C. Pennsylvanicus Journal, My first

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AmatureAnt
Posts: 31
Joined: Thu Jul 05, 2018 7:56 am
Location: New Jersey

C. Pennsylvanicus Journal, My first

Post: # 45500Post AmatureAnt
Tue Jul 24, 2018 3:48 pm

Hey guys,
I'm AmatureAnt, and this is my journal! I've never had a journal, let alone one about ants, but i'm going to give it a try. Ill start with my story of how i got into ants.. and honestly.. i don't know.

One day i was on the internet, and i fell into a Youtube hole. I have no idea how i stumbled onto ant videos, but they intrigued me, and i eventually came to AntsCanada. It was amazing, and instantly i was enthralled. I spent the next 3 days watching everything i could on AntsCanada. I then moved onto ant keeping videos, and i thought, id love to own a colony. I've never been into bugs, they all basically creep me out, but ants and i have always had a good relationship with one another. They truly are fascinating creatures, and I've always respected them more than other bugs. I have cats, and a 7 foot boa constrictor, and I've given them a great life, so i know i could also raise ants and do them justice.

I began looking for queens to buy, i inquired through the GAN project my first year, but i never found any sellers. The next year, after hibernation, i was once again watching ant videos, due to the wake up videos, either on AC channel, or other ant keepers. I began looking to find sellers again, and just never could. In GAN projects defense, i had only inquired 3 times total. I eventually lost interest, and i stopped watching videos. Id occasionally would watch the random weekly AC vid, but thats about it. That year too came to a close, now its 2018, and something amazing happened!

For some reason, this was my year. Other than contacting the GAN project, i was keeping an eye out for wild queens. I went on a few outings solely to search for queens, but never had any luck. Well, my luck changed, A LOT. One day i was on my porch, sitting and enjoying the day, and out of the corner of my eye, i seen movement. I inspected, expecting to find some sort of weird bug, it was large, and had wings. I immediately was like... no way, is this a queen?! IT WAS! It was a Camponotus Pennsylanicus, and she was 2 cm long! I had never seen an ant that big in my life. I was vastly under prepared to have her enter my life though. I had a glass test tube, which would probably be fine for other smaller ants, but this queen was way too large, and could barley turn around. She died the next day, i believe she exhausted herself to death. She wasn't happy at all the whole time, and i thought, this cant happen again. I jumped online and ordered a 10 pack of proper tubes.

The spark had hit me again! I was all in, and was now dedicated to having a queen of my own. I went back to the AC website and inquired once again to the GAN project, and again, there were no sellers. I was determined though, and i began going out almost daily. Walks through my neighborhood, to the local parks, keeping an eye out at work. I was going to find them, i had a mission. I began in early May, after i found the first queen, i started re-watching the videos to know all i could. Then one day, about a week after the first queen, another Camponotus came to ME on my porch! It was awesome!

This little lady, or should i say, big lady, has come to be known as Freddie Mercury. Get it? GET IT?! ;) I quickly set her up in one of the new tubes, and again, it was too small. Really? These new tubes are great, i use them all the time now, but these ladies are far too large for even those. I consider myself "crafty", and decided i was going to start my new hobby as cheap as i could lol. I didnt want to go all in, buy all the nests, all the tubes, multiple outworlds, feeders, the works. I DO want them, but for my dedicated colony, the one i want to keep forever. Also, i didnt know if i could be even worthy of keeping my ants. My very first queen died because of the home i tried to give her. Even though i watched all i could, i still felt in the dark.. i still do. The mission still continues though, and i'm not easily defeated.

Cont.
Founding:
9x T. Immigrans.
Formica subsericea.

Keeping:
2x C. Pennsylvanicus.
T. Immigrans.
Camponotus Subbarbatus.

AmatureAnt
Posts: 31
Joined: Thu Jul 05, 2018 7:56 am
Location: New Jersey

Re: C. Pennsylvanicus Journal, My first

Post: # 45501Post AmatureAnt
Tue Jul 24, 2018 3:49 pm

I felt like i knew the stages by heart. Capture to tube, eggs, then workers. After workers, outworld, after too many workers, nest and outworld, then many outworlds. I had many ideas i wanted to do, from crafting my own, to buying setups. But first i needed to outfit Freddie. I looked into the types of plastic, and decided bubble wands at the local store would be ok. I cut them and cleaned them, and they work great. Freddie loves her home, her large species type i think fits very well there. Well, i wasn't done with just her. I was still on the kick of going for walks hunting ants, and i stuck to it. The next day, i caught another C. Pennsylanicus, and a C. Nearcticus(not fertile). After that, it was nuts from there. Its now 7/24/18, and i have 11 queens founding, and 4 more queens with workers, that have their tubes connected to outworlds. Most of them are Tetramorium Immigrans, but recently i caught a Formica Subsericea, which is my prize, after Freddie of course. I visited the RIP ant queen section of the forums, and also decided i wanted multiple colonies, just in case. Although, I have actually stopped looking for ants. I dont want to get overwhelmed, and i think that could happen pretty easy, judging by the amount of time and space ive already dedicated to my ants. Dont fret though, my family has also taken a likening to ants, and they are just as interested as me. Also, my wife and i work, and we can provide what these ants need just fine.

