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My new hobby... Starting an Ant Colony!
    #10460961 -

So I caught a queen recently.

She's a carpenter ant of a large species, Camponotus Castaneus.

I've had her for about a week in a test-tube setup.

She's laid three eggs so far.

Here ya go.

Sorry about the flash on them.  I figured out that if I tilt the tube the flash won't reflect back (duh) but then almost all the pics I took after that were blurry, and once I uploaded them I decided I didn't want to disturb her again.







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My name is Mud

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Re: My new hobby... Starting an Ant Colony! [Re: DragonChaser]
    #10461044 -

how did you catch her?

i remember having those ant farms as kids, they would always ship out the kits without a queen ant. my friends would go hunting for a queen ant outside for them, but we never found any lol.

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Re: My new hobby... Starting an Ant Colony! [Re: JT]
    #10461182 -

There was a nuptial flight going on, but her I just found running along outside.  I knew she was a queen right when I saw her, so I got her on a plate and put a cup over her until I had a better idea.


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My name is Mud

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Re: My new hobby... Starting an Ant Colony! [Re: JT]
    #10461376 -

justin_thyme said:
how did you catch her?

i remember having those ant farms as kids, they would always ship out the kits without a queen ant. my friends would go hunting for a queen ant outside for them, but we never found any lol.


I always wondered why they wouldn't ship queens. I mean beekeepers can have queen bees shipped to them. Why not queen ants?


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“The crisis takes a much longer time coming than you think, and then it happens much faster than you would have thought.”  -- Rudiger Dornbusch

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Re: My new hobby... Starting an Ant Colony! [Re: DragonChaser]
    #10461390 -

I'm not totally positive how ants breed, but wont those eggs just stay eggs if you don't have any drones to fertilize them?  Or do they get fertilized while still in her body?

peace

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Re: My new hobby... Starting an Ant Colony! [Re: supra]
    #10461590 -

Eggs are fertilized while in the body.  But she can lay eggs without being fertilized.  Time will tell I suppose.


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Discuss Politics

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Re: My new hobby... Starting an Ant Colony! [Re: Ferris]
    #10461687 -

I've always wanted to make a huge ant colony! Actually I'd want two..and then have them battle!  :smile2:


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Re: My new hobby... Starting an Ant Colony! [Re: Black_Sunset]
    #10461731 -

Atheist will be jealous, as am I.  I hope it prospers.


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Discuss Politics

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Re: My new hobby... Starting an Ant Colony! [Re: Ferris]
    #10461742 -

those eggs will hatch, i'd imagine.

drones are only alive during a certain time of the year. i think they only need to be fertilized by the males once and they're all set.. males usually alive during the same time young queens are.


and queen ants can't be shipped because, "it can throw off ecological balances."

i've tried dozens of times to get one mailed.

finally gave up.

and ordered a scorpion this week hehe.


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I don't believe in cops, bosses, or politicians. Some call that anarchism. I call it having a fucking heart that beats.


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Re: My new hobby... Starting an Ant Colony! [Re: supra]
    #10464000 -

zorbman said:
I always wondered why they wouldn't ship queens. I mean beekeepers can have queen bees shipped to them. Why not queen ants?


Its illegal to ship queens across state lines.

Dept of Agriculture is concerned about the spread of invasive species, but preventing hobbyists from having them is retarded, because all the alien species here have come from shipments of food and the like.

supra said:
I'm not totally positive how ants breed, but wont those eggs just stay eggs if you don't have any drones to fertilize them?  Or do they get fertilized while still in her body?

peace


Queens mate once in their lives, during the nuptial flights.  The reproductives (both male and female) hatch when a colony has reached a specific size, depending on the species.  With the species I have, they go out and mate while they are flying, then the males die.  The newly mated queen lands, her wings fall off, then she goes looking for a place to start her nest.
All the eggs she lays in her life will be from this single mating.
For a while, she will produce all female drones.
Once the colony reaches the correct size (with the species I have, it will take several thousand of them) she might produce some reproductives.


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My name is Mud

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Re: My new hobby... Starting an Ant Colony! [Re: DragonChaser]
    #10464086 -

What are you going to do, get some gigantic clear plastic sheeting and build a farm on your wall?


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Discuss Politics

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Re: My new hobby... Starting an Ant Colony! [Re: Ferris]
    #10471474 -

I'm going to make a complex of test tubes connected by aquarium tubing, build a standard nest using plaster of paris (you let it form into a block then carve out tunnels and chambers for them, and put a sheet of glass on it so you can see in) and take one of my aquariums apart and make it into a big ant farm, and hang it on my wall.  Connect all of them with tubing, and keep them covered during the day.

At night I'll have a red light shining on it so you can see them without disturbing them.

Oh, and I'll have a plastic tub they can use as a foraging area.

And just so everyone knows!

Awesome ant exhibit at the Smithsonian until October.  I'm getting my girlfriend to go with me in early July.

http://www.mnh.si.edu/ants/


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My name is Mud

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Re: My new hobby... Starting an Ant Colony! [Re: DragonChaser]
    #10472191 -

Curious to see how your SimAnt develops. Keep us posted! :cool:


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Re: My new hobby... Starting an Ant Colony! [Re: AlteredAgain]
    #10472228 -

I used to play that.

I just ordered a bunch of test tubes today to start a little complex for them.


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My name is Mud

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Re: My new hobby... Starting an Ant Colony! [Re: DragonChaser]
    #10472278 -

http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/science/6fd6/



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Re: My new hobby... Starting an Ant Colony! [Re: AlteredAgain]
    #10472305 -

AlteredAgain said:
Curious to see how your SimAnt develops. Keep us posted! :cool:


I used to play that game too. Had a friend here at the Shroomery hook me up with the game after years of not playing it.


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“The crisis takes a much longer time coming than you think, and then it happens much faster than you would have thought.”  -- Rudiger Dornbusch

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Re: My new hobby... Starting an Ant Colony! [Re: DragonChaser]
    #10474091 -

Very cool. I love ants. Please post some pics when you're all finished with the farm.


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Try to realize it's all within yourself
No-one else can make you change

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Re: My new hobby... Starting an Ant Colony! [Re: godspeedyou]
    #10474139 -

Those are the last things i would want to be living in my living quarters.

Whatif they escape somehow.

I wanna do that thing where they pour liquid metal into a big ass ant mound and let it harden, then dig it out. Then you got a big replica of the aunt fortress. Pretty cool stuff.

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