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Post by TenebrousNova on Nov 1, 2012 23:51:10 GMT
There's about thirty stragglers in the old container, which I will try and move tomorrow morning. The queen and most of the colony has dug into the soil and out of sight, although the workers are still very aggressive at the moment. The big red major sustained a gaster injury when I accidentally caught her under the lid (Workers were attempting to escape at the time) but despite what I thought would be a fatal injury, she seems to be alive and active still. I was concerned when smaller workers were chasing her and grabbing her back legs, but they seem to be treating her normally now. Time will tell. She frequently tried advancing up the sides with jaws wide open in an impressive display. She is not a super-major, but she's certainly close to that size. I estimate that there's at least 150 workers. I was shocked when I realized how big the colony actually is! Things have gone a little pear shaped in places, but I'm glad that the move has mostly been taken care of. This container is much less flimsy than the old one, despite being a bit smaller.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Nov 2, 2012 8:25:42 GMT
It's all done, I managed to pick up each stray worker in quick succession and put them in. The red major returned to try and deter me, she's still alive and well. ;D
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Post by TenebrousNova on Nov 5, 2012 15:50:05 GMT
Everything is back to normal now. There's a big brood/granary chamber at the bottom (Stocked with several seeds), and the queen is usually visible within it. The colony has accepted all offered food so far, including a pair of small brown crickets. One of them is being eaten in the chamber right now. Regrettably, the red major died. The surface of the container resembles, in Wood's words, "A lunar landscape" with the massive piles of excavated soil. ;D
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Post by TenebrousNova on Nov 8, 2012 10:03:15 GMT
Got a semi-decent picture of the brood pile and some of the seeds. This morning I've seen a major eclosing from the pupa stage, but after a few seconds I put them back. Accidents happen during this process such as the new worker being abandoned partway through, so I'll leave them to it. The main chamber now encompasses about half of the space at the bottom of the container, and it's good to see Queen Autumn walking around her new domain. She hasn't been laying any eggs, but it's only a matter of time what with how much I've fed them this week. I'm sure that she'll be laying eggs like mad come Spring. There have been a few dead workers taken to the surface, but this is to be expected because of their move. It could have gone a lot worse.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Nov 25, 2012 16:01:47 GMT
The central chamber has branched out into similar chambers along the bottom. The queen is still active, as I can see her moving when I check. There's not much brood at the moment, but there's still a lot of workers. One thing of concern to me is a "garbage chamber" that contains a small number of germinating seeds. I hope that they won't go mouldy or otherwise pose a health risk to the colony. I have now sunk a milk bottle cap into the soil of the surface and filled it with some seeds to encourage foraging. The colony is quite settled now from the turmoil of their move, and the majors no longer emerge onto the surface. Overall aggression from the workers is very low- they have gone back to being shy again.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Dec 7, 2012 11:28:46 GMT
Upon checking the colony this week, I discovered that their lid filled with seeds has been filled with dug-up soil. ;D There's a small ball of newborn larvae in the nest, although I was unaware of any eggs in there in the first place. The brood pile is very small right now, as most of the pupae have eclosed.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Dec 16, 2012 12:49:43 GMT
There's still some plump larvae in the nest at the moment, but I can't see any eggs or pupae. The queen was actively moving through the nest when I looked, surrounded as usual by a tempest of protective workers. ;D
I have just removed the germinating seeds that they managed to get all over the surface, and given them some more food. Hopefully they'll start tucking in soon.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Feb 1, 2013 14:18:36 GMT
There's only about fifteen larvae at the moment, but the number will soon pick up. The queen has laid a small pile of eggs, and to encourage this I am once again feeding the colony regularly. The worker population is still good, less than ten workers have died over the winter and I suspect it might have been because of old age. By the summer, I expect the population to be steadily increasing once more if everything goes well.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 4, 2013 12:54:40 GMT
There are no pupae yet, but the larvae are definitely growing. Feeding has been increased to once every two days, and I was very surprised just now to find a pile of about forty eggs. No workers seem to have died since my last update, and foraging is getting a little more frequent. I voluntarily helped out in my college's animal unit during half term and took home a sample of the seed mixture given to the harvest mice- and it seems to be a hit with the Messors.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 28, 2013 9:30:45 GMT
I wish that I could take a photo of the bottom of the nest, because it's starting to look much more active than it was. There's two huge granary chambers that are pretty much crammed with seeds, and I can see workers making their "ant bread" in there. I can also see workers carrying up the seeds that are going moldy or germinating, which they deposit on their rubbish heap. (This happens more frequently than I thought it would, perhaps the soil around the granaries is a bit too damp?) There's still no pupae, but the amount of larvae in the nest has nearly tripled, and the queen is always visible when I check up on them. On top of that, I got a very nice surprise this morning when I saw two large clumps of new eggs being carried around.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Apr 28, 2013 10:46:13 GMT
Ask your dad or a friend to hold up the set up above their head while you take a few photos. That way you can concentrate on the ants and not trying to do 2 things at once. I usually hold up our tanks for Jen to take snaps of underground chambers, and nice to hear that Queen Autumn is laying.
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 3, 2013 10:28:31 GMT
The first pupa of the year has formed today, a minor. Hopefully the other larvae will soon follow suit. There's a few more eggs, so I'm upping the feeding schedule a bit. Several workers have died off over time, but these were probably first generation workers from last year. With any luck, the colony will soon increase in numbers. I'm hoping that the first super-major will be born at some point this summer, since this colony has exceeded all of my expectations and survived for nearly a year.
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 8, 2013 6:56:14 GMT
Now about eight larvae have become pupae. They don't seem to want any insects at the moment, but they are still readily storing new seeds in their granaries. There are several majors in the nest, but they appear to stay inside for some reason, I have yet to see them go foraging. The Messors do attempt to get out sometimes, but they do it in a calm and stealthy way rather than en masse in frenzied charges like my Lasius niger. They seem perfectly content to climb onto my finger and be returned to their nest. Maybe when the colony gets larger, this docile attitude will change.
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 17, 2013 10:27:16 GMT
Dead workers were once a rare sight for the colony, but now I'm seeing several every week, and there's definitely not as many workers in the nest as there once was. I'm hoping that these workers merely died of old age, since most of them were born between June and October. On the brighter side, there's now more than twenty pupae and plenty of larvae poised to follow suit, so it's only a matter of time before the worker count goes up again. And from what I can see, the queen is still healthy and laying eggs.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 11, 2013 10:06:52 GMT
Currently the brood pile mainly consists of many pupae in varying shades of brown. There's also plenty of larvae, one of which looks like a major. I can also see a small bundle of eggs being carried around. The queen is still plainly visible, and seems to be content.
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