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Post by UKantz on Apr 25, 2018 16:53:55 GMT
Seems to be a reoccurring theme here on the forum recently , I ordered a 2x single queens (separate) of this species since they were a good price. I'm not sure if I'll be keeping a journal on both or just the one. I'll update once the queens have arrived
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Post by Wood~Ant on Apr 25, 2018 22:03:12 GMT
Will you keep them at home, or at uni ? They are known to drum their feet at night, quite audibly as Jenny used to hear them when we kept a colony in her room. Their tapping signals often woke her up and kept her awake at times.
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Post by UKantz on Apr 26, 2018 15:38:16 GMT
All of these new additions will be at uni with me for the time being. I have read about the drumming sounds from your journal, Wood, though hopefully I will not be kept up all night since they're just single queens (I'm not sure of the queens drum?)
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Post by Wood~Ant on Apr 26, 2018 21:23:29 GMT
I didn't realize it was just 2 queens you'd bought, as I thought it was 2 colonies. It will be awhile before they lay eggs and found their colony, so keep them warm and in a dark place. Queens don't tap on their own, but can be slow to lay as I had a single queen who never laid an egg, so good luck with your two.
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Post by UKantz on Apr 27, 2018 8:40:49 GMT
Ah well the luck of the Irish seems to be with me in that case ; my colonies/queens arrived today, and one of the queens had a nice pile of eggs, while the other had a few larvae and eggs o.O. I've placed them in a dark part of my desk where they will reside for the month or two I'm here, I'll check on them every fortnight or so.
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Post by UKantz on May 5, 2018 15:05:56 GMT
I figured I'd check on both the queens today. Queen 1 has two large larvae that will probably pupate within the next week or two, as well as 3-4 other smaller larvae of varying sizes, and a few eggs. Queen 2 (who has a much more swollen gaster) has 1 or two very small larvae and a couple eggs. I'm quite happy with the progress of these two , hopefully I'll be seeing some workers by the end of the month.
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Post by UKantz on May 9, 2018 16:56:29 GMT
I checked on both the queens yesterday:
Queen 1 has two pupae now! I'm guessing the warm weather is helping a lot. One is larger than the other, so I guess that one was the piggie of the bunch. This queen now has brood of varying stages, and has the most brood overall.
Queen 2 has two large larvae, similar to Queen 1 when they both arrived - and a few small larvae and eggs.
Overall I'm very surprised by how fast they grow considering its a Camponotus sp, but very happy with the progress!
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Post by Wood~Ant on May 9, 2018 17:33:38 GMT
Nice to hear that they are doing so well. My big 1 queen colony has more than trebled in size in just a year, so you should have 2 nice little colonies in about 3 months time.
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Post by UKantz on May 15, 2018 17:21:17 GMT
Queen 1 has 4 pupae now, and Queen 2 has 1. I'm expecting queen 1's first workers very soon
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Post by UKantz on May 17, 2018 6:32:43 GMT
In a very short period of time queen 2 has caught up; her brood pile now numbering 3 pupae, 1-2 small larvae and some eggs. Though she has caught up, she doesn't have as much brood as queen 1 - who's brood pile is still 4 pupae, 5-6 larvae all in different stages (one is close to pupation since its a milky white colour) and a few eggs also.
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Post by UKantz on May 28, 2018 9:51:34 GMT
Queen 2 is no longer with us, as she now resides with Deansyme However, an update on queen 1: She now has 8 pupae, 1 large larvae, a couple small larvae and a few eggs. Two of the pupae are now very dark in colour, so I'm expecting our first workers in the next few days I'm quite surprised by how prolific this species seems to be; I was under the impression that Camponotus only produce around 20 workers within their first year of founding. Then again, this is a tropical species, so it's probably unfair to compare to their European counterparts.
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Post by UKantz on May 29, 2018 10:44:40 GMT
Just as I suspected - worker 1 eclosed last night! She's still quite pale, so cannot be more than a couple hours old. I'm gonna bet the other dark cocoon will eclose tonight
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Post by UKantz on May 31, 2018 9:49:53 GMT
As of yesterday there are now two workers helping the queen with her duties;I was too busy to update the journal yesterday. I've been feeding them sugar water since worker 1 emerged, these ants really seem to love it, deserving of their common name "sugar ant" I suppose. Overall the colony is doing great, there are still a number of pupae yet to emerge and more eggs to hatch, so I'll maybe give them their first protein meal in the form of a fly soon
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Post by UKantz on Jun 3, 2018 14:23:19 GMT
I expect another worker will be joining this colony soon, as one of the pupae has darkened significantly Heres a picture of the queen and her workers:
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Post by UKantz on Jun 5, 2018 11:13:23 GMT
2 more workers joined the colony over the past two days (one of them eclosed within the past few hours), bringing the worker count up to 4. The current brood is now: 5 pupae, 1 large larvae and around 12 eggs. Happy with this colonies progress so far
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