|
Post by Wood~Ant on Feb 19, 2014 13:01:59 GMT
The flower stalk has from 7 to 10 greenish white flowers on it. You can cut off each flower head once it turns black, or cut the entire stalk down to to about an inch. I find that the plants get worn out after about 4 years, but as they are easy to grow from seeds or to buy a new plants, I replace mine with a nice healthy specimen when required.
|
|
|
Post by Atomfix on Mar 18, 2014 17:38:36 GMT
18/03/2014 Soo... I got in from work and noticed the workers are moving the queen.... Is this normal? They seem to be moving her to the new nest behind the foraging box. Queen is not doing much, she's being dragged to the new nest. I estimate at least 120 worker ants all together in this whole farm. You may notice I have moved the Fly Trap plant in the foraging box, ants seems to love it! None of the traps have closed, except to the ones which I've fed with a fly.
|
|
|
Post by Wood~Ant on Mar 18, 2014 17:48:01 GMT
Ants will often move to a drier place such as a plastic tube, and the workers are moving the queen because they feel the spot where they are taking her to may be more suitable. I have a Lasius niger colony which has moved into a plastic nipple cover at the end of an Ant World, as they must have decided the nest is area isn't the right place to be right now. Don't worry if ants move a lot to new nest sites as they know what they're doing, even if we don't always have a clue.
|
|
|
Post by Atomfix on Mar 18, 2014 17:51:20 GMT
Ants will often move to a drier place such as a plastic tube, and the workers are moving the queen because they feel the spot where they are taking her to may be more suitable. I have a Lasius niger colony which has moved into a plastic nipple cover at the end of an Ant World, as they must have decided the nest is area isn't the right place to be right now. Don't worry if ants move a lot to new nest sites as they know what they're doing, even if we don't always have a clue. Good to know Queen is being quite stubborn, The workers are still trying to drag her to the new nest that they have built in "Ant World", they have also moved all the Eggs, Larvae and Pupae to Ant World.
|
|
|
Post by Jenny on Mar 18, 2014 18:16:17 GMT
I am looking at the fly trap plant in the outer tank, why a fly trap and how come no lid? Just a bit confused about that part of the set up with what looks like a blue straw going towards the plant
|
|
|
Post by Atomfix on Mar 18, 2014 18:51:03 GMT
I am looking at the fly trap plant in the outer tank, why a fly trap and how come no lid? Just a bit confused about that part of the set up with what looks like a blue straw going towards the plant I have a better picture of the blue straw. It's used as a bridge to Ant World which is now their main nest. I've also got more pictures below of the queen, which is now in the feeding pot. Fly in the trap, I decided to feed it, even though it wasn't necessary and the lid is off due to the flower stalks. I used cooking oil around the edges to stop the ants from escaping. Does a pretty good job at it
|
|
|
Post by Atomfix on Mar 19, 2014 11:31:51 GMT
Woke up this morning to find that the queen is still in the pot, as like above. I can see that she has laid 8 eggs in the space of last night and now.
This is still normal right?
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
|
|
|
Post by Wood~Ant on Mar 19, 2014 12:14:11 GMT
Woke up this morning to find that the queen is still in the pot, as like above. I can see that she has laid 8 eggs in the space of last night and now. This is still normal right? Knowing ant behaviour as I do, it sounds normal enough for me Atomfix. She must love the chosen spot if she has laid eggs. I am surprised that none of the workers have been eaten by the Venus Fly Trap, as it is a big healthy specimen.
|
|
|
Post by Atomfix on Mar 19, 2014 12:31:47 GMT
Woke up this morning to find that the queen is still in the pot, as like above. I can see that she has laid 8 eggs in the space of last night and now. This is still normal right? Knowing ant behaviour as I do, it sounds normal enough for me Atomfix. She must love the chosen spot if she has laid eggs. I am surprised that none of the workers have been eaten by the Venus Fly Trap, as it is a big healthy specimen. Good to hear again I've left the light on again as usual to help persuade her to move along into Ant World. The workers seem to be feeding off the edges of the fly catcher, just where the spikes are on the traps. Must be some sort of sugary substance? I see them running all along the traps and none seem to be closing on them. Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
|
|
|
Post by Black Ant on Mar 19, 2014 14:09:09 GMT
I saw some fly traps in a garden centre today. They were small and priced at £6 each
|
|
|
Post by Atomfix on Mar 20, 2014 21:25:04 GMT
20/03/2014 Queen has now moved into Ant World with all her Brood and Larvae. She looks very relaxed and no signs of stress. The workers are still foraging the fly catcher plants, eating the sugary like substance on the traps.
|
|
|
Post by Wood~Ant on Mar 20, 2014 23:03:42 GMT
I had a feeling the colony would settle down once it found a suitable nest site.
|
|
|
Post by Atomfix on Jul 14, 2014 9:17:22 GMT
14/07/2014 After moving the colony back to their stomping grounds, They have been extremely active in the past 24 hours. Foraging I believe or maybe re-scenting the area.
|
|
|
Post by Atomfix on Jul 15, 2014 21:30:19 GMT
15/07/2014
I've removed that feeding tray as you can see above. There must be at least 30+ workers in the tube eating away at the cotton wool. I've never seen these ants this active since I've moved them. They are everywhere in the foraging area. They will won't take any protein though. Looks like they might be fattening the queen up with Sugar maybe.
|
|
|
Post by Atomfix on Aug 12, 2014 15:22:51 GMT
Journal Closed.
Colony has died. Found them all dead in the queens chamber. Died from unknown causes.
|
|