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Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 16, 2019 19:02:20 GMT
This journal marks my first attempt at keeping an Australian species! Aphaenogaster longiceps is widespread there and is commonly nicknamed the "funnel ant". This is because their nest entrances are often shaped like a funnel or pit, which helps them to trap prey. They are supposed to be fast growers and can attain up to 20,000 workers in a colony. I ordered a small colony with one queen and 10-20 workers from Antkeepingdepot.com, which is the go-to company for Australian ants. I really wanted to buy Rhytidoponera aspersa which is a drop-dead gorgeous ant that one day I swear I'm going to try keeping, but I felt that £135 for a lone queen is too risky. The Aphaenogaster are far cheaper and have workers, so it'll be an easier introduction to ants from down under. I received an email from Australian Post today saying that they've been dispatched. Hopefully they'll arrive either this week or the next! I've been told that this species prefers to take dry sugar rather than mixed in water and that the queens are very sensitive indeed to light, so I'll have to be careful when checking them. They also don't take well to acrylic nests and prefer ytong or natural soil/sand nests. Since they hail from a warmer climate they'll need to be kept at about 25C. The queens seem to be large for the genus: I'll update this journal again when the colony arrives. As always, comments and feedback are more than welcome.
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Post by jeoff82 on Apr 16, 2019 20:11:15 GMT
Cool, are ants from Australia allowed to be exported? I wanted to keep Rhytidoponera metallica but impossible to get and not sure if its legal to even have them. I went to Australia and found a queen of this species and was tempted to post her home hahaha. Good luck with the new species, looks like you may need it!
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Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 16, 2019 20:17:29 GMT
Cool, are ants from Australia allowed to be exported? I wanted to keep Rhytidoponera metallica but impossible to get and not sure if its legal to even have them. I went to Australia and found a queen of this species and was tempted to post her home hahaha. Good luck with the new species, looks like you may need it! It's legal. Ant Keeping Depot assured me they're licensed to sell to the UK, but there are a few species (Like Polyrhachis hookeri, which I wanted!) that they're not allowed to export because they can't be collected from just anywhere. Here's the email: Last time I checked they did have R. metallica queens for sale but like the R. aspersa, it's £135 for a single queen with brood.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 23, 2019 12:45:37 GMT
They have arrived today! And they also came with a permit signed by Ant Deeping Depot and a Minister essentially saying I can keep them, jeoff82 . Without further ado, here are the new sheilas. There's a big queen (I'd say she's as big as a Messor barbarus queen), 20 workers and about six small larvae hidden in the cotton. They're calm but I'll still give them time to settle before trying to feed them. They've had a very long journey.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 23, 2019 18:32:26 GMT
Here's a few more photos: Turns out that the larva count is more like 10 since more were hidden in the cotton. The advice about the sugar was correct! I put in some dry sugar crystals and the workers gathered them up and started chewing on them. They're also taking their first cricket.
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Post by jeoff82 on Apr 23, 2019 20:30:17 GMT
Nice they look good. How you going to keep the temperature relatively high? Good luck with them!
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Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 23, 2019 21:30:11 GMT
Nice they look good. How you going to keep the temperature relatively high? Good luck with them! I've got a heat mat. I believe they like temperatures of around 25C.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Apr 23, 2019 21:54:31 GMT
I do love the colour of the queen, like a Messor with the colour of Myrmica, but with longer legs. Glad to see that they arrived safely coming all the way from Australia.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 25, 2019 15:23:38 GMT
The colony has almost finished eating their first cricket. Here you can see the hungry larvae stretching their heads out to eat the remains. No sign of eggs yet but hopefully the queen will surprise me soon enough.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 30, 2019 15:34:06 GMT
Here's the Aphaenogaster munching on another cricket. There's still no new eggs but the larvae are definitely getting bigger. I've been told that this colony might grow less active towards Summer, since the seasons in Australia are reversed and our Summer is their Winter. While the cricket was pulled over to the brood, the queen went to the other side.
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 9, 2019 19:44:57 GMT
Today I'm happy to report that the queen has laid her first three eggs since I've had this colony.
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 26, 2019 16:23:58 GMT
I can't yet get a good photo of the eggs but there's about ten of them now. Two of the larvae have turned an opaque white, meaning they're getting ready to pupate.
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 30, 2019 1:46:43 GMT
The two larvae I mentioned in the last entry have now become pupae!
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 28, 2019 14:58:25 GMT
The Australian girls are still doing quite well! They currently have a small egg pile and several larvae and pupae. They still eat anything given to them and dragged this mealworm over to the queen and brood without hesitation. I'm thinking about letting them loose in a soil nest soon, perhaps even today. They're supposed to be great diggers and I'm interested to see what they'll do.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 28, 2019 16:26:27 GMT
I prepared one of the Ikea storage containers I bought for this colony, filling it halfway with a mixture of sand and lawn topsoil. Without further ado, I let them out! They're very inquisitive and it didn't take them long to find the small pile of sugar I put out for them. The queen received a grain of sugar: In the initial confusion a callow emerged from the test tube holding a few eggs. I'll update again when they start digging or something else interesting happens.
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