First ever ant colony (Lasius niger)

[crockatt]

There is now a large pile of larvae in the brood, and more foraging, guess there are many hungry mouths to feed now. See the queen quite often though she has moved further down the nest , into one of the new chambers, see looks well and is quite active.

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[crockatt]

All going well, there is a good mixture of eggs, larvae and cocoons, I have dampened the soil, I must remember to keep an eye on this, as I am prone to forget and though not a huge problem now, when it starts to get warmer, I do not want my colony suffering thru my forgetfullness. Have given them a feast today, to see what they go for so they have, mealworm, mackeral, pear and some chocolate, I will wait and see what they go for.

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[crockatt]

The colony continue to feed well and tend the brood. There is always a large pile eggs and the cocoons are darkening and the larvae are growing well.

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[crockatt]

There is plenty brood in the nest, the most foragers I have seen is 5, but that is an increase on last year when it was only 1 or 2, it has been a lovely sunny day, so I decided to put the nest outside for a while, its quite shaded and cool in the room and thought they would like some fresh air and sun, have now taken them in to find they have moved all the cocoons from the chamber and covered the front with soil, so now I cannot see anything, guess it was too bright, and that was them in a shaded bit of the garden.

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[crockatt]

These girls would normally take protein about once every 3 days, but all of a sudden they are taking everything I give them, it is quickly covered in workers and taken up to the nest, had a look at the brood chambers and there is at least 30 big larvae and 20 cocoons, not sure about eggs as I cannot see them, but there has also been lots of digging going on and I imagine the eggs are hidden out of my view as is the queen at the moment.

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[crockatt]

Normally I would kill any spiders etc that I feed to this colony, but tonight I caught a small crane fly? (we call them daddylong legs) and I put it in live to see what would happen, as the girls are taking huge amounts of protien into the nest just now, and as I speak the fly is being taken down by a lone worker, I expected it to be swamped, but as usual, they have surprised me.

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[crockatt]

My colony continue to do well, still taking all food that is given, there is a large amount of big larvae in the nest and about 30 cocoons were sitting ontop of the nest this morning, I catch a glimpse off the queen now and again, usually running into the nearest hidden chamber, and am spotting eggs getting carried about, think they are being kept out of view.

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[crockatt]

The girls have taken to keeping the cocoons above ground, as for the rest I cannot see as they have covered the front glass totally now , here is a pic of the cocoons

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[crockatt]

My colony have been doing a lot better than I thought having thought that the cocoons being kept above ground were all the cocoons, but tonight I decided to check the back of the nest, as the front has been totally covered, and found another 2 chambers stuffed with cocoons, I think there must be at least 100 cocoons maybe more, and tunnel making is beginning to spread out, it looks like my tiny colony of around 15 workers in february is growing nicely and will soon be a lot bigger, protien is still being taken everyday, so there is larvae being fed, but cannot see them or any eggs, I still see the queen going between chambers, looking fit and healthy

[crockatt]

The colony are taking any food given to them at the moment, I have had to go out and buy crickets to keep them fed !!! I also found a huge egg pile tonight and a callow ant beginning to darken, I cannot believe how much this colony is going to grow by the end of the summer.

[crockatt]

To look at this nest from the front, you would be forgiven for thinking "not much going on there" with the exception of a pile of cocoons which are brought above ground every morning, there is nothing to see, until I turn the nest round and lift the acetate. There are lots of ants running round tunnels, moving brood out of sight, the queen is normally moving around the chambers, the pile of eggs now are hatched and foraging continues day and night. I have no idea how many ants there are now, but there is a lot more than the 10-15 I started with when they came out of hibernation.

[crockatt]

There is a constant pile of cocoons in the front of the nest, but at the back there is lots going on, the tunnels are getting larger and spreading out, there are more cocoons and the large pile of eggs/larvae and some smaller clumps of eggs and I noticed newly laid ones today, but there is a lack of bigger larvae, they are either hidden away or the queen is having period of laying larger clumps of eggs, and the brood is inbetween stages at the moment (hope that makes sense) . Foraging continues but not with as much vigour as before, which also makes me wonder if there isnt quite as many mouths to feed just now, but once the huge pile of eggs/instar larvae mature, I'm sure it will pick up again.

[crockatt]

Caught a blue bottle today, first time I have given my ants one, and could not believe the amount of ants that came out to it, I counted at least 20 do not know if this was because they were trying to get it up the tube but the head was too big!!! But will definately try and get more for them, has been the firm favourite so far.

[Wood~Ant]

Jun 13, 2013 20:15:40 GMT crockatt said:

Caught a blue bottle today, first time I have given my ants one, and could not believe the amount of ants that came out to it, I counted at least 20 do not know if this was because they were trying to get it up the tube but the head was too big!!! But will definately try and get more for them, has been the firm favourite so far.

Try tearing the wings off large flies as it helps the ants to pull the dead insects up the tube without getting them stuck, as the flies wings tend to spread out making the whole insect a harder job to bring home into the nest up a length of tubing. 

[Jenny]

They do love bluebottles! When I swat flies which is on a daily basis at the moment, I catch a selection of flies, small black ones, greenbottles for some  ants and bluebottles for the big species. I am sure like chocolate is to us, they get to know the difference. Pheds love the green bottles, but with the bluebottles like Wood says, the wings splay out in the airline like the teeth on a cavity wall plug, stopping it from being dragged into the nest   Another reason too, is if you don't swat hard enough, they are great at coming round again and start charging around a foraging pot. Some species like our Velox love the hunt, but not really fair on the hunted but thats nature.