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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 20, 2018 7:51:54 GMT
The queen has four larvae and five eggs still. Two of the larvae have already begun to grow a little.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 21, 2018 17:48:18 GMT
The larvae seem to be growing quickly! I'm a bit surprised that more eggs haven't been laid yet, but it's probably better that the queen focuses her resources on a small brood to start with.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 23, 2018 17:42:04 GMT
Queen and brood are still doing fine, no changes in the number of eggs or larvae. This morning I gave her a small drop of sugar water, which she seemed to greatly appreciate. From the speed the larvae are growing at, I estimate those larger two larvae will pupate in 1-2 weeks time.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 24, 2018 13:47:35 GMT
It looks like I was very wrong on the pupa estimate, because the queen has moved her brood over to the cotton where one of the larvae is already spinning a cocoon!
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 25, 2018 10:44:00 GMT
There are now two cocoons!
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 28, 2018 12:11:00 GMT
At the moment there's one egg, two larvae (One newly hatched and one medium size) and three cocooned pupae. The queen is still very calm when I'm checking on her progress.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 31, 2018 21:24:03 GMT
No noteworthy changes in the brood today, but I decided to give the queen a cricket leg. She reacted as you'd expect and valiantly attacked the offending object before bringing it over to her brood pile. She's spent the day chewing on it.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 2, 2018 21:41:27 GMT
I thought the last egg had hatched today, but then spotted another few newly laid eggs.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 5, 2018 10:59:04 GMT
There's now four pupae, two small larvae and four eggs. The cocoons haven't yet started to darken, but it shouldn't be much longer now. I'm looking forward to seeing the first workers.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 8, 2018 0:14:49 GMT
Today I've counted six eggs so it looks like the queen is still laying them. She is still immensely fat, either from her stored reserves or more eggs. She's still fairly calm but will quickly pick up her brood ready to move them to safety when I check on her. I think she's only eaten two or three eggs the whole time, which might've been trophic. So far she's made a great mother.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 14, 2018 0:08:40 GMT
Today I can see nine or ten eggs! Holding the test tube up to the light, I'm sure one or two of the cocoons have very slightly turned a shade darker.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 14, 2018 15:02:10 GMT
It seems that I underestimated how fast one of the cocoons is darkening. It's very dark right now and I can confidently say the first worker will eclose within the next few days or so.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 15, 2018 12:54:58 GMT
I'm now 100% certain that the first worker will eclose today. I'll have to try and get a nice photo when that happens.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 16, 2018 12:05:16 GMT
Did I say the first worker would be here yesterday? I wasn't mistaken, I said that on purpose to keep you on your toes. But the cocoon is very dark indeed now and close to the moment we've been waiting for.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 16, 2018 18:41:49 GMT
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