Grace Ant Journal

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Varanid
Posts: 136
Joined: Mon May 23, 2016 11:50 am
Location: Alabama

Re: Grace Ant Journal

Post: # 9732Post Varanid
Fri Aug 12, 2016 1:40 pm

Sad day today, noticed a dead nanitic in my C. pennsylvanicus test tube. How long do these first nanitics live? There are three others not sure what happened, she was laying on her back pitching a fit. I flipped her back over and she did it again, then died shortly after. This was the one that always took the food to the colony, the other three all hang around the queen. Will they switch roles?

Varanid
Posts: 136
Joined: Mon May 23, 2016 11:50 am
Location: Alabama

C. Castaneus has second nanitic!

Post: # 9942Post Varanid
Sun Aug 14, 2016 7:54 pm

My C. castaneus queen now has two nanitics. Offered a drop of honey and a bit of crushed meal worm. Not sure if they have eaten any of it.

My C. pennsylvanicus is still doing well, still unsure what caused the death of the nanitic. The other three nanitics are doing well so hoping it was just a one time thing.

My second C. castaneus queen moved into a clean test tube, she has 6 or 7 pupa, a few larva and some eggs. Hoping for nanitics from her soon.

My other two C. pennsylvanicus are not doing that great. One of them scatters eggs does not seem to care for them, am thinking she is not fertile. The second one has two larvae and a few eggs, not sure if either will produce. Fed both of these a drop of honey recentky. I will offer a little protein as well. Not expecting much from either queen though.

On a brighter note, one of the pennsylvanicus queens has started the move into a clean test tube. Maybe that will kick start her colony, like I said before, not really expecting these to produce.

My wife has recently gotten the ant bug, she wants the other C. castaneus queen, so it appears that if all goes well we will be keeping three colonies.

Varanid
Posts: 136
Joined: Mon May 23, 2016 11:50 am
Location: Alabama

Re: Grace Ant Journal

Post: # 10044Post Varanid
Wed Aug 17, 2016 8:18 am

Checked on my queens today. My second C. castaneus queen has her first nanitic. So it looks like my daughter will have a C. pennsylvanicus colony, I will have a C. castaneus colony, my wife will have one as well. Super stoked about this, we will all be building formicariums soon. Will probably be taking pictures of them all this weekend.

My unproductive queens all have a clean test tube attached, I fed them a bit of honey and a small piece of crushed meal worm. I have noticed that instead of moving, they both are using that test tube as a trash pile. They are pulling pieces of moldy cotton out and moving it to the clean test tube. That is not quite what I was hoping for, but at least it is progress. The test tubes are both almost out of water hoping for a move soon.

Varanid
Posts: 136
Joined: Mon May 23, 2016 11:50 am
Location: Alabama

Re: Grace Ant Journal

Post: # 10045Post Varanid
Wed Aug 17, 2016 8:28 am

My C. pennsylvanicus colony is doing well. It is back up to four nanitics. One of the nanitics seems to be a dedicated guard. Their test tube has been put into a small critter keeper. The guard is always at the edge of the tube. The other three stay with the queen most of the time. I noticed one of the nanitics out foraging today, she took a little honey and went back and fed the rest of the nanitics and the queen. She was not interested in the chopped meal worm, I guess they have plenty of protein for the moment.

I have noticed that the queen really does not do much to take care of the brood now. The nanitics are constantly moving them. The queen is just kind of chilling, probably resting after this two month long ordeal :).

Varanid
Posts: 136
Joined: Mon May 23, 2016 11:50 am
Location: Alabama

C. pennsylvanicus back down to three nanitics concerned now

Post: # 10078Post Varanid
Wed Aug 17, 2016 7:31 pm

Another dead nanitic, in two weeks have lost two nanitics. Not sure if this is normal, but it does have me concerned. Still plenty of larva, pupa, and eggs so hoping the colony is still ok. As long as she out produces the losses I will feel much better about this colony.

I am not sure how long nanitics are supposed to.live, these are only two weeks old. Hoping this is just the natural progression of things. Time will tell I guess.

