Iridomyrmex cf. anceps

[Asiletto]

A species I have since a while, but never posted a journal.

It is a nice species, does not sting, when frightened the workers runs like crazy.

June 2013, queen found in Saraburi, near Bangkok, a couple of hours before going back home . This species is however widespread in all Thailand and I think in all south east asia. I've seen very similar queens from Australia too.

July 2013, first pupae on number 6 and first workers on number 16





January 2013, after an inital period of slow growth, the colony accelerates.



Today I've moved them in a new ytong nest, the cannot live anymore in the two test tubes they where crammed.

I have noticed with disappointment that they do excavate ytong and they do it quickly, so I covered the nest with a fine stainless steel mesh.

You should see how fast they can eat an adult dubia roach..

[Driver Ant]

Doing really well with plenty of workers and brood. You could make a journal or ask staff to move this thread into the journals. 

[Wood~Ant]

I hope my queen manages to raise a colony as big, as the photos show yours is thriving Asiletto. 

[Asiletto]

I am sure she will, this colony is older, your queen swarmed just in November so in 4-5 months your colony will start to accelerate. Maybe sooner if you keep them warm and feed twice a week or more

[Asiletto]

I can't believe they have grown so much in just a couple of weeks. All pupae eclosed but there are a tons of new larvae and pupae. They can eat two mealworms or half a roach a day.



The downside is that I already need to think to a bigger nest.

[Wood~Ant]

Was that sugar water you gave the colony in the video? They certainly love it whatever it is. 

[Asiletto]

It was just water , I've left them for one day without water and they did not like it..

Now I've put a small container with water in the arena, the one used for birds, I hope it will last a couple of weeks before I need to top it up.

[Jenny]

Is there some sort of cotton wool in the bird container to stop them drowning?

[Asiletto]

Yes, it a technique I have experimented with my roaches and I hope will work with ants too.

[Wood~Ant]

Do you feed meal worms and roaches in bits Asiletto or do you feed your ants the whole thing? I know that wax worms get very messy when I cut them open, but meal worms have a hard chitin casing making it tougher for ants to bite into the flesh.

[Asiletto]

I feed pre-killed and cut mealworms, the ants drink the hemolymph and then take the dead worm into the nest for the larvae to feed on. With this colony however that procedure is not strictly necessary, I think they would accept alive mealworms without problems.

I'm using roaches when I'm away for some days because of work (which sadly happens every week), I give each colony half dead (freezed) roach that I hope will stay edible for more time than mealworms.

[Asiletto]

A bigger nest and arena is coming soon.

[Asiletto]

A friend in Italy identified the species as belonging to the anceps group, so I will refer to these ants as Iridomyrmex cf. anceps.

A couple of days ago I connected a new section of the nest, just two glass sheets separated by an aluminium strip. I left the inside of this container empty, except for some cotton placed in a corner, I want to see if the ants will use as a nest anyway. My goal is to have a clean nest easy to photograph and take video of. For now they are still hesitant, they moved the brood back and forth a couple of times.

[Wood~Ant]

Sadly I think my own queen is going to fail raising a colony, but I am happy to see you have such a large thriving colony. Looks like the extra room will come in handy with all those workers and brood. 

[honeypotant]

Nice big colony. I like to see ants do well and have lots of workers and your are looking very healthy.