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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 29, 2012 8:18:45 GMT
The nest is still being expanded, and I suspect it's because of the sheer amount of seeds that they're trying to cram in their living space. ;D They have also scraped some of the soil off the side of the container so that I have a limited view into the nest. Last night they put their brood right against it. It will be nice if they keep or expand this 'window', it's good to see the workers running past it. They have also widened the nest entrance quite a bit, and foraging activity has increased a little.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 30, 2012 20:14:51 GMT
Today there has been a constant stream of workers hauling clumps of soil out of the nest and depositing it outside. There is now a tall mound around the entrance. The aforementioned 'window' into the main chamber seems to have been covered, however. I saw the queen this morning for a few seconds before she went deeper into the nest, and also a bunch of eggs. Good to see that the crickets I've been giving them are paying off. My only regret is that I have no way of accurately knowing the precise worker/brood populations, although to hazard a guess there must be at least thirty workers by now.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Sept 2, 2012 15:38:12 GMT
I was very surprised just now to glimpse a very large larva that has outgrown the media size. I couldn't see much of it and the workers were quick to move it out of sight, but I think it's either a very big media or a first major. Looks like I'm not going to know for sure until it pupates and perhaps even until it becomes an adult. I will keep an eye on it.
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Post by Smudge on Sept 2, 2012 16:27:24 GMT
Yeh I had this trouble too I had a big pupae that was bigger than the Medias and I thought it was a major but had no red head. The only way I came to that conclusion was a larvae that I had that was almost round first of all and when it pupated it was much larger than the medias. Again with a head that looked bigger than the queens. But it cannot be a super-major as the colony is way too young at only 8 months old.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Sept 3, 2012 9:03:47 GMT
I have seen the larva in it's entirety this morning, and it's almost certainly a major. It would have been the perfect opportunity to take a photo as well, so I asked if anyone could hold a magnifying glass in front on the camera while I held the container up- but noooooooo. Hopefully I'll have another opportunity at some other point. Assuming she's a major, I hope that she will have a red head.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Sept 4, 2012 9:09:08 GMT
Here is the best picture I could get of the brood without dropping the container: The larva at the bottom is the suspected major.
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Post by Smudge on Sept 4, 2012 9:19:43 GMT
Ti cannot quite see if its the head or abdoman but I dare say that is a major from the sheer size and maybe one more above it at the top in larvel form
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Post by TenebrousNova on Sept 4, 2012 9:23:40 GMT
Ti cannot quite see if its the head or abdoman but I dare say that is a major from the sheer size and maybe one more above it at the top in larvel form That's the back end. Thanks for confirming my suspicions, I'll keep an eye on the top larva too. I assumed that was going to be a big media but it might continue to grow.
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Post by IceWhyte on Sept 4, 2012 10:59:29 GMT
That is odd that the pupae is kept with the larvae. My Messor colony has them well seperated to avoid the larvae munching away on the pupae.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Sept 4, 2012 11:49:19 GMT
That is odd that the pupae is kept with the larvae. My Messor colony has them well seperated to avoid the larvae munching away on the pupae. They've always been kept in the same pile as far as I can tell, and they did when they lived in a test tube. Maybe this behaviour will change when the colony is bigger.
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Post by Smudge on Sept 4, 2012 12:15:39 GMT
Sometimes when I check mine the larva are kept seperatly to the pupae other times they arent
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Post by TenebrousNova on Sept 6, 2012 10:57:54 GMT
They have been digging quite a lot at the moment. I can't see the chambers at the bottom, because they have placed dirt over the floors.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Sept 9, 2012 11:13:38 GMT
This colony seems to be taking food in greater quantities, so I can only assume that there's plenty of larvae to feed at the moment. I cannot see what's going on in the nest, so until they begin to expose the chambers against the sides, I will have to judge the colony by the amount of food taken and the amount of foragers- and on average there's at least six workers looking for food. There's still signs of digging going on, and it's almost certainly for seed storage- they never leave the seed lid.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Sept 9, 2012 11:41:36 GMT
You will find that 75 to 80% of the staple diet of these girls is made up from seeds, and the rest tends to be dead insects of all kinds and spiders.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Sept 22, 2012 12:13:45 GMT
I thought I must be seeing things, but there was what I believe to be a major on the surface earlier. She's definitely the biggest worker I've seen yet. She was quite skittish and went in soon after I took this. Like her mother, she has a red head. Comparison with minor worker: She seems to be hard at work with carrying the seeds in.
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