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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 4, 2019 14:12:21 GMT
I can't get an accurate count of the workers right now but there's definitely at least 70!
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 5, 2019 14:33:21 GMT
Here is the colony today. Main brood pile. There's plenty of eggs and larvae but most of the pile is made up of cocoons right now. They've taken a big liking to mealworms. And as always, their thirst for sugar water is irrepressible. The larger larvae are being kept in a chamber of their own: Queen:
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 14, 2019 11:56:01 GMT
I counted just over 75 workers in the colony today. Right now they're tackling a mealworm and drank three droplets of sugar water. I might take a leaf out of Wood's book and keep a bottle cap filled with it in the foraging area so they can help themselves.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 15, 2019 15:47:57 GMT
Here they are with their new bottle cap half filled with sugar water. The mealworm from yesterday has mostly been eaten, too.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 24, 2019 15:55:09 GMT
The colony now has almost 85 workers! They're very busy today in the foraging area.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 27, 2019 21:50:25 GMT
When I checked them yesterday I couldn't see many eggs, but today there's quite a few. They must've been either hidden under all the cocoons or newly laid. This evening they are tackling the largest cricket I've ever given them and they're rising nicely to the challenge.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 8, 2019 16:56:41 GMT
The brood pile has grown to fill their chamber and more callows have been eclosing almost every day. I've counted about 95 workers. So very close to their first 100 already! The stage where a colony really starts to pick up momentum like this is my favourite.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Jul 8, 2019 17:41:15 GMT
Makes my colony look small, all those lovely workers and brood. I am expecting mine to hopefully reach 30 to 40 workers this year if I'm lucky.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 8, 2019 18:14:29 GMT
Makes my colony look small, all those lovely workers and brood. I am expecting mine to hopefully reach 30 to 40 workers this year if I'm lucky. I've found that when the colony reaches 20 workers, which yours almost has, growth really starts to pick up. I think you're on the right track.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 24, 2019 1:08:19 GMT
I've lost count of exactly how many workers there are, but there's definitely over 100 now!
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 27, 2019 22:35:18 GMT
During a calm minute I did a head count and to my surprise, there's already 120 workers!
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 6, 2019 2:48:25 GMT
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 21, 2019 1:23:10 GMT
The colony is still doing very well and eagerly eats almost anything they're given. Mosquitoes seem to be a favourite, which is just as well since I've seen a number of them around recently. There isn't quite as much brood as there was in earlier updates, but the queen might be taking a break from egg laying (Although there are still some eggs in the brood chamber). On another note, I'm particularly pleased to see Wood~Ant's colony doing well for him. I'd say they've cleared the biggest hurdles.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Sept 14, 2019 2:41:36 GMT
The colony is still very active and the queen is back to laying eggs.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Sept 27, 2019 20:09:32 GMT
The colony is still doing well. I've seen new callow workers each time I check on them. I don't know how many workers there are at the moment, but I'm guessing about 140. Just now when feeding them several workers escaped and I took the opportunity to pick them up and give them a sniff to see if they really do have a nice smell like their name suggests- and the answer is yes. Rather flowery, not at all the sharpness I associate with Formica rufa. Still no sign of any developing majors yet. I must say it's unusual for a Camponotus colony to go this long without one being born. Even my Camponotus mitis had their first major around the 90 worker mark. And here they are attacking a locust.
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