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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 12, 2017 16:30:10 GMT
Third time lucky? I ordered this queen from AntsMynala, which I hadn't heard of before. I decided to give them a go. The Manica rubida queen arrived in a box filled with packaging foam, which is good. She appears to be healthy and has several larvae of varying sizes. The only thing I don't like is the size of the test tube, with most of the space taken up by the water reservoir leaving the queen a tiny space between the cotton at the other end. This probably works well with claustral species, but this lady is a fierce creature who will want to hunt food for her larvae until she has her first workers. Having her right at the open end of the test tube sounds like a good way to get stung into Oblivion the moment I open it, so I'm wondering if I can move her into a larger one. As predicted, the queen came rushing out onto my desk the moment I removed the cotton to give a bit of honey and a fruit fly. She took some persuading to return to her brood, but has drank a little from the honey and placed the fly on the larvae. The largest larva is mostly opaque, a sign that it will pupate soon.
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Post by Jenny on Jul 13, 2017 5:57:02 GMT
Antsmynala is "jon the fish" the same buyer on the live ants side that did work for Antkit and left them. Doesn't supprise me about the condition of the tube, the usual senario, in it for profit and not the welfare of the ants. We must have lost a few hundred pounds with both of them. Their expensive stock, either died or ended up in the bin failing expentation. I hope your rubida does well Jake, but you might need to put in the extra care and work as Wood had to buying from there. A new test tube would be wise given what she arrived in
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 18, 2017 16:56:15 GMT
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 31, 2017 18:19:42 GMT
The queen is still going strong! She has been laying several eggs and one of the pupae is very dark now, soon to become her first worker. I've decided that once the first worker is up and about I will transfer the colony from the small test tube into a larger one. Like I mentioned in my previous Manica rubida journal last year, the larvae of this species seem to be quite predatory when compared to those of other species. Manica larvae will strain to reach their food and start feasting on it. If you look really closely, you can see the larva's tiny black jaws opening and closing in anticipation of a meal. Here's one eating a fruit fly. The other larvae are also trying to reach out for it. To get some nicer photos, I moved the test tube into a thin ray of evening sunlight. I love the queen's colour. Here she is drinking some honey. And here's a few of her eggs.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 1, 2017 13:49:44 GMT
We have our first worker! I need to move them into the large test tube now. But I don't know how I can...normally I would tip them into it but the sticky, fragile eggs complicate things. Any ideas?
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Post by Wood~Ant on Aug 1, 2017 15:17:17 GMT
Tape the open end of the small tube onto the larger one, then leave the ants to decide when they want to move and which home they prefer. If they move all the brood into the larger test tube then you can remove the smaller one, or simply leave them together if you so wish.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 11, 2017 16:29:35 GMT
I should've updated this journal a few days ago when the second worker eclosed! Nevermind, here they are. Here's the queen holding an egg. I always enjoyed watching how gentle even the biggest and most aggressive species are with their offspring. And having put the egg on a pile, she started cleaning them. Most of the larvae are big enough to pupate now, so I expect to see that happening before long.
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Post by jeoff82 on Aug 11, 2017 20:31:58 GMT
Hard to keep from what I have seen but you seem to be doing ok.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 11, 2017 20:38:38 GMT
Hard to keep from what I have seen but you seem to be doing ok. I've never kept Myrmica before, but I simply see Manica as a larger version. They appear to have the same requirements so if you can keep Myrmica, you're good to go!
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Post by jeoff82 on Aug 11, 2017 21:46:08 GMT
I keep a couple of colonies of Myrmica. They are aggressive, fairly slow moving ants that live in nests with a lot of moisture. Basically each colony has a pond of water and moss and I rarely disturb them. In the wild I normally find them under rotting damp logs in dark areas of the woods. I found a couple of nests yesterday, some with lots of small larvae and one nest side by side with a colony of Formica fusca.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 22, 2017 14:38:57 GMT
The Manica are doing just fine! As you can see, the queen has been laying even more eggs. You can see that her gaster is bigger than it was when she first arrived. Now that she has workers, I guess she's settling into egg laying mode? She's still quite aggressive. There is a new pupa which will become the third worker. The larva on the right will pupate within the next few days judging from the milky colour. Here's the queen bringing a fruit fly to the larvae. She's a bit unpredictable with food. Sometimes she brings flies willingly to the larvae, but at others she will confiscate them and dump them at the far end of the test tube. The workers always bring them back, however. And here's a larva stretching out to reach a fly.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Sept 13, 2017 14:08:31 GMT
Worker Three eclosed yesterday and is already an active member of this little colony. She is slightly larger than her sisters, so she must've been better fed as a larva. There are no longer any larvae in the nest, having all pupated. There are six pupae in total. Next to the pupae is a big pile of eggs. One of the pupae (Visible at the back) has been getting quite dark and a few others have started to slightly change colour. The queen isn't as highly strung as she used to be and doesn't charge around like a maniac (As often) as she used to. She must be feeling more relaxed now that there are workers to take on her old responsibilities. For now, I have ceased giving insects to the colony. I see no point in doing so until the next generation of larvae begin to hatch, but they do get a drop of honey every once in a while.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Sept 13, 2017 22:35:22 GMT
Plenty eggs is always a good sign, if they all become workers you will have a nice sized colony before too long.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Sept 23, 2017 12:05:36 GMT
Worker Five (Bottom right) has just been welcomed to the world and Worker Six is about to follow! She's still curled up in the pupa position but her antennae have started to twitch. I'm surprised that none of the eggs have hatched yet, they've been there for quite a while now.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Oct 3, 2017 14:24:26 GMT
The last three pupae have eclosed, bringing the worker total up to nine. For some reason none of the eggs have hatched yet and it's been over a month now...if anyone knows why this could be, I'd be interested to know. Here's a new worker cleaning the egg pile. One of the new workers dwarfs her sisters, easily twice as large as they are. The same worker grooming herself: And resting next to the queen.
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