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Post by TenebrousNova on May 27, 2018 0:40:28 GMT
We're now at a nice round 30 workers! Months ago I had my doubts that the colony would get this far, I'm glad to be proven wrong.
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 30, 2018 0:09:59 GMT
Looks like a worker has died of old age, I think she was one of last year's nanitics. Nevertheless, the worker population has risen to 32. They've been eating a cricket almost every day recently, so hopefully the latest larvae will grow quickly.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 8, 2018 13:34:36 GMT
There's now 35 workers and still lots of brood in the nest.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 14, 2018 10:36:28 GMT
There's currently 36 workers. It's just one very dark cocoon now and there's no more eggs, but there's still 30+ very small larvae. They seem to be slowing down somewhat.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 16, 2018 15:31:18 GMT
This colony is practically at a standstill right now. The larvae barely seem to be growing at all, for some reason. No new eggs either, although the worker population is unchanged.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 14, 2018 12:21:38 GMT
The colony is practically dormant still and there's no signs of brood growing. I had read that these ants start preparing for hibernation particularly early, but Wood~Ant 's colony is still growing. I wonder why that is?
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jan 24, 2019 19:40:12 GMT
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jan 27, 2019 16:51:59 GMT
That cricket has definitely helped. One of the larvae has now spun a cocoon already and just needed that little extra food. No eggs from the queen just yet but she's been fed a lot of sugar water by her daughters.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Feb 7, 2019 23:13:13 GMT
There are now two pupae. This larva here is getting big now and is actually getting larger than the workers. I wonder if it could be the first major?
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Post by TenebrousNova on Feb 10, 2019 16:58:49 GMT
And there it is! The first egg of 2019. That big larva is also still growing. It takes two workers to carry it:
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Post by TenebrousNova on Feb 13, 2019 12:32:58 GMT
There's still just one egg, but the big larva is continuing to grow with no signs of stopping. I just hope it doesn't turn out to be an early alate, as was the case when I thought my C. mitis colony had their first major.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Feb 13, 2019 19:19:50 GMT
From the size of this larva I am thinking it might be a super major rather than a male, or a possible new queen.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Feb 14, 2019 21:26:03 GMT
From the size of this larva I am thinking it might be a super major rather than a male, or a possible new queen. Interesting! I certainly hope it doesn't turn out to be a new queen this early though, since it would be a waste of resources and the colony would kill or drive her out. I've noticed another larva getting larger than the others and two more newly laid eggs, making three.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Feb 15, 2019 2:33:19 GMT
There are now four eggs. It looks like the queen is ready for business, hopefully there will be many more over the coming weeks:
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Post by TenebrousNova on Feb 15, 2019 15:21:08 GMT
There are now five more eggs, making nine!
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