-UKantz- Manica Rubida

[UKantz]

I ordered a small colony of Mandica Rubida  (queen and 1-4 workers) from Queen ant shop on Monday and am waiting for their arrival, I intend to keep them in the test tube for a while untill I sort out a formicarium for them.
I hope they  do well as it will be my first time keeping this species, though I have kept Mymica species many times before so fingers crossed I can do the best I can for them. The queen is quite large and is usually 9-12mm long with the workers being on average 5-10mm long.

[Zarbi]

Going from other posts, this ant species like their soil a bit on the wet side. Good luck when you get them. 

[UKantz]

Thanks for the tip, they do like it quite humid and are active hunters so will hopefully be very interesting to watch.

[Wood~Ant]

As you probably know from my own ant journals, I have been keeping 2 colonies of this species since last year. They haven't stung me yet, but can be aggressive with a nasty sting like that of a common wasp. Feed them well and keep the soil moist at all times, as they like their nest nice and damp. 

They are a lovely colour of ruby red, and a nice species to keep due to their size being fairly large. 

[UKantz]

It's almost been 1 week since ordering my colony and am a little worried, as most members had seemed to have gotten their colonies next day after ordering, if not the day after...

[Wood~Ant]

Easter might have delayed posting, or perhaps James is away on holiday. Drop him an email as he is a nice helpful guy, and it won't do any harm to ask him why the ants are late arriving. 

[UKantz]

Well at the grand time of half five they finally arrived.

1 Queen, 3 workers with 3 pupae and 2 large larvae, not realy sure if I should move them into their adapted Worm World set up or keep them in the test tube longer...

[UKantz]

Tried offering them a fruit fly, 1 worker stung it but just put it in the waste area of the test tube discarding it, the honey water however was a different story as all workers and the queen took a nice long drink.  

[UKantz]

This morning I placed the test tube into their nest and removed the cotton bud. I returned about a hour later to find the workers pileing in as much of the soil as possible into the test tube, they seem rather reluctant to leave though that doesn't bother me.  

[antattack]

I've had that happen with several species I've kept, blocking up the test tube with substrate. they must just feel safer that way, and will move out when ready.
good luck with your colony UKantz

[UKantz]

Thanks Antattack,

The colony continues to thrive, I dampen the soil down every 2-3 days along with feeding them honey water and spiders. One thing I have noticed is that they don't seem very keen on fruit flies, not realy sure why.

The 3 workers are still piling in soil into the test tube and at a quick glance this morning noticed that the 3 pupae were beginning to darken and that the larvae were turning all white (a sign that they were beginning to pupate)

[UKantz]

The 3 workers have begun tunnelling randomly around the formicarium but still take all the remaining soil back to the test tube, inside the test tube are the pupae, a single larvae and some newly laid eggs (there is about 7)

Realy would like to take some pictures, but I can't get close enough; these workers are almost always foraging and are extremly aggressive, when I remove the lid I have to be quite quick as the 3 sisters come to meet the threat head on.

[UKantz]

Sadly the population has been brought down to 2 workers now, as 1 of the workers was found dead next to the dead spider and honey water I had left for them.

However the 3 pupae are beginning to turn orange/red and the larvae is starting to pupate, there is also a second smaller pile of eggs.

[UKantz]

The worker count has been brought back upto 3 as there was a new worker residing in the queens chamber this morning Less than 24 hours after emerging, she already has the adult worker colouration.

[UKantz]

All the pupae have eclosed now, but sadly 1 worker didn't make it bringing the worker population up to 5. The larvae has now pupated and there is a cluster of around 10-15 eggs.