My crematogaster queen has eggs!

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DerkaDoesGaming
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2020 3:21 pm
Location: Grand Rapids MI

Re: My crematogaster queen has eggs!

Post: # 73429Post DerkaDoesGaming
Fri Aug 28, 2020 9:07 am

Will do. Thanks

timeshell
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2019 7:34 pm
Location: Port Hope

Re: My crematogaster queen has eggs!

Post: # 73434Post timeshell
Fri Aug 28, 2020 11:46 am

timeshell wrote:
Thu Aug 27, 2020 11:39 pm
DimmettMatt21 wrote:
Tue Aug 25, 2020 2:23 pm
Ya I think it was condensation. I tried the taping the tubes together and the other one got mold after a week. I'll try the 4 way outworld method though that way they will get some air flow. My room is normally at 67°F so I use the cable. To speed up their progress.
I live in south Indiana. I found her wandering around on my friends side walk. There were a lot of other ants just out and about. Might have been a nuptial rave? Not sure, but I saw her and picked her up. 1 week later she had eggs
Are you sure the tubes, water and cotton are clean (sterile would be great)? When I prepare the tube I bleach it and then rinse it really well. Best to use purest water you can. Mine have been in the same tube with water for 4 months now with minimal mold growth.
One thing further; if you use bleach, please please rinse it well and then let it sit for a couple days and rinse it again with non-chlorinated water and dry it. I'm quite sure that chlorine is not good for the ants. You don't want residual chlorine in the air poisoning them.

timeshell
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2019 7:34 pm
Location: Port Hope

Re: My crematogaster queen has eggs!

Post: # 73437Post timeshell
Fri Aug 28, 2020 12:51 pm

Just did a quick rough count of the eggs and pupae that are unwrapped. There appears to be at least 50 smallest eggs and about 15 unwrapped pupae as of today. This does not include a count of any of the stages in between. So, I'm guestimating that as right now there are between 75 to 100 eggs/larvae/pupae in their various stages of development.

Additionally, my queen doesn't seem to be phased as much (and sometimes not at all) by my intrusions anymore. I still keep the main nest tube covered up when I'm not observing, but when I am, I remove the cover a bit and wait to see if she exposes herself willingly. If she does, I may remove it more. As I've done this, she doesn't seem to notice and goes about her regular activites.

DimmettMatt21
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Aug 01, 2020 11:03 am

Re: My crematogaster queen has eggs!

Post: # 73448Post DimmettMatt21
Fri Aug 28, 2020 11:38 pm

I cought mine a coupe months ago and started laying eggs. What do you think will I have to wait till after hibernation to get workers

timeshell
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2019 7:34 pm
Location: Port Hope

Re: My crematogaster queen has eggs!

Post: # 73457Post timeshell
Sat Aug 29, 2020 9:11 am

DimmettMatt21 wrote:
Fri Aug 28, 2020 11:38 pm
I cought mine a coupe months ago and started laying eggs. What do you think will I have to wait till after hibernation to get workers
If it's already laying eggs, you should see the first nanitiks within a couple months. I counted about 57 days for my first ones. Others have had similar results. Strongly recommend not disturbing the nest much right now. Stressing out the queen will likely cause her to eat the eggs or larvae.

timeshell
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2019 7:34 pm
Location: Port Hope

Re: My crematogaster queen has eggs!

Post: # 73465Post timeshell
Sat Aug 29, 2020 2:33 pm

Another 2 pupae eclosed today, bringing us up to 18 active workers!

timeshell
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2019 7:34 pm
Location: Port Hope

Re: My crematogaster queen has eggs!

Post: # 73605Post timeshell
Sun Sep 06, 2020 1:01 pm

Not much new other than up to at least 21 workers with more on the way.

I've been feeding them banded crickets that I find outside my building. I steam them for about 30 seconds to kill them as I hate squishing bugs. Unfortunately, these ants seem to have trouble penetrating the cricket's shell and I have been needing to use tweezers to pull the legs to rip it open part way for them. I very much hate doing this. I'm open to suggestions on a less messy way to feed bugs to my ants. They were pretty good with the flies I used to feed them. I just zapped them with a zapping swatter and dropped them in. They didn't seem to have any trouble with those. The problem is it was harder to catch the flies than the crickets.

timeshell
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2019 7:34 pm
Location: Port Hope

Re: My crematogaster queen has eggs!

Post: # 73671Post timeshell
Wed Sep 09, 2020 10:13 pm

Ok, I have no idea why the plural word for ant is being censored in my previous messages. Anyway, I've started trying wax worms with my crematogasters this week. The first one I partially cut in half and for the first day they wouldn't touch it. They are going at it now but it is probably too big for them to finish it I think. Oddly, after one day there is already some white fuzz (mold?) on the guts of the wax worm.

There still between 8 to 10 pupae that are ready to eclose over the next couple weeks, probably about 3 of them will eclose sometime in the next few days so my population is continuing to grow slowly but steadily at the moment. I expect to have about 25 workers sometime in the next week.

The sugar water test tube was starting to develop considerable waste in it. It seems that not only were they coming to drink from it but also using it as their garbage site. I replaced it with a clean tube a couple days ago. It didn't occur to me before, but it appears that the cotton in their nest tube is actually being sucked toward the bottom of the tube as the water level goes down. There is probably just a little more than 1/4 of the tube now with water and I am quite certain I started it with 1/2 tube. Also there is no air bubble in it, so there is no room for any compression of the space as the water level goes down which creates a vacuum which leaves no other option except to pull the cotton back as the water level goes down. I noticed this with my other ant queen test tubes too as at first I was wondering how the cotton ended up at the bottom of the tube. Just an interesting observation.

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antnest8
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Re: My crematogaster queen has eggs!

Post: # 73686Post antnest8
Thu Sep 10, 2020 7:46 am

Are they still eating the worm?

If they are keep it in there for now, but if not I would throw it away. Most mold won't hurt ants, but it's just gross and also once one thing gets moldy, more things will
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timeshell
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2019 7:34 pm
Location: Port Hope

Re: My crematogaster queen has eggs!

Post: # 73742Post timeshell
Sat Sep 12, 2020 3:43 pm

They stopped eating it and I removed it and placed a fresh one in there. They haven't touched the fresh one that I put in a few days ago. In fact, they seem to have gone into a mostly dormant mode. All the ants have pretty much collected around the queen and have been pretty inactive since they stopped eating the first waxworm. I don't have heating in my place and it's been getting pretty cool, so I guess the ants have decided to take seasonal break. I'll keep an eye on them, but if so, I may not have much else to post for a while.

There is at least one new worker as of today. Count is around 22-23 now. Still look likes like there may be more coming over the next few weeks.

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