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Post by Jonzii on Jun 22, 2013 15:17:47 GMT
She definitely has some ruby red colour on her head and gaster, and some of the workers are tinted a bit too. Looking at the gasters of a couple of the workers they are feeding well, so those larvae won't go short of food; and good to see the queen is laying. What set up will they eventually move into when they decide to leave the test tube? The pictures don't really show how red they really are, the red is much more obvious with the naked eye, I really love the colour of them. They are in the set up already, the one I made using aerated concrete. I will leave it to them if they want to move into the nest I made, they regularly explore it but haven't moved in. If they don't like it and don't make the move, I'll look at alternatives, but they will be fine in the tube for a while.
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Post by Jonzii on Jul 8, 2013 20:08:19 GMT
The brood pile looks to have doubled at least since I last checked them. A couple of very large larvae too, bigger than any I have seen so far so I'm hoping that they may be media sized workers. I already have one worker that is slightly larger than the others, but maybe only a mm or 2 bigger at the most, so wasn't sure if this was just a slightly larger minor worker. Total numbers are over 20 now, so they are coming along nicely.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 8, 2013 20:14:40 GMT
Sounds like they're doing well! Thought I'd post this, I found it useful for determining worker castes: Good luck with your colony, Jonzii.
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Post by Jonzii on Jul 8, 2013 20:22:35 GMT
Thanks Timenova, I was just looking for that exact thing as I remembered seeing it in another thread. I'm sure I remember something with approx sizes of each caste too, but can't find it.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Jul 9, 2013 7:46:48 GMT
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Post by Jonzii on Jul 20, 2013 11:41:08 GMT
There is definitely one media worker in this colony now, as there is a clear size difference compared to her sisters. Still 2 large plump larvae which I also think maybe media caste too. They have eaten a couple of flies this week, and are feeding well, together with the higher temperatures is developing the brood nicely.
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Post by Jonzii on Aug 19, 2013 20:35:18 GMT
The Messors still refuse to move out of their test tube, but still seem to be doing ok ish. Numbers have risen slightly, although I found 2 dead workers last week.
They are eating plenty of seeds, but there doesn't seem to be too much brood now, so I'm not entirely sure they are comfortable.
Going to keep a close eye on them for the next few weeks, and I might move them to a soil based set up instead.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Aug 19, 2013 23:01:49 GMT
Messor do like to dig and make good nests in soil, they don't do as well kept in test tubes for long as they prefer more drier and airy nests.
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