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Post by occultus on Oct 7, 2015 22:28:52 GMT
This colony had a huge mite infestation for the past month. Over 50% of the workers had mites feeding on their bodies. I was forced to re-home them into a sterile acrylic nest. I tore apart the old log that the colony lived inside. The colony has grown significantly, plenty of speedy workers were running up my arms biting me! Somehow I managed to catch the Queen and I hand placed her into the Acrylic nest. Later I handpicked every single worker and placed them into a small plastic box. All of the workers were then sprayed with pure lemon juice to completely kill of all of the mites. I then placed the workers into their new nest to rejoin with their Queen. Over 100 workers died during this lemon juice cleansing and some left paralyzed. Its sad but very necessary for the future survival of the colony. Now they are 100% mite free Colony update 07/10/15 by
Looks like I'll be needing a bigger nest by next spring!
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Post by occultus on Apr 24, 2016 11:44:10 GMT
Camponotus vagus - The Feast
This colony is thoroughly enjoying their new nest created by Nardimai!
At 05:41 in the video, a large super major comes out of the nest and swings its gaster wildly!
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Post by occultus on Apr 27, 2016 19:05:59 GMT
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Post by Jenny on Apr 27, 2016 19:26:40 GMT
That video was brilliant Che I enjoyed every minute How long did it take you to put that set up together or did nardimai send it complete ? I loved watching those ants come out of the hole near the end, was that deliberately made?
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Post by occultus on Apr 27, 2016 20:47:40 GMT
That video was brilliant Che I enjoyed every minute How long did it take you to put that set up together or did nardimai send it complete ? I loved watching those ants come out of the hole near the end, was that deliberately made? Thank you Jenny! Nardimai actually sent the nest fully constructed. The hole is supposed to be there. Its their main entrance into the nest chambers. Nardimai is incredibly talented at building these ant nests that's for sure (Artist). The nest has built-in heating and it can be hydrated from outside the the tank so no ants come into contact with me. The white plug at 0:33 is an expansion plug. When the colony is big enough, I'll just pull it and the ants will have access to an entirely new nest area. I can honestly say that my colony are happy in this nest. I'm seeing lots of activity that just didn't happen inside the acrylic nest. Truly a pleasure to watch them.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Apr 28, 2016 7:00:26 GMT
Are those workers as big as they seem to be in the video. Great video and fab nest, how much was it to buy? PM me if you prefer not to say the price, as I think several other members may want to buy from Nardimai.
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Post by occultus on Apr 28, 2016 17:19:54 GMT
Are those workers as big as they seem to be in the video. Great video and fab nest, how much was it to buy? PM me if you prefer not to say the price, as I think several other members may want to buy from Nardimai. Hi Wood! Some of the workers are quite large. I'd say this species is around the same size as C. Ligniperdus. I actually part exchanged some ant colonies in exchange for me to test this nest out for Nardimai. The price will be different for every nest because he custom builds them to your specification and you can pick lots of extra upgrades. The heavier the nest though, the more it costs to ship. The nest was packaged perfectly with no damage so feel safe in the shipping If anyone is interested in having a custom nest specific to any species created, please private message Nardimai. He can come up with a design with you so that you have the perfect nest. I hope he has a store someday selling these beauties throughout Europe.
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Post by occultus on May 11, 2016 20:07:32 GMT
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Post by occultus on Jun 17, 2016 0:50:26 GMT
A moth made the mistake of flying into the Camponotus vagus nest. The ants came pouring out to hunt down the intruder.
The moth was completely dismembered after 20 minutes and enjoyed by the larvae.
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Post by occultus on Sept 16, 2016 19:48:26 GMT
Camponotus vagus continue to be one of my most favourite ant species. Nothing phases them. The heating has been turned off for the remainder of this year. Hibernation will simply be me keeping the colony in an unheated room until late February. 2016-09-16_08-26-16 by che hawkins, on Flickr
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