised this kind of ant before and they loved crickets. I don't like them very much as they make the nest smell really bad. The ants have also found the cotton plug soaked with sugar water and are gorging themselves on it.

June 29th, 2007

Colony A:

I decided to offer the Queen a bit of Nutri-Cal: a high-calorie dietary supplement I fed my dog who is a bit underweight at the moment. She is very small and her brood pile is very large. I want to make sure she's well-fed enough to provide for all of her offspring. I spotted her feeding off of the Nutri-Cal gel about an hour after it was offered. This will be my first and last time feeding her until her workers eclose.

She has no eggs now, only several large larvae. She must have eaten the eggs that did not hatch. I expect workers within the next two weeks.

Colony B:

The Two Queens have a massive egg pile. It is bigger than an invidiual Queen. I also gave them a bit of Nutri-Cal -- I'm sure they will need it! I expect many of the eggs and coming larvae to be eaten but merely producing and providing for them up until then will strip the Queens of a lot of their energy. They'll need to eat.

Colony C:

Barely any movement in the nest or foraging. They might be nocturnal foragers or just not used to being exposed to so much light. I will color the test tube red and see if activity inside the nest increases. I stayed over with friends for two days and the population seems to have decreased. I wonder if there was an escape while I was gone...

[MilitANT]

This journal was originally posted on a different forum. I don't find that forum friendly or enjoyable anymore so I will be continuing this here.

[Philsen]

Hi and welcome here. I think this is a friendly forum ^^

Wow this is indeed a very nice and interesting report.
But why do you feed the queens? Tetramorium base
claustral and need none to eat. What ever.....
I hope you continue your journal!

[MilitANT]

I fed the Queens because I heard that Tetramorium's some times go to find food. I don't know if that was true or not. I just wanted to be sure they would survive.

[JimmyVe]

Hi MilitANT and welcome.

Nice diary (maybe it is better to place it in 'experience' part of the forum)

It is not bad to feed the queens i also give my new queens some food to make sure they will survive, if they are not interested in the food they leave it but if they are hungry they can eat if they like.

[sithmaster676]

hi all
nice journal, feeding a lone queen during her hardest time when she is on her own just increases the chance that she will survive
Sithmaster676

[MilitANT]

July 6th, 2007

Sorry about the late updates. I have no been home lately. Been out with my lover often.

Colony A:

I spotted several naked pupae a few days ago and a few larvae. The amount of eggs she has varies from day to day. I believe she is eating them. I have had this Queen since the middle of June so I'm expecting workers within the week.

Colony B:

The Two Queens now have larvae. Their massive egg pile has almost disappeared. I believe they cannibalized their brood as well. Since they were so late to lay I don't expect pupae for another week. Workers should appear in two weeks.

Colony C:

Still barely any movement and absolutely no foraging outside of the test tube. Things don't look good. I added a bit of calcium sand to the test tube to encourage some sort of activity but that didn't work. I gave them a dead cricket and as I suspected they didn't go for it until night fall. After a day the cricket has huge chunks missing from it's body. I'm glad they are at least eating. Coloring the test tube red did not work -- they still wouldn't move. One worker was found dead yesterday. I can't see any eggs or larvae against the white of the cotton ball. I hope this colony survives but things don't look good.

If the colony does survive I will build them a ant nest that they can dig into. Hopefully activity will increase and the Queen will produce more eggs. It really isnt good to capture an established colony. It is a quick fix but the Queen and colony are just not used to be exposed and uprooted. I can't say I won't do it again but next time I will think twice.

In other news!

I captured five more Queens tonight. There was a small mating flight taking place under a street lamp in a parking lot. It was an odd event: the were two species out having their mating flights right next to a third colony. The foreign workers of the third colony were attacking and killing the Queens of the other two species and taking them back to their nest. I saw many winged Queens and a few males being slaughtered. I captured three Queens of one species and two of another. I didn't notice that the Queens looked different until I got home. I am debating whether or not if I should mix of the two Queens together. Because I don't know their species I'm not sure of pleometrosis will work and I don't want to lose any.

This is my second mating flight this week. Earlier this week I saw a mating flight happening mid-day on a tree stump. I think the males and females were from the same colony. I only saw one mated Queen and she ran away too quickly for me to catch her. I did captured one winged Queen which I thought was mated but she died when I got home. I think she was attacked by a spider before I captured her.

[Bob]

Nice journal man. I've also sworn off trying to capture colonies because many can't seem to handle the stress and go into 'self destruct mode' (i.e queen stops laying eggs, workers stop feeding, colony loses its 'motivation' and dies eventually.) I think starting with a single queen and rearing a colony in captivity works best. Somehow ants born in captivity don't really seem to take on the stress of transportation as much. Furthermore they're also a lot less light sensitive. Anyways keep us posted.

[MilitANT]

July 7th, 2007

Just a quick morning update. I forgot to mention I removed the two alate females from the aphaenogaster colony (Colony C). There was no chance they were going to mate and alates only put a strain on a colonies resources. Since the colony is so small, they had to be removed. I expected the workers to cull them instead they allowed them to live. I couldn't risk the unmated Queens possibly killing the mated Queen and attempting to start a colony with their sister-workers. A wild idea, I know, but I couldn't risk it.

I finally spotted the small batch of eggs the Queen has laid. I believe once they hatch into larvae the workers will start actively foraging for food. There will be too many hungry, eager mouths for them to sit still and do nothing.

[Varban]

Great jurnal looking forward to read more

[JimmyVe]

Very nice MilitANT.

