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Post by Wood~Ant on Oct 14, 2017 14:56:56 GMT
At the moment the Meranoplus are bringing a locust into their nest. They're very active and there's always at least five workers out foraging. The queen has laid a new ball of eggs, which surprised me. Do Asian species lay eggs all year round? If kept at a temperature of 21 Celsius and above they do, so you can continue to feed during the winter and should see more eggs laid, even though maybe not as many as during the summer.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Dec 6, 2017 8:35:34 GMT
TenebrousNova, How is this colony doing now that winter has arrived?
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Post by TenebrousNova on Dec 9, 2017 10:21:49 GMT
TenebrousNova , How is this colony doing now that winter has arrived? Hello Wood, they are still behaving normally as far as I can tell but they've definitely slowed down a little. I'm not sure if I should put them on a heat mat or not since their brood still develop during the winter as far as I can tell?
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Post by Wood~Ant on Dec 9, 2017 23:11:36 GMT
TenebrousNova , How is this colony doing now that winter has arrived? Hello Wood, they are still behaving normally as far as I can tell but they've definitely slowed down a little. I'm not sure if I should put them on a heat mat or not since their brood still develop during the winter as far as I can tell? I would play safe and keep them warm for winter as it is frosty at night, about 21 Celsius should be fine; but a couple of degrees either way will not harm as long as doesn't drop to 17 or lower.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jan 31, 2018 19:10:23 GMT
I'm a bit concerned for this colony since they haven't accepted any food lately and quite a lot of workers have died of old age, leaving perhaps half of the original population. There's still a nice pile of larvae in the queen's chamber though.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Feb 11, 2018 17:28:23 GMT
The colony is still doing poorly so I've moved them into a test tube in hopes that they can recover their former numbers. I used tweezers to pick up each worker and larva and transfer them. The queen walked into the test tube on her own, bless her. Perhaps the acrylic nest wasn't humid enough for them? I did take care to keep the sponges watered. For now the colony is calmly getting used to their new surroundings and arranging their larvae. I've left a cricket in there as well to see if I can tempt them.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 15, 2018 9:29:24 GMT
There's just the queen, 5 or 6 workers and a small pile of brood now. For some reason most of the large larvae were eaten and have been replaced with a pile of eggs, except one pupa which made it in time. Things are not looking good, there's also a bit of mealworm I can't get out of their test tube that's growing mold. Food is still being rejected.
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 5, 2018 8:31:24 GMT
Sadly, this colony has now died out. Despite my efforts they refused all food and ate the last of their brood. A shame, since I really loved keeping this species and they were doing so well before the problems started. Perhaps one day, I will try again.
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