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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 20, 2012 8:18:58 GMT
A fourth pupa has formed. Judging by the size of the larvae entering this phase, there will be another two or three pupae in the days to come.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 23, 2012 9:20:39 GMT
The dark pupa should eclose during the weekend. I'm pleased with how this colony is coming along. They have over thirty seeds in their nest.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 24, 2012 9:41:31 GMT
There appears to be some more eggs. One of the larvae also seems to be at the size of a minor pupa, but has that swell to it which means it still has some growing to do. The seed supply is almost depleted, because they have moved virtually all of it to their nest.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 25, 2012 8:49:11 GMT
There is a fifth pupa. The newest worker is not yet with us, although the time of eclosion is at hand. She's probably going to arrive this afternoon or in the evening. There was about nine workers out earlier. It's a good sight. During the first months, only about two workers would venture out at a time.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 26, 2012 21:53:13 GMT
It is a bit later than I expected, but there is now a pale callow sitting among her dark siblings. She is already on her feet, so I imagine that she eclosed a few hours ago. The queen is always on the move, bustling around the brood chamber. I also have reason to believe that she has been laying a few more eggs.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 28, 2012 18:27:45 GMT
Some quite bad news for this entry. I earlier gave them a housefly, and they seemed quite interested- drinking the fly's internal fluids and even bringing it to the edge of the nest. I just looked to find a team of three attempting to remove the fly from the nest. As they did so, they caught the fly on a piece of soil and resulted in a small cave-in. Fortunately, no workers or brood appear to be hurt and the queen is still fine, although a bit surprised to find a piece of her roof next to her. I tried to remove the fly myself, but workers attack the stick I used (Which has a tiny bit of honey on the end to try and stick onto it). I think it would be best to leave them be, they can probably sort it all out by tomorrow morning. Prior to this, I saw at least ten workers foraging- the most yet. The brood chamber is quite exposed at the moment.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 6, 2012 8:19:51 GMT
Strange activity in this colony this morning- to start off with, Queen Lambda was going walkabout. She was quite far from the nest entrance and didn't appear to have any workers with her. She moved slowly and calmly, even climbing up my finger when I offered. I guided her back to the nest, where I found that there was lots of loose soil strewn around the floor of the brood chamber- the brood was moved out of the way. It looks as though the queen herself caused them, as she began to cling to the ceiling and accidentally dislodged another small piece as well. I only moistened the soil a few days ago, so it looks like I'll have to do it again. I'm more concerned about the queen's sluggishness however, which I think might be caused by coldness.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 6, 2012 10:32:52 GMT
After finding the queen lying on her back outside the nest just now, I have had to resort to a drastic measure- I moved the colony in order to keep a close eye on them. The queen seems to be on her feet again, but I'll be spending the weekend at my nan's starting from today. I hope I don't come home to catastrophe. The strange thing is the calmness of the colony- you would think they'd lived there all their lives. I managed to move the entire brood without damaging it. This may have been a bad decision, but I was convinced that the queen and probably the rest of the colony would perish if they stayed. We will see.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Apr 6, 2012 13:42:38 GMT
Looking at the bits of wood chip from the compost you've been using as nesting material, I believe you are using the wrong kind of medium altogether. You need to use a proper soil based medium such as John Innes No. 2 or 3, which contains a high loam mix with a bit of sharp sand added. This holds together very well when moist, but dries out just enough to keep humidity low enough for Messor species.
Bark and wood chips can get very mouldy when damp, or even encourage the growth of fungi which is not good for brood. To be honest you could even resort to good old garden soil as long as you bake it for about 30 minutes in a hot oven before use, as apart from getting worms from my own soil, a good loam soil works well for my own Messor barbs.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 12, 2012 10:16:54 GMT
I regret to say that Queen Lambda is no longer with us. For the last few days she's been twitching on her back and my attempts to correct her didn't help. I'm going to try and transfer her brood to Queen Gamma, who is in the founding stage. That concludes this very large journal.
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Post by Welsh Ant on Apr 12, 2012 11:16:13 GMT
Sorry to hear that
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Post by UKantz on Apr 12, 2012 11:20:23 GMT
Such a disappointment to such a large journal as well Let's just hope the brood you transferred to the other queen does well and isn't eaten, good luck with queen 2
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Post by bobdol on Apr 12, 2012 15:28:55 GMT
I cannot believe this queen has died as this colony seemed to be doing so well. I hope you have better luck with the new queen!
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Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 12, 2012 15:55:56 GMT
I can't believe it myself. She was walking around outside the nest, then refused to get up on her feet. The worst deaths are the ones where you have no idea what caused it. If only workers were easily adoptable. They seem wasted and without purpose, and I don't want to risk introducing them in a chilled state to the other queen.
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Post by UKantz on Apr 12, 2012 16:04:13 GMT
I have to disagree with not knowing what caused a queens death, I believe the worse deaths are when it's you own fault though not knowing would follow close behind... I would alway give her the brood, but I would let the workers die of natural causes as its too risky let's hope queen 2 does better. However when I last read she wasnt doing well how is she doing now?
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