Varanid
Posts: 136
Joined: Mon May 23, 2016 11:50 am
Location: Alabama

Re: Grace Ant Journal

Post: # 10153Post Varanid
Fri Aug 19, 2016 10:46 pm

Lost a third nanitic in the C. pennsylvanicus. Only have two nanitics left :(. Here's the stoey. I noticed a worker was out foraging, so I decided to watch her for a bit. She ate a little honey, and then proceeded to drag a piece of crushed meal worm into the test tube / nest. After that she came back out and started climbing the wall. She made it to the Vaseline barrier, put her legs on it and instantly slipped off.

Then she tried it a second time, slipped as soon as she touched the vaseline. After this I noticed she started acting funny. She could not climb, and was even having trouble walking. She flopped over on her back and started flailing. She got on her feet and then flopped back over onto her back. Sound familiar?

Thsee are the same exact symptoms the first nanitic showed right before it died. This is really odd though, because, I can not find anyone who.has had ants die due to Vaseline. Vaseline is widely recommended for ant keeping and is commonly used in outworlds.

So I am a little stumped, still am leading towards the Vaseline being the cause though. So, I put the cotton ball back in the end of their test tube, they are now in with my other queens for the night.

Their out world has been cleaned and rubb I g alcohol mixed with talcum powder applied at the top of the outworld. It is currently drying, they will have their outworld back sometime tomorrow night. Am hoping this takes care of the problem, if it does not I am not sure what else to do.

Becoming a little desperate at this point The queen has a lot of broid, they have been eating honey and crushed meal worms. The colony appears to be healthy as far as I can tell. But yet the nanitics are dying. If I can just get her thru until the rest of her brood hatches this colony should thrive :). My fingers are crossed hoping and praying this fixes the problem.

Varanid
Posts: 136
Joined: Mon May 23, 2016 11:50 am
Location: Alabama

Re: Grace Ant Journal

Post: # 10223Post Varanid
Sun Aug 21, 2016 3:50 pm

Today I walked outside and saw a queen, ran back in and grabbed a container to catch her in. She is now in a test tube setup. I was in a hurry so was unable to take pictures, will take some when I check on her in a week or two.

I am pretty sure it is a Solenopsis sp. Probably invicta. Looks like the other Solenopsis I have caught.

Varanid
Posts: 136
Joined: Mon May 23, 2016 11:50 am
Location: Alabama

Re: Grace Ant Journal

Post: # 10224Post Varanid
Sun Aug 21, 2016 4:22 pm

It rained really hard today, I noticed an ant line on my backporch. Tiny ants, I believe they were Monomorium but not positive. As I was watching then I noticed they were carrying eggs underneath a leaf. I flipped the leaf over and there were thousands of workers. Also underneath the leaf was the queen and a pile of eggs. I am assuming the old nest flooded.

Considered catching them, but there were so many workers and thousands of eggs. I flipped the leaf back over and watched for a bit. They kept bringing eggs under this leaf for about 30 minutes, then they left. I followed the ant line for a while until it was lost underneath a bunch of leaves. I flipped the leaves over and could not find the ants, not sure where they went. I hope they relocated successfully though :).

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WillWithAnts
Posts: 263
Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2015 4:22 pm
Location: South Dakota

Re: Grace Ant Journal

Post: # 10349Post WillWithAnts
Thu Aug 25, 2016 10:02 am

Lots of camponotus ants have die-offs when they first start. Symptoms commonly seen are: relentless foraging/climbing, spastic movements, and eventually flailing to death. I've been on the forum on and off since it was new, and I'd say I have seen the same thing 4-5 times now. It can't be Vaseline, because some of the cases only use insect-a-slip as a barrier. We can only assume that it is natural, or at least common in captivity. Many Camponotus species seem to have to get over a small die-off in their niantic stage. More research is needed :geek:

MCWren

Re: Grace Ant Journal

Post: # 10365Post MCWren
Thu Aug 25, 2016 12:13 pm

WillWithAnts wrote:Lots of camponotus ants have die-offs when they first start. Symptoms commonly seen are: relentless foraging/climbing, spastic movements, and eventually flailing to death. I've been on the forum on and off since it was new, and I'd say I have seen the same thing 4-5 times now. It can't be Vaseline, because some of the cases only use insect-a-slip as a barrier. We can only assume that it is natural, or at least common in captivity. Many Camponotus species seem to have to get over a small die-off in their niantic stage. More research is needed :geek:
Niantic lol.

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