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Post by TenebrousNova on Oct 16, 2018 21:12:42 GMT
Here's the queen. The colony has been feeding very well lately and they even ate their first locust with no fuss.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jan 29, 2019 16:19:07 GMT
The mitis are still doing well. There still aren't 70 workers but there's definitely over 60. There's some cocoons and lots of larvae in varying stages of growth, although the queen isn't laying eggs at the moment. Still no signs of a first developing major worker, but I'm hopeful we'll see one in time. I wanted to get photos of the brood, but they're kept in the deepest chambers (Which are very dirty indeed) and it would be futile trying to get a clear photo. I'm confident that this colony is going to outgrow the formicarium this year. Cleaning the foraging area is getting harder because there's usually 5-15 workers in there at all times and they're very fast.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 7, 2019 20:39:33 GMT
It is becoming impossible to clean out the foraging area (Which is definitely smelly now) since there's loads of workers in there at all times that're constantly on the lookout for escape opportunities. Either they'll need a new nest soon or I'll have to connect a proper outworld to it. There's been a few eggs laid and a lot of larvae are beginning to pupate. Here is a particularly large larva which I was surprised to find. First major at last or another tragic attempt at an early alate? Queen:
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 19, 2019 17:05:47 GMT
The mitis queen has been laying more eggs lately! There's also a lot of larvae and cocooned pupae. Please let this larva be the first major and not another early alate.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 24, 2019 15:54:24 GMT
A few days ago I checked the mitis to find them in the middle of eating that big larva! It seems I'm going to have to wait longer for a first major...
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Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 20, 2019 18:02:27 GMT
Today I checked the colony to find them having an unusually quiet day, so I took the opportunity to open the lid of the foraging area and remove months worth of encrusted insect remains. The nasty ammonia smelling miasma of their refuse wafted into my nostrils, how they could put up with it was beyond me, but they thwarted my every attempt to clean it until now. I'm happy to see that the queen has laid lots of eggs lately. Here is Her Majesty. Just above her you can see a large cocoon that I'm hoping will be the first major. I have said that twice in this journal so far only to be disappointed. Third time lucky? I also saw a callow eclosing but was unable to get a good enough photo of her.
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 15, 2019 17:34:10 GMT
I can no longer get an accurate count of this colony's worker population, but I reckon there's at least 90 now. I do have a larger formicarium available but I'm not sure how I'd get them to move out when the time comes.
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 17, 2019 18:18:46 GMT
Today, I decided it was time for the big move. Normally I'd be content to connect their old nest to the new, larger one (Formerly inhabited by my old Formica fusca colony) but then I realised I didn't have the right sized tubing! And I needed to commandeer their formicarium for my new Solenopsis fugax colony. The move took a few hours of leaving the foraging area lid and nest connector port open, then catching and transferring the workers that came out. These Camponotus are aggressive and will go onto your finger, but since they're so fast and nimble it's hard to actually get them off and into the new nest. Eventually when half of the colony had been moved, I unscrewed the pieces of the nest and tipped the brood out through the gap into the new nest. After that I caught the remaining workers and a very disgruntled queen, then used a needle to gently pick up and move the eggs still stuck to the floor in the old nest. Like the colony originally did when it was very small, they refused to go into the nest and are instead staying in the foraging area. I've covered the nest part in the hopes that they'll move in when they're ready. I used PTFE smeared around the edges to stop most of the workers from immediately running out, but a few would still manage to scale it which slowed things down. Some sugar water in the feeding dish helped to calm them down though! Here they are:
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 19, 2019 14:40:30 GMT
It's been two days and the colony has still been sullenly huddled in the foraging area. I decided to try and encourage them to move in. Using the largest book I had within reach (The Complete Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft worked nicely!) I covered the nest area and using tweezers, rolled an unattended cocoon into the nest. The next worker to explore the nest apparently found the cocoon and decided that the now darkened nest area was suitable, because she went straight out again and the rest of the colony immediately started to move the brood inside. There were a few squabbles as workers intent on moving the brood tried pulling them out of the jaws of the nurses. Sometimes they carried them two at a time. Finally it was the queen's turn to enter the rabbit hole. How far does it go? And here they are! Hopefully this nest will last them a while.
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 20, 2019 14:59:19 GMT
Today the colony decided to move back into the foraging area...how annoying. There's little I can do about it though.
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 22, 2019 13:32:49 GMT
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 16, 2019 17:57:47 GMT
The second major was recently born into this colony! Unfortunately they still seem very unhappy with their acrylic nest. However, when I was ordering a Worm World for my Messor barbarus I accidentally ordered two and I think I'll let this colony have the spare. They'll be able to dig to their little heart's content with plenty of room.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 24, 2019 15:59:35 GMT
Nearly a week ago, I moved this colony out of their larger acrylic nest, which they seemed to hate, into the outworld of a converted Worm World. Unfortunately they spent almost four days stubbornly sat in the corner and refused to explore their new home and some workers died during this time, including one of the majors. They've now moved into the Worm World, where the queen and brood is being kept in the starter tunnel I made with a pencil. I'm hoping they'll start to dig at some point.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 21, 2019 1:26:59 GMT
So far the colony has been doing well in their soil nest. I was worried that they would stubbornly continue to refuse food but I get an enthusiastic response every time with sweet liquids and a more lukewarm one with insects, although they always seem to have taken them into the nest by the time I next look. As soon as the workers feel the vibrations from the outworld's lid, 10-20 of them will come running down the tube to investigate.
They have two large nest entrances but beyond a single antechamber against the side, I can't tell what the interior of the nest is like. I can't see the queen or any brood in there, so they must be further inside.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Oct 25, 2019 19:02:59 GMT
Today when I checked on the colony, I saw a worker carrying a cocoon on the surface and back into the nest. When I quickly shined a torch into their main chamber I saw very little brood, but they do have a nice sized pile of new eggs.
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