But, i do still collect new queens, The Formica walked up to me on my porch.. and basically asked to come in. And this morning, a T.Immigrans lost its way, and ended up in my bathroom, and i helped her to a new home in one of my test tubes. I seem to have also acquired some other bugs to help in aiding my ant keeping. I now have, meal worms, crickets, and cockroaches that will be the main proteins for my ants.

I feel like I've been afforded a great opportunity here with the amount of queens i have. All of the crazy ideas I've seen on this site, on other sites, is amazing. And i said before, i didn't know just how i wanted to raise these ant. Well, i get to try all the ways now! The different types of outworlds, nests, terrariums! I feel like it will end up looking like an AC video in my house. I get more excited about this journey I've started on, everyday is something new and grand. I'm going to post pictures here, when i get a better camera, ill maybe do videos, i don't know. But i think i'm going to use this just to help document Freddie's rise to fame. Shes my pride and joy now, i love her like i love my other animals. I love all my ants, the really are beautiful ladies. And for some reason, they are therapeutic. Not only by providing me joy, and a hobby that my heart likes, but, i'm not so creeped out by bugs any more lol. My wife and kid agree too. Its really crazy how the last few months have changed our household.

Well, i think that's it.. that might be how i got here today.. trolling through ant forums.. lots and lots of forums lol. Thanks for taking the time to read this.. if you did. I hope maybe once in a while you'll pop back in to see how Freddie is doing. Have a great day, and ant love forever!


Without further ado.. Freddie Mercury!
Founding:
9x T. Immigrans.
Formica subsericea.

Keeping:
2x C. Pennsylvanicus.
T. Immigrans.
Camponotus Subbarbatus.

AmatureAnt
Posts: 31
Joined: Thu Jul 05, 2018 7:56 am
Location: New Jersey

Re: C. Pennsylvanicus Journal, My first

Post: # 45503Post AmatureAnt
Tue Jul 24, 2018 3:56 pm

This is the earliest picture i have of her. I didnt discover this forum until 2 months after finding my first queens. I started taking pictures to have them identified.

Freddie Mercury is in the orange tube, and she has a fan! The blue tube is Queen Elizabeth the 7th, she is my other C. Penn colony that i'm keeping.

I found Freddie on my porch, on 5/24/18
She laid eggs 6 days later. She ended up laying 3 or 4 batches before her first workers came.
Image



This is about 7/17/18, her roadies are doing well, and multiplying
Image
Founding:
9x T. Immigrans.
Formica subsericea.

Keeping:
2x C. Pennsylvanicus.
T. Immigrans.
Camponotus Subbarbatus.

AmatureAnt
Posts: 31
Joined: Thu Jul 05, 2018 7:56 am
Location: New Jersey

Re: C. Pennsylvanicus Journal, My first

Post: # 45507Post AmatureAnt
Tue Jul 24, 2018 4:00 pm

This is her outworld, i constructed it on 7/21/18. You can see a worker at the opening.
Image



And this is the whole setup, that's her tube attached.
Image
Founding:
9x T. Immigrans.
Formica subsericea.

Keeping:
2x C. Pennsylvanicus.
T. Immigrans.
Camponotus Subbarbatus.

User avatar
antnest8
Posts: 1438
Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2018 2:11 pm
Location: Detroit, MI

Re: C. Pennsylvanicus Journal, My first

Post: # 45583Post antnest8
Wed Jul 25, 2018 12:03 pm

awesome terrarium. do you have sugar water test tubes? In my experience camponotus love sugar water.
Some of My Informative Sheets
https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=19099
Includes :
  • Ant Care Sheets
    Queen Hunting
    How To Identify Ants
Goal is to become #2 poster on the forum

AmatureAnt
Posts: 31
Joined: Thu Jul 05, 2018 7:56 am
Location: New Jersey

Re: C. Pennsylvanicus Journal, My first

Post: # 45612Post AmatureAnt
Wed Jul 25, 2018 3:05 pm

antnest8 wrote:
Wed Jul 25, 2018 12:03 pm
awesome terrarium. do you have sugar water test tubes? In my experience camponotus love sugar water.
Hey, thanks! I'm in the middle of experimenting with mixtures, and crafting dispensers. My first dispenser didn't work out so well. That is the plan though. I know ill end up buying an official one, but if i can replicate them without too much trouble, ill do that mostly.
Founding:
9x T. Immigrans.
Formica subsericea.

Keeping:
2x C. Pennsylvanicus.
T. Immigrans.
Camponotus Subbarbatus.

AntsDakota
Posts: 1283
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2018 4:22 pm
Location: South Dakota

Re: C. Pennsylvanicus Journal, My first

Post: # 47564Post AntsDakota
Wed Aug 15, 2018 2:29 pm

Did you know they are polymorphic?
"God made every kind of wild beasts and every kind of livestock and every kind of creeping things;" (including ants) "and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:25

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