Post by occultus on Apr 20, 2015 22:16:47 GMT
Feel free to comment on my journal directly here 
Colony was founded on 27/11/14
This Solenopsis geminiata colony contained two sister queens that I collected whilst in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I had discovered a giant nest of this species that resided underneath a local corner shop that I would visit on a daily basis. Every time that it rained I would see more queens. Its my suspicion that the queens interbred with males from the same nest.
Queens of this species usually kill the weaker queen after the workers have hatched so I considered myself lucky that they were coexisting so well without showing any signs of aggression towards each other.
I collected 15 workers from around the nest area where I caught the queens and added them to the two queens. They collected food and sugar water and took care of the sister queens with no aggression towards them.
10/12/14
I flew back to Cardiff with the queens stowed safely in my suitcase wrapped with cotton. It surprised me that they were able to survive the stresses of 19 hours of flying.
01/03/15
On day 95 I estimated the colony to have 50 workers and a large heap of brood(50+). It hasn't taken long for the population to start to explode in numbers.
It was at this point that I had decided that I would build them a large natural permanent nest that will contain them adequately and provide them plenty of space and still be aesthetically pleasing to the eyes.
08/03/15
The Game of Thrones!!
At 20:30 I decided to try the colony on some raw steak and cooked chicken.
Upon looking closely at the test-tube I noticed a large ball of ants rolling around. It turned out to be one of the queens covered in workers and they appeared to be biting and stinging her.
I knew straight away what was happening with my colony and took immediate action. I put the queen covered in workers still attached to her in the fridge for 3 minutes to calm the ants down. Later a cotton ear bud was used to extract the queen out of the test-tube.
There were still 8 workers aggressively biting and stinging her so they were removed and placed with the dominant queen.
The outcast queen was put inside a new test-tube nest blocked off with cotton wool. She was looking a bit clumsy after the whole ordeal and was rolling around on her back.
20/03/15
The Outcast queen died from her sustained injuries despite laying a handful of eggs and receiving sugar water
04/04/15
The colony had expanded its appetite and they were taking about 7 micro crickets a day.
I'd been busy creating these guys a naturalistic formicarium from an Aqua One aquarium.
The substrate consists play sand: coco fiber: sterilized topsoil: sphagnum moss and loose gravel
For heating I installed a reptile heat cable at the base of the aquarium. For the air temperature I had installed an exo terra sun glo bulb which essentially replicates the sun for plants and heat for the ants.
10/04/15
I planted the formicarium with a mixture of South American tropical plants.
I thought it worth mentioning that I have added 50 white tropical woodlice (Folsomia candida) into the substrate to establish themselves.
They will consume any organic matter, great for cleaning waste up in vivariums, or terrariums and they will greatly reduce mold growth.
Bought them on Ebay for £10.
13/04/15
I decided it was time to release the colony into their naturalistic formicarium.
Their behavior is truly fascinating. They decided to leave their old nest instantly and they split themselves into two groups and created solid trails left and right digging at opposite ends of the tank.
I had managed to catch the queen leaving the test-tube in time. Most likely the last time that I will ever see her scuttling about.
Colony was founded on 27/11/14
This Solenopsis geminiata colony contained two sister queens that I collected whilst in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I had discovered a giant nest of this species that resided underneath a local corner shop that I would visit on a daily basis. Every time that it rained I would see more queens. Its my suspicion that the queens interbred with males from the same nest.
Queens of this species usually kill the weaker queen after the workers have hatched so I considered myself lucky that they were coexisting so well without showing any signs of aggression towards each other.
I collected 15 workers from around the nest area where I caught the queens and added them to the two queens. They collected food and sugar water and took care of the sister queens with no aggression towards them.
10/12/14
I flew back to Cardiff with the queens stowed safely in my suitcase wrapped with cotton. It surprised me that they were able to survive the stresses of 19 hours of flying.
01/03/15
On day 95 I estimated the colony to have 50 workers and a large heap of brood(50+). It hasn't taken long for the population to start to explode in numbers.
It was at this point that I had decided that I would build them a large natural permanent nest that will contain them adequately and provide them plenty of space and still be aesthetically pleasing to the eyes.
08/03/15
The Game of Thrones!!
At 20:30 I decided to try the colony on some raw steak and cooked chicken.
Upon looking closely at the test-tube I noticed a large ball of ants rolling around. It turned out to be one of the queens covered in workers and they appeared to be biting and stinging her.
I knew straight away what was happening with my colony and took immediate action. I put the queen covered in workers still attached to her in the fridge for 3 minutes to calm the ants down. Later a cotton ear bud was used to extract the queen out of the test-tube.
There were still 8 workers aggressively biting and stinging her so they were removed and placed with the dominant queen.
The outcast queen was put inside a new test-tube nest blocked off with cotton wool. She was looking a bit clumsy after the whole ordeal and was rolling around on her back.
20/03/15
The Outcast queen died from her sustained injuries despite laying a handful of eggs and receiving sugar water
04/04/15
The colony had expanded its appetite and they were taking about 7 micro crickets a day.
I'd been busy creating these guys a naturalistic formicarium from an Aqua One aquarium.
The substrate consists play sand: coco fiber: sterilized topsoil: sphagnum moss and loose gravel
For heating I installed a reptile heat cable at the base of the aquarium. For the air temperature I had installed an exo terra sun glo bulb which essentially replicates the sun for plants and heat for the ants.
10/04/15
I planted the formicarium with a mixture of South American tropical plants.
I thought it worth mentioning that I have added 50 white tropical woodlice (Folsomia candida) into the substrate to establish themselves.
They will consume any organic matter, great for cleaning waste up in vivariums, or terrariums and they will greatly reduce mold growth.
Bought them on Ebay for £10.
13/04/15
I decided it was time to release the colony into their naturalistic formicarium.
Their behavior is truly fascinating. They decided to leave their old nest instantly and they split themselves into two groups and created solid trails left and right digging at opposite ends of the tank.
I had managed to catch the queen leaving the test-tube in time. Most likely the last time that I will ever see her scuttling about.
I love the queens shape 
I first looked at solenopsis geminata only a few weeks back after watching a video from YouTube,They are very fast growing and perhaps a future species for me to get..Well if I can get them here in the up 
)