[MilitANT]

July 8th, 2007

Bad and great news for todays updates!

Colony A:

The Queen has her first worker! I am so excited and I am so happy for her! She must have been born during the night when I was sleeping because she is almost as dark as her mother. She is very small and very clumsy. She has several dark colored naked pupae which I expect to eclose some time today or tomorrow. I think it is cute to see the Queen being so protective of her. She spent several minutes cleaning the worker -- isn't it her job to clean the Queen LOL! Workers come very fast for this Tetramorimum species. I remember the day I collected her -- feels like yesterday.

She still has a very long way to go but I am just so happy she's made it this far.

Colony B:

Bad news here -- the moisture in the test the Two Queens have is almost gone! I didn't think it would evaporate so fast! I hope they can last until their first workers are born, then they can make a move to another test tube. I am not worried but this is just not a good thing. The good news is they are still cooperating and their larvae seems to be growing very big. Naked pupae should appear some time this week.

Colony C:

The colony is slowly getting used to people exposed to light. I fed them more nutri-cal calorie supplement but I don't think they like it. I will try a boiled egg today. I know for sure they love crickets. These ants also have a wierd smell. At first I thought it was the crickets but it's really the ants. I wonder what makes them smell this way?

In other news!

I think I have identified three of the Queens as being Crematogaser kennedyi. I still can't figure out what the other Queens are. I am modifying my journal to note their progress.

Crematogaster kennedyi #1

This Queen seems to be the smartest and most diligent. She burrowed beneath the cotton plug in her test tube and has hidden half-her body under there. I say half because she can't fit in all the way -- her butt sticks out! I think she has eggs but I am not sure.

Crematogaster kennedyi #2

I don't think this Queen will make it. She has crawled half-way up the test tube and just sits there, unmoving. It seems like she has no desire to start a colony. I wish for the best but I doubt she will make it.

Crematogaster kennedyi #3

This Queen sits against the cotton plug which is what most of my Queens do before they start egg-laying. I think she has eggs already but the white dots are so small I can't be sure.

Formica (sp?)

This Queen definitely has eggs. She laid them the day after I caught her! She is so small I expect workers within four weeks.

I did have five newly mated Queens but sadly one of them (a formica) died a day later. She seemed perfectly fine. I wonder what happened...

[Bob]

Try feeding your
Crematogaster kennedyi queen (the one you think won't make it) a mixture of sugar honeyed water. This is what I did with the leg less fire ant queen I found (who sent a few days in a gel formicarium). Worn out from an ant attack (which amputated one of her legs) and tired from spending a few days in the unnatural gel, she was she required some much needed nutrition. As soon as I let her gorge on the cotton ball dipped in sugared/honeyed water, she soon after laid a clutch of eggs. The water acts as moisture, the honey brings a natural smell which attracts them to the cotton ball and the sugar gives a much needed boost of energy to them which then sends them into an egg laying cycle. Therefore do this:

Take a bowl of distilled or spring water and dissolve a few drops of honey and a little bit of sugar in it. Then dip a piece of cotton in it till its saturated and expose the queen to it. Hopefully she will immediately start to gorge on it. Work with her and you will be surprised with how you can save queens which at first don't appear 'motivated'. So go ahead. try and feed her.

[MilitANT]

July 10th, 2007

Sad news today and yet still some good news too.

Colony A:

The Queen's first two workers are dead. I am not quite sure what happened. On the night of the 8th I checked on my Queen and her worker and I noticed that the worker was somehow attached to a second eclosing worker. They seemed to be stuck or glued together. I had to forcefully separate them. The second worker attempted to recover but seemed to have broken legs on all sides -- she died. The first worker seemed to be OK for a while but then she too collapsed. This 'sticky syndrome' continued to plague the colony ever since.

The Queen would get stuck to the cotton plug. Pupae would get stuck to the walls of the test tube. I don't know WHY this was happening especially at this point -- everything was going so well! I forcefully removed the Queen and her remaining brood into a new test tube. I also removed her wings (they easily came off) so that she wouldn't get stuck to anything else. She seems to be handiling all of this stress very well. She does have one new worker that seems to be doing OK but I am afraid for her. The other remaining pupae are darkening and I think they are dead. I hope the worker and the Queen can survive until the second generation arrives. This will be tough.

Colony B:

The Two Queens are doing so very well. They now have naked pupae. This is all happening sooner than I expected. I am really happy they are doing well together. They also have several larvae and eggs left. I would offer them food but I do not want any accidents to happen to them. I am already stressed out over the first Queen.

Colony C:

I offered the colony a cricket but they declined to eat it. I will be feeding them a boiled egg later today. I am sure the Queen will appreciate the protien from the egg whites -- hopefully that will fuel her to lay eggs.

Crematogaster kennedyi #1

This Queen still proves to be one of the best. She has laid a clutch of eggs underneath her cotton plug and refuses to leave them.

Crematogaster kennedyi #2

At first I thought this Queen would fail but now she has a small clutch of eggs and I am happy. She hovers over them like a good mother. Maybe I was wrong after all.

Crematogaster kennedyi #3

I confirmed eggs in this Queen's test tube. She lays besides them and hardly moves.

Formica (sp?)

This Queen has become swollen with eggs! She has a huge batch of eggs beneath her. I didn't know she would be this prolific. I am expecting a huge colony from her!

[JimmyVe]

Sorry to hear they died (workers of colony A) i'm not sure what you mean with the sticky syndrome. I understand it seems that they are glued to everything but i never experience it before.