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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 4, 2018 15:04:18 GMT
Not much to report so far. There's still loads of foraging activity but it's difficult to tell how much the colony has grown from that alone. Still, I haven't seen any signs that the queen is dead so she must be doing alright down there. I've found that they'll even eat the chewed up remains of food that my other ants have discarded. Waste not, want not! The springtails living in the soil seem to be ignored by the workers and are reproducing quickly.
I offered the Carebara a cookie crumb yesterday and they seemed to love it, despite lacking a sweet tooth for liquids like sugar water and honey water so far.
Apparently colonies are quite likely to adopt unrelated queens, one of the reasons they can grow so quickly. Of course, there's always a risk that it wouldn't work out, but I think if I ever see a cheaper Carebara diversa queen for sale (They're often cheap because they're very hard to get through the founding stage without loads of workers), perhaps I could try adding a second queen one day.
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Post by UKantz on Jun 5, 2018 8:37:39 GMT
Just thought I'd let you know that antsfromasia (not sure if I'm allowed to disclose their shop, but I've found them quite reputable) have any 8 queens/termites for 100£, or, Carebara diversa queens for 25£ each.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Jun 5, 2018 9:27:47 GMT
Just thought I'd let you know that antsfromasia (not sure if I'm allowed to disclose their shop, but I've found them quite reputable) have any 8 queens/termites for 100£, or, Carebara diversa queens for 25£ each. Yes, but Peter has a minimum order of £100 excluding delivery from Thailand.
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Post by dreamer on Jun 6, 2018 14:28:14 GMT
I really like the look of their Carebara castania queens, the orange/red looks amazing.
If anyone wants to do a joint order some time I might be interested. I'm trying to just keep hibernating ants at the moment, but I might change next year :-o
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 6, 2018 16:18:57 GMT
I too love the look of Carebara castanea! The only real downside to me is that they are monomorphic and therefore only produce one caste of worker, but that just highlights how huge the queens are in comparison. I can't find much information on keeping them though. Nothing really to report on the C. diversa today, they've been gorging as usual on flies and crickets.
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Post by UKantz on Jun 6, 2018 21:57:06 GMT
I have to agree they look amazing too! Wasn't able to find any info whatsoever on keeping them though, where did you find sources TenebrousNova?
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 7, 2018 0:56:23 GMT
I was probably wrong to say "information on keeping them" since I haven't seen anything like that so far... I'm looking for general information about the species, which would give me an idea of how they live. So far I've had very little luck. Apparently the winged queens are sold as a fried delicacy in market stalls as "subterranean ants" and colonies can contain tens of thousands of workers. According to Peter's site they are nocturnal and mostly forage underground...I guess they are to Carebara what L. flavus is to Lasius? Beyond that, nothing. Perhaps I could shoot him an email and ask how he's been keeping them. Beyond that, I fear the only way we'll know more is if someone buys a queen and gives the species a try!
EDIT: Peter replied to me!
Also, looks like the diversa have been remodelling their main nest entrance, building a mound around the hole and closing off one of the others. I'm thinking about putting a small branch in there for them to climb on, it should be amusing to watch their shenanigans if they found food up there.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 8, 2018 16:35:48 GMT
Today the Carebara are attempting to cram the locust I gave them last night into the main entrance and have mostly succeeded. I spotted a super major earlier deep within the entrance helping to pull it down, but sadly she didn't come out so I could photograph her. I don't think they like to come out of the nest unless there's prey the regular majors can't handle or a direct threat to the colony. Or perhaps there just needs to be more of them first. They also took a small fly I caught in the kitchen, easily squeezing it past the locust and into the nest. Although there has been a small pile of dead workers on their midden in the corner, I don't think they live for that long. As it only takes about 26 days for an egg to become a worker, the population is easily kept up and I haven't seen any indicators that there's less workers in the colony. If foraging activity is anything to go by, I think there's more! As a side note, I have found this website, authored by a friend of Quah (Who used to post very detailed journals of his own Carebara colonies here) to be a very informative resource on keeping this species. I would certainly recommend reading it if you're interested in trying to keep C. diversa for yourself. I was interested to learn that rather than lay eggs one at a time like most ants, Carebara queens produce an entire clutch per "lay"!
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 9, 2018 14:37:00 GMT
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Post by Wood~Ant on Jun 9, 2018 15:19:18 GMT
Nice photos, just hope that they never escape or you could be on the menu.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 18, 2018 11:08:22 GMT
Things still seem to be going fine with this colony. The springtails in the soil have multiplied a great deal but the ants don't seem to be bothered by their presence. Every so often I clear out their midden which mostly consists of leftovers and dead workers. I don't think they live for a particularly long time, but I'm not that concerned about it since there's always loads of workers running out of the nest whenever they're given food. Their foraging and recruitment behaviour is cool to watch. As soon as a worker finds food, she runs back to the nest whilst laying a scent trail (And telling any workers she meets on the way), then seconds later over 50 workers will be charging out and running along the trail. Yesterday they took four crickets into their nest and I noticed quite a few paler minors which I think are new additions to the colony.
I've added some sphagnum moss to the tank for decoration and to help keep the humidity up. Still no sign of any tunnels against the sides or bottom of the tank, but I'm sure it'll happen eventually. I'd love to get a better sense of how the colony is growing.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 19, 2018 14:09:30 GMT
I decided to give this colony their first cockroach today. I found one in the box that was newly molted, so much softer. They seem to be enjoying it. The super major would carve off pieces of shell and cut the legs before dropping them for the minors to pick up. She'd sometimes go back to guard the nest entrance with just her head poking out, but periodically the minors would call her back. They'd come up to her and start frantically nipping her jaws to get her to follow them. Quite interesting to watch them boss their big sister around!
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Post by Wood~Ant on Jun 19, 2018 14:38:00 GMT
Super photos, the clarity is excellent.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 24, 2018 20:06:47 GMT
There's some bad news I'm afraid: like Shane, I've found a mite problem. I have inspected several minors, three majors and a super major under a magnifying glass and saw varying numbers on them on each. I've been told that lemon can help, so I've placed several slices around the tank (Especially near the entrance and midden) in the hopes that the little buggers will be overpowered by the refreshing citrus smell. Apparently garlic also works?
I've checked all my other colonies and don't see any, so I don't think they came in on the food. A Russian ant keeper told me that there's a predatory species of mite (Hypoaspis miles) that exclusively eats other mites, so I may look into ordering a culture. I will not sit idly by and let this colony be at risk.
Edit: Bought a Hypoaspis culture, they should arrive in a few days. Apparently they also eat springtails, so they'll last quite a while.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 28, 2018 11:10:38 GMT
The Hypoaspis mites have finally arrived, so I've poured some of the culture into the tank to see if they'll be able to make a difference. I hope it isn't too late since foraging activity is very low right now.
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