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Post by chicken2012 on Jul 19, 2014 19:46:45 GMT
During the nuptial flights I caught three Lasius niger queens, last week I think. They have all started to lay eggs now that they have settled in to their respective test tubes, but I have noticed that one of the queens is a fair bit larger than the other two, about 3/4 mm or so from what I can tell, so I am beginning to wonder if she is a different species.
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Post by chicken2012 on Jul 26, 2014 16:51:56 GMT
Update #2 Well the three queens have all laid a couple of clumps of eggs each, though it is hard to judge exactly how many eggs now, but I'd say around 30 or so each maybe?!!
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Post by chicken2012 on Sept 3, 2014 12:25:45 GMT
Update #3 Sorry it's been a while since I have updated the journal but not much has happened in the colony's. However, now all three queens Have some workers, thus I shall need to make some small foraging areas for them in the coming days. I know some of you reading this may be questioning why I need to make some small foraging areas, why not just place a Little bit of food at the entrance to the tube, but I find that if the food is in the tube, If the ants don't take it and it goes moldy, it can be a pain to try and either remove the food or move the colony to a fresh tube. So yeah, though it takes up more space, I'd prefer them to have a small foraging area for each colony
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Post by chicken2012 on Sept 3, 2014 17:41:12 GMT
Here is a video that I felt like making, to document me moving the three colonies into their new foraging areas.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 3, 2014 18:14:21 GMT
Chicken, couldn't find a comments thread for this so I thought it would be okay to post it here.
I really like the idea of a large foraging area for small colonies. I always wanted to do this for my colonies. Just one question, where did you buy the plastic containers for the foraging areas? They are quite good as they have a lid which is hinged at one end. I liked the look of them and as they make it easier to feed the ants I would like to get a few myself.
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Post by chicken2012 on Sept 3, 2014 18:31:43 GMT
Chicken, couldn't find a comments thread for this so I thought it would be okay to post it here. I really like the idea of a large foraging area for small colonies. I always wanted to do this for my colonies. Just one question, where did you buy the plastic containers for the foraging areas? They are quite good as they have a lid which is hinged at one end. I liked the look of them and as they make it easier to feed the ants I would like to get a few myself. That's because there isn't a comments thread. I prefer comments to be made in my journals because I find them easier to follow, personally. The tub with the hinged lid (the big one) is from an independent shop near me, the other two are from Tesco.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 3, 2014 18:33:52 GMT
Chicken, couldn't find a comments thread for this so I thought it would be okay to post it here. I really like the idea of a large foraging area for small colonies. I always wanted to do this for my colonies. Just one question, where did you buy the plastic containers for the foraging areas? They are quite good as they have a lid which is hinged at one end. I liked the look of them and as they make it easier to feed the ants I would like to get a few myself. That's because there isn't a comments thread. I prefer comments to be made in my journals because I find them easier to follow, personally. The tub with the hinged lid (the big one) is from an independent shop near me, the other two are from Tesco. Thanks Chicken, I will have a look around for some hinged boxes, or I might just get some small glass arenas from Antstore.
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Post by Wood~Ant on May 7, 2015 13:27:15 GMT
Are your Lasius niger still going Chicken, as the journal hasn't been updated since last September?
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Post by chicken2012 on May 7, 2015 15:55:30 GMT
Are your Lasius niger still going Chicken, as the journal hasn't been updated since last September? Sorry mate, completely forgot that this journal was here. oops. Update #5Now, there are only the two colony's, I think I left them a little too long in hibernation to be honest. But the other two colonies are both doing fine. They have a small amount of brood each and both have around 8-10 workers. they are taking honey-water and pieces of ham readily, yet one colony more so than the other. Over the winter, I had the whole foraging area in darkness for both colonies, but now they are in the light, with tin foil shading the test tube, so as the queens feel comfortable. I am thinking of maybe boosting these colonies both with brood from a wild colony, but I am wondering what do you people think about that. Sorry for such a short update after so long, but I will promise to try and update them more often now.
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Post by Wood~Ant on May 7, 2015 16:03:35 GMT
Nothing wrong in brood boosting if you take pupae from a large established nest and big colony. If you collect a few from different nests then they will hardly notice you taking maybe 15 to 20 if they have hundreds.
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Post by chicken2012 on May 7, 2015 16:22:35 GMT
Okay, now all I got to do is find an established colony with brood at the surface. The only colony I have found in my garden of this species is not very big.
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Post by chicken2012 on May 9, 2015 16:59:27 GMT
Update #6 I think that from now on, I will run a separate journal for both of these colonies, so from now on, this will be the journal for the colony in the small tub, and will be known as colony A. I have put their out-world half on, half off a heat mat, with a piece of cardboard separating the two. their test tube is straddling the edge of the heat mat, so that the ants are able to thermo-regulate more easily. As yet I have not been able to find any wild Lasius niger colonies that I can take some brood from to boost this colony, but I shall keep looking.
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Post by chicken2012 on May 29, 2015 13:07:00 GMT
Update #7
These ants have been drinking some honey water, however they don't seem to want to eat any protein really. So I have not given them any for the last week or so, however either today or tomorrow I may try again, hopefully now they should have worked up an appetite, but we shall see. Also, I still have yet to find a wild colony to take brood from to boost this colony.
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Post by chicken2012 on Jun 3, 2015 15:12:32 GMT
Update #8. A quarter if the tub these ants are in is now on a 7w heat mat. This seems to be making them forage more, and when I put a small blackfly on the feeding lid the other day, during the night that followed they must have taken it into the test tube. However I can not see it in there because the tube is getting a little dirty now. Since they seemingly took the first blackfly, today I have just offered them a second one. This colony has not taken any honey water for the last week strangely, so I have not given them any now, as I guess they need to work their appetite up a bit more yet. I think there are about 8 workers and some brood, though I can't tell exact numbers due to lack of visibility into the tube.
Right, that's all for now, thanks for reading.
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Post by chicken2012 on Jun 3, 2015 17:10:11 GMT
Update #9
For some reason the cotton that is meant to stop the water from drowning the ants, is letting water seep through into the test tube. I have cleared the spillage, but I still want this colony to move into a new tube. But... Sure enough they won't move.. I have exposed the tube to a bright light. Which is supposedly emoting 140,000 Lux of light, whatever that means. To put it into perspective, the light on my fish tank is emitting 125,000 Lux. So yeah, it's bright. However it appears that the ants are not bright, because they are refusing to move still, even though their little colony is in jeopardy. So right now, I don't know what to do.
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