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Post by crockatt on Mar 25, 2013 22:48:45 GMT
The queen is looking good and there is a nice big pile if larvae in different stages of developement, and 2 or 3 looking close to turning to cocoons, the queen has still sealed herself off from the end I was feeding her from, and as expected the food I cannot get out has turned mouldy with white fillaments spreading out from it.
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Post by crockatt on Mar 29, 2013 15:52:14 GMT
I made the hard decision to move the queen and brood into a converted worm world, the nest she was in was covered in mould as I couldn't get the left over food out, the move went well , with no losses and this will most definitely be her last move, I checked after a couple of days and all is well and she has her first cocoon, and I can now get food and liquid to her easily and remove the left overs.
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Post by crockatt on Apr 3, 2013 19:53:54 GMT
here is a quick pic of my queens small brood, you can see the cocoon just to the bottom right of the picture, sorry about quality , I need to work on keeping my hand still while holding the camera. Attachments:
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Post by crockatt on Apr 6, 2013 19:13:26 GMT
Things seem to be going along fine at the moment, managed to catch a nice spider today so hopefully this will keep the brood fed till I return in about a week
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Post by crockatt on Apr 12, 2013 18:21:20 GMT
My queen has had total peace for about a week now, and a quick check and my cocoon is still there but beginning to darken, so am getting excited for a new arrival soon, it will be good to see the queen with some help, also there are some very large larvae, which look close to becoming cocoons and also some newly laid eggs.
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Post by crockatt on Apr 16, 2013 11:11:34 GMT
Still no callow yet, but hope has begun laying eggs again and think there is also a bare pupa in the brood pile as well, she is also more relaxed now when I am replacing food etc, here are a couple of pics, you can just see the bare pupa at the front on the second pic. Sent from my GT-I8150 using proboards Attachments:
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Post by crockatt on Apr 16, 2013 11:12:26 GMT
Sorry thats the front of the first pic .
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Post by crockatt on Apr 22, 2013 10:50:00 GMT
The queen is much more calm now, she remains with her brood when I remove the lid and doesnt run around trying to move her brood as she used too. There is now 3 cocoons I think, a couple of larvae and some eggs, I am getting very impatient for my first cocoon to hatch, it really shouldnt be much longer, I so want the queen to finally have a worker after being on her own for so long, but will just have to wait Sent from my GT-I8150 using proboards
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Post by crockatt on Apr 27, 2013 21:01:20 GMT
The farm is in a position now that I am able to have a quick look at the queen and brood with very little disturbance, had had a look this morning and all was well, so just had another quick peek and nearly had a heart attack as there was no brood any where:'( , then I noticed I couldn't even see the queen !!! She has only gone and decided its time to dig a chamber, right underneath the wad of cotton wool with honey water on it, so now its nearly impossible to see the brood and will have to be careful removing the cotton wool so as not to collapse the chamber. The brood pile remains small with 3 cocoons, I think she had eaten the naked pupa, there is also some larvae, but although I am feeding her, I think she may be eating eggs, etc now and again.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Apr 28, 2013 7:58:32 GMT
If you find any local nests of this species, in a spot where they are nesting under stones for example, you should be able to collect a small amount of wild nest brood during May and give her a boost. The best way to do this is to only collect cocooned pupae, and then they will give you adult workers much sooner. Take about 12 or so, or you could take a few more maybe if you find more than 1 large colony and collect say 7 or 8 from more nests.
Old quarries are great places to find this ant, or under stones from walls which have fallen off and catch the sun. Open heathland is good, but not as easy to locate nests; and under rocks or stones you will find the ants bring their brood up to the surface for a warm up during sunny days.
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Post by crockatt on Apr 28, 2013 8:57:40 GMT
Thanks wood, I will keep an eye out, but if I find a nest I think I will get you guys to make sure they are the right type first, as of this morning she has totally sealed up the entrance, I want to dampen the top of the soil as its quite dry and have not managed to spray it, with the queen sitting on top, but am worried that if I spray the dry soil it will collapse ontop of the chamber . I have been soaking it from the bottom, by placing the set up in a basin of water. Sent from my GT-I8150 using proboards
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Post by crockatt on Apr 28, 2013 16:06:14 GMT
Well as I thought when I took the cotton wool out (I was due to do this today) there was a chamber underneath and some soil collapsed, I do not think it was too bad, and seen the queen was ok, so I decided to take the chance and moisten the soil, then I took a small flat stone and used it to roof the chamber making sure there was a little hole left for the queen to exit, so thats it unless I remove the stone I will not know what is happening Sent from my GT-I8150 using proboards
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Post by crockatt on Apr 30, 2013 17:58:06 GMT
The queen has covered up the hole I left, but had made another, but now that is covered also, so I will continue to leave food etc, but other than that, I have no idea what is going on Sent from my GT-I8150 using proboards
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Post by crockatt on May 7, 2013 17:23:30 GMT
I have seen nothing of this queen for a week now, since she dug a chamber and closed it off, I have stopped placing food etc into the nest and am now putting it into the foraging area, I can only hope all is well and will keep an eye out to see if any workers come out, although if she is fully claustral, I suspect I may be in for a long wait.
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Post by crockatt on May 15, 2013 17:53:27 GMT
Well I have not seen the queen or any brood since the queen dug a chamber and moved all into it, I still continue to leave food etc, I turned the nest round today and noticed what looks like tunnels leading from the chamber, but at most there can only be 3 workers, but think more likely to only be 1, and I donot know if this amount of workers would spend time digging tunnels ?! I would of thought they would spend their time looking after what brood there maybe, if they are digging it must be getting done at night as well as foraging, so I will do some late night viewing to see if I can see anything going on:-/ confused !!!!
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