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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2015 9:14:18 GMT
Just out of curiosity would you be selling the queen if she is fertile, I have already promised no more colony.s this year but.... ?
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Post by occultus on Jul 20, 2015 14:46:02 GMT
Hi Dayshaddow, I'll be keeping just one of the Queens for myself if any of them turn out to be fertile (The appetite of this species gets rather pricey ). All the rest will be for sale. 8 out of the 25 Queens that I put with males have started laying eggs, 7 died and the 10 remaining show no signs of being fertile. I'll sell the Queens once they have reached 10-20 workers each. This will happen very quickly. I will sell the colonies for £30 each with free P&P. Be warned, this species is very nice but they certainly are 100% a Poison chalice (same goes for Pheidole pallidula).
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2015 16:50:36 GMT
Do you think you would be so kind to hold me a colony,I will pay upfront tomorrow for them if you want Oh and let me know how you would like the money sent,Paypal is easy as I just need the email address you use with it to send the money
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Post by deansyme on Jul 21, 2015 19:18:11 GMT
I'll buy 1 too!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2015 19:39:19 GMT
get behind me
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Post by occultus on Jul 21, 2015 22:44:33 GMT
I'll have one ready for you mate no worries however I don't want to take any payments or reservations just yet because the queens may still be infertile. Once the first workers appear, I'll be happy to sell them. I'm flying out to Cambodia from the 10th to the 25th of August so it should be a perfect time when I get back to check on the queens for workers
On another note, I accidentally left the bedroom light on last night and I came home to witness a large nuptial flight happening around my light bulb. I collected another 20 S.geminata Queens along with 60 males and placed these inside test-tubes.
13 of the original captured Queens are laying eggs. All of them still have their wings attached but I'm seeing a few of them cleaning the tip of their gaster which usually is a good sign of fertility *fingers crossed*.
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Post by occultus on Jul 24, 2015 10:44:42 GMT
A little update and overview of my colony so far.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Jul 24, 2015 11:39:41 GMT
This colony is growing at an amazing rate, and it seems to produce lots of alates. I know you feed them a lot, what heating is used? Is it from the strip lights above the nest?
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Post by occultus on Jul 24, 2015 15:00:33 GMT
In the old set up I had a few meters of 50 watt heat cable at the base of the aquarium that was always on. During during daylight hours I use a 100 watt sunglow light bulb attached via a clamp. The new set up still has this light but instead of using the heat cable I have a 4ft 60 watt heat pad stuck to one half of the enclosure. Temperatures on the surface stay close to 30 Celsius and temps on the inside of the nest stay around 24-28 Celsius.
I'm starting to reduce the amount of protein that I offer the colony because I don't want the colony to grow much larger.
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huwby
Callow Ant
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Post by huwby on Jul 24, 2015 18:02:50 GMT
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this diary of your ants and I wish you luck with the future of your colony
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Post by Deleted on Jul 24, 2015 19:47:34 GMT
In the old set up I had a few meters of 50 watt heat cable at the base of the aquarium that was always on. During during daylight hours I use a 100 watt sunglow light bulb attached via a clamp. The new set up still has this light but instead of using the heat cable I have a 4ft 60 watt heat pad stuck to one half of the enclosure. Temperatures on the surface stay close to 30 Celsius and temps on the inside of the nest stay around 24-28 Celsius. I'm starting to reduce the amount of protein that I offer the colony because I don't want the colony to grow much larger. I did read a while back reducing food only reduces future worker size and not colony size It probity isn't correct but figured I would pop it in just in case
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Post by occultus on Aug 28, 2015 18:33:22 GMT
I'm very sorry to report that this colony is no longer in existence. Whilst I was away on holiday my Solenopsis geminata were exterminated. My mother agreed to feed the colony for me. One night despite my warnings she accidentally put the lid onto their set up. This allowed the ants to climb onto the condensation and escape. By morning there were thousands of fire ants all over the house (biting and stinging everyone). The colony was dumped out into the garden and they were sealed up with tape and suffocated. They were a fascinating species, I'm gutted and I'll sure miss them. As of now all my colonies have been stored in my cramped bedroom This sad incident has prompted me to finally move out into a flat that I've had my eye on in a few weeks time. This will give me a lot more space to obtain more ants and keep them in nice setups without having to hide them away.
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Post by Jenny on Aug 28, 2015 18:55:24 GMT
Oh no, they were your pride and joy very sorry this has happened Che
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Post by Wood~Ant on Aug 28, 2015 18:57:17 GMT
Devastating news, I am really sad to hear this after the colony was doing so well for you.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 28, 2015 18:59:43 GMT
I too am very sorry to hear of this. It is upsetting when an established colony is lost.
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