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Post by TenebrousNova on Feb 11, 2018 17:35:16 GMT
I decided to order a small colony of this species consisting of a queen and 5-10 workers, more specifically the gold coloured variant from British Ants. I am aware that people here haven't enjoyed success with their own colonies of C.turkestanus, but the research I've done leads me to believe they're supposed to be quite easy in terms of care, it's getting the colony over the initial hurdles that can be difficult. With this in mind, I'm going to check up on them as little as possible and take particular care to avoid vibrations that might stress them. They will reside in my ant unit with a thermostat controlled heatmat when they arrive, set to 24 or 25 degrees Celsius to help warm them up.
I look forward to their arrival. As always, please feel free to comment on this journal.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Feb 12, 2018 0:01:15 GMT
I am going to put my remaining queen and worker into a test tube again, as all the eggs and larvae died when the 2 largest workers died. I wish you more luck with your colony, as the all gold is a lovely variant of the species.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Feb 13, 2018 13:34:02 GMT
And they have arrived! Out of the species that I received today, these are the ones I was most looking forward to. There's the queen of course and seven small workers. There's also two little larvae. Having only kept large Camponotus species before, I was surprised by how small they are.  To my dismay, there's a noticeable dent on the queen's gaster. Caused during her collection, perhaps? Still, it doesn't seem to be impairing her from what I can tell.  I put in a small dead cricket for them and to my surprise, they went for it right away, the little workers nipping aggressively at it and the queen putting up a threatening display.   They seem to adore honey. The worker at the bottom had been drinking for longer than the other and her gaster has swollen quite dramatically!  |
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Post by TenebrousNova on Feb 23, 2018 1:40:17 GMT
Had a near escape today when giving this colony some honey! Three workers shot out of the test tube and one went right up my sleeve. It took ages to get her out safely. I was very surprised by how fast these girls can move when they want to.
To give this colony some feeling of safety and also to stop condensation becoming an issue (I'd seen a worker struggling to free herself from a droplet) I inserted a small rolled up piece of kitchen roll which they're now living inside. It absorbs the excess moisture whilst keeping things damp. It means I can't observe them nearly as well, but it's a price worth paying for their safety.
I've only seen indications of one larva at the moment, but I'm checking this colony as little as possible to avoid stress like earlier. Perhaps one day they'll surprise me.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Feb 27, 2018 13:00:20 GMT
Although the workers will nibble at prey insects, they don't seem to actually eat them. Perhaps this is because there's just one larva? When I open the test tube to feed them, the whole colony emerges from the kitchen paper to investigate and I've only seen one larva so far. No evidence of eggs either, but I'll keep my fingers crossed. One of the workers has sadly died, bringing the count down to six.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 11, 2018 15:01:39 GMT
The test tube had dried out so I moved the colony into a new one. It appears that there's just the queen, three workers and a single larva now...what am I doing wrong, I wonder?
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 29, 2018 18:40:17 GMT
At the moment it's just the queen, one worker and one larva. I have moved them into one of the little two-chambered acrylic nests that my Temnothorax nylanderi lives in to see if things improve. If the queen values her future and that of her colony, she will lay eggs and soon.
Also, I've ordered the last little black/gold colony from Ants R Us which was on sale, which should arrive tomorrow or on Saturday in the hopes that I can do better with them. I want success and if the "easy" care rating for this species I've seen on various sites is true, I will not be denied.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 3, 2018 17:26:19 GMT
Sadly, the queen I ordered lost her last worker recently and by means of apology Chris has sent me two turkestanus queens instead. Hopefully they'll arrive tomorrow and be able to found their own colonies in time.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Apr 3, 2018 18:09:06 GMT
Sadly, the queen I ordered lost her last worker recently and by means of apology Chris has sent me two turkestanus queens instead. Hopefully they'll arrive tomorrow and be able to found their own colonies in time. Which ant site is owned by Chris? He sounds like a fair person to buy from. |
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Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 3, 2018 19:00:32 GMT
Sadly, the queen I ordered lost her last worker recently and by means of apology Chris has sent me two turkestanus queens instead. Hopefully they'll arrive tomorrow and be able to found their own colonies in time. Which ant site is owned by Chris? He sounds like a fair person to buy from. Antsrus. I've just been chatting with him via email, he says he's also happy to order in species that people are looking for.  |
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Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 4, 2018 10:02:32 GMT
The new queens have arrived! No eggs but they're perfectly calm.   They're kept wrapped in tin foil to keep them warm and will be left undisturbed for the most part. I don't think I'll check on them more than once a week. |
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Post by Wood~Ant on Apr 4, 2018 13:49:39 GMT
Nice queens, so fingers crossed they lay eggs soon and raise some workers to found colonies.  |
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Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 8, 2018 15:21:07 GMT
I checked the turkestanus queens today and sadly, they're all dead with no conceivable explanation. The single larva from the first queen is still alive, so I gave it to my herculeanus who, oddly, seem to have adopted it and put it on their brood pile. Looks like that's the end of this journal.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Apr 9, 2018 9:23:17 GMT
I have never kept this species for longer than 3 months, and even though my all gold queen is still alive and well she lost all her workers and brood. Sorry to here you've lost all of your queens. At the start of this journal you say you got the colony from British Ants, but later that you got these ants from Chris? I'm a bit confused  |
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Post by UKantz on Apr 9, 2018 9:46:51 GMT
Sorry to hear TenebrousNova, seems that Camponotus Turkestanus is harder to keep than sellers would lead you to believe?
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