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Post by kalistes on May 14, 2011 4:35:12 GMT
I bought this colony (or should I say these three colonies) off E-bay in early february. Each was a two queen colony with around 40 workers (great price too at just £5 a colony!) Since they were all from the same supplier (who I suspect got them out of his garden) I decided to take a chance and see if I could merge them together. First, I added one colony to their new home (a ytong nest). Once they had settled a little, I added a single worker from one of the other colonies... As I'd hoped, there was no reaction at all from the residents, so I added the others. The most worrying moment was when I added the queens! The resident workers treated them with very little dignity (in fact I thought they were going to kill them!). A single worker grabbed of of the queens by the head, then dragged her roughly into the nest. A similar fate befell the second queen. However, once within the nest they pretty much left them alone. I guess in the wild they have to collect stray/new queens quickly before they are lost (with them being so valuable to the colony). The result of this is was a colony of six queens and around 120 workers. Since I've had them though, this has nearly doubled! The queens have been thriving on their diet of crickets, earthworms (  ) and fresh fruit. The number of eggs and brood has also rocketed since I upped the temperature a little a month or two back. The most exciting moment for me was a few weeks back when I saw two new alates! this is the first time one of my colonies has produced them ;D My problem with the colony now is that it is starting to outgrow the nest, with most of the chambers becoming extremely crowded. I may eventually move them to a soil nest, giving them more room to expand. |
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Post by kalistes on May 15, 2011 4:54:41 GMT
A steady stream of cricket body parts has been removed from the nest this morning. The rubras (like the pallidulas) ate a large number of crickets yesterday. I've upped their feeding to coincide with a slight temperature rise, to simulate the spring weather outside.
All six queens seem to be in good health, and both male alates are doing fine.
I'm still looking into a design for a new nest for these guys. I can either go for a full soil nest using my "cavern" system of slate caves, or try and sort out a larger nest similar to the one they are in now (artificial chambers covered with a sheet of glass).
I must admit, I prefer to have them in the cavern style set-up, since it means the queens are left undisturbed and therefore likely to lay more eggs. On the other hand, I do enjoy seeing everything that's going on in the nest... I wouldn't have even known about the alates in a soil set-up.
I would quite like to have a go making my own ytong nest (since I'm quite an artistic person and would love to carve out all those little chambers and tunnels) but I'm not sure where to actually get ytong from. Something to look into.
Two workers have died in the last 48 hours. These are the first dead workers I've seen, and I think they may have been injured by a locust that I put in the other day (which turned out to be far less dead than I thought!). The rubras battled it for a while, but seeing them struggling, I stepped in and disposed of the locust for them.
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Post by kalistes on May 18, 2011 4:01:37 GMT
This colony is doing really well! ;D mountains of eggs and brood, healthy looking queens and workers and two handsome male alates. They still take any cricket I put in there, and are on a constant look-out for food. All is well ;D
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Post by kalistes on May 22, 2011 4:04:09 GMT
It's getting to that wonderful time of year when there are insects everywhere... and the rubras are loving it! Bluebottles, green bottles, grasshoppers, and the occassional beetle, all are fair game for these girls. These are probably still my favourite ants (I must admit, I do like anything native to my own country ;D), and certainly are doing extremely well in captivity.
I will have to see if my F. sanguinea do as well for me. They should arrive in the next week or so, and are one of the species that first got me interested in ants...way back in the 80's, after reading an article about them in National Geographic!
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Post by kalistes on May 25, 2011 5:02:03 GMT
It took them two days, but the colony has pretty much devoured a large locust that I put in the other day (they've left an empty shell, having eaten it from the inside out!). After seeing the pictures of Jen and Woods Myrmicas I'm gonna have to give them a dab of honey today ;D
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Post by kalistes on May 27, 2011 17:07:43 GMT
I put a squashed locust in the rubra feeding area a few minutes ago. I turned my back to check on my new sanguinea colony, and when I looked back the locust had vanished under a swarm of hungry red ants! I can't believe how much this colony can eat! they always seem hungry despite the mass of crickets, locusts, worms, moths (and any other insect I can find) that go into their enclosure.
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Post by kalistes on Jun 3, 2011 4:50:59 GMT
The colony ate a waxworm and two crickets yesterday. I'm going to move them to a "LoveAnts" nest next month I think (after payday!) since they have outgrown the Ytong nest that they are currently in (and it will be awkward to try and expand it or add a seperate feeding area). I will use their current nest for another species such as L. niger (or maybe even a second rubra colony)
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Post by kalistes on Jun 9, 2011 4:23:30 GMT
There has been a population explosion in the rubra colony! most of the pupae in one of my earlier photos have hatched and there are mountains of eggs now too. A new house is definitely on the cards but I still haven't decided between a Ytong nest or a bigger soil nest  |
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Post by kalistes on Jun 14, 2011 9:44:02 GMT
I had a look inside the colony chambers today and there is no sign of the two male alates I had a thorough look (it's pretty crowded in this nest with this years population explosion, but they are nowhere to be seen. I've not seen them flying around the room (though it's a possibility). More likely they were simply eaten by their sisters.
This colony continues to thrive, and will eat whatever I put in there. I estimate a good 300 or so individuals now (there were under 150 earlier this year) and masses of eggs and larvae.
I have a soil nest in mind for them now (something a decent size with a nice foraging area)
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Post by kalistes on Jun 23, 2011 11:46:50 GMT
This colony has now been moved to a spacious soil nest with pre-built slate chambers (which the ants can modify with soil to suit heir needs). They were pretty easy to move, the old nest fitted nicely atop the new one and I simply removed the cooking oil barrier. Once a few scouts has scoped out the new site they began moving everyone over, in a few hours the old nest was deserted ;D I will miss being able to view the egg chambers and watch the queens, but this is a far more suitable enviroment for this rapidly growing colony  |
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