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Post by occultus on Sept 2, 2015 22:28:31 GMT
Queen might die.. I've just checked on the queen to see if her workers have emerged. To my horror the queen is upside down twitching!! I have no idea why this has happened as I have taken care of her in the same way since day 1. Her workers are about to hatch. This is really confusing. She looks as if she has been poisoned but surly this cannot be the case as I never use chemicals around or in the same room as my ants. I have up righted the queen and placed a small drop of honey inside her test-tube in the hopes that some nourishment will do her good. It doesn't look good guys..really disappointing
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Post by occultus on Aug 29, 2015 9:37:36 GMT
They've certainly listened . I want to compare their growth rate with this years Lasius niger colony.
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Post by occultus on Aug 28, 2015 23:13:39 GMT
15/08/15Whilst visiting the Khmer cultural village in Siem Reap, Cambodia I found a beautiful bright green Oecophylla smaragdina (Asian weaver ant) queen just standing still on the floor near some leaves. It was precisely 17:30 and just after a heavy rain had stopped(wet season). I was more than prepared for just such an occasion and used a large test-tube from my backpack to safely extract the queen. The first thing that struck me about this ant apart from its beautiful colouraion was that it possesses amazing eyesight. The queen turns to face me every time that I approach her test-tube and she opens her jaws in a threatening posture..Amazing 20/08/15I checked on the queen after 5 days and could see that there is a nice clutch of 20 eggs next to the queen. I carefully placed three large ant larvae taken from a local O.smaragdina nest just to see if she would adopt them. The idea behind this was that the queen could have a little extra help raising her first workers and thus increasing her odds of surviving the long travel back to the UK. Within only a few minutes she carried these larvae and placed them on top of her own egg pile. She's now back in the UK alive and well. No baby workers just yet. The weaver ants are a totally arboreal species and never nest in the ground however I did see them foraging on the ground regularly. For the nest set up I'm not totally sure what I'll use early on. I will try to use the standard test-tube and tub for this colony until the queen has 20+ workers. After that I think I'll be brave and put these ant on a tree in my living room with a tray of water underneath so that the ants cannot escape the Island. It would be a nice feature not having the ants inside a tank.. if it works out and they don't escape ha ha.
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Post by occultus on Aug 28, 2015 21:57:09 GMT
Thanks guys, If I ever get the chance to own them again I will. Just sucks when you invest allot of your time and $ into a big colony like that and then its over. I cannot blame anyone for this either because keeping ants is rather specialized business and its not easy for non antkeepers to grasp all of the care requirements.
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Post by occultus on Aug 28, 2015 18:53:39 GMT
I received my Lasius flavus queens from Wood and Jen today after they kindly held onto the ants for me. There are two test-tubes with 3 queens inside and a big pile of eggs and 1 test-tube with a single queen inside. All the ants look healthy and content. This journal will follow just 3 of the queens that I have with the largest pile of eggs present. The colony was founded on 07/08/15
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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 occultus on Aug 7, 2015 0:53:32 GMT
I'm excited to hear that you will soon have a supplier in Brazil Dean. If you ever have a colony of Neoponera apicalis (Pachycondyla apicalis) available let me know please mate as this is my most wanted species and I'd prefer to purchase from you.
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Post by occultus on Aug 6, 2015 8:39:39 GMT
This colony now has 7 workers. There's a nice clutch of eggs and 2 Cocoon's ready to hatch.
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Post by occultus on Aug 3, 2015 19:24:35 GMT
Lasius niger Queen - 03/08/15I was outside laying down the new decking in my garden today and just out of the corner of my eye, I happen to notice a lone wingless Lasius niger Queen scrambling around a pile of concrete debris. She has been placed in a nice new test-tube set up and will remain in a dark place until I check on her on 01/09/15 I'm chuffed that I was able to catch a Lasius Queen this year as I thought I'd miss the Nuptial flight when I go away for two weeks this August. I have been checking the local L.niger nests daily for the past two months and I can safely say that the Nuptial flights still haven't happened in my area. Usually its a mass flight with millions of queens but the weather has been less than perfect this summer. Queen Glwadys A nice test-tube cocoon(cotton and parcel tape).
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Post by occultus on Aug 3, 2015 17:45:15 GMT
Does the colony and queen live in the log nest? The queen and 70% of the workers live inside the log. All of the larvae are being kept inside the artificial nest. I believe this is because it retains a higher level of humidity which benefit the larvae.
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Post by occultus on Aug 2, 2015 23:15:37 GMT
Do you think you could take a picture of your complete outworld? I love the look of that sawdust the ants made next to their nest, so simple yet gives them character. I may have to go down my woods and look for a nice looking branch, let's just hope they aren't occupied by any myrmica which is very easy to find. Here's the outworld overview. Excuse the poor quality, it was captured quickly with my mobile.
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Post by occultus on Jul 30, 2015 22:04:45 GMT
The branch has been kept dry at all times. They may well choose to start excavating the stick immediately. I believe a semi rotting log/stick would encourage the ants to start excavating sooner. Good luck mate, let us know how it turns out.
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Post by occultus on Jul 30, 2015 0:13:25 GMT
Is this your video as the outworld looks different to what you had before. Love how they are also going in and out of the stick. Hi elitzchupa, yes this is still the same outworld. I had to remove a few leaves and twigs because of mold. The ants have stayed true to their genus and have excavated deep inside that stick. Even the Queen has moved in but the eggs and brood remain in the artificial nest. I don't mind not seeing everything inside the nest because I enjoy observing their natural behavior. The floor of their outworld is absolutely covered in ant-made sawdust I have visions of one day building this colony a huge open top outworld with a large tree stump inside for a nest.
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Post by occultus on Jul 29, 2015 14:58:36 GMT
Queen Pandora has moved her nesting site to a small chamber I had dug underneath the glass panel covered in tin foil. I took a sneaky look to check up on her today and I noticed there's a very small larvae along with 6 eggs.
The development has been slow but I'm happy with the queens progress.
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Post by occultus on Jul 29, 2015 14:43:59 GMT
Now that the 'Ant Man' has been released we should start to notice an increasing amount of new ant keepers globally.
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