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Post by Wood~Ant on Aug 23, 2019 14:55:27 GMT
This video shows a 3 queens colony of Phiedole yeensis, so I hope that my colony doesn't outgrow the nest as the colony I have ordered has 6 queens.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Aug 27, 2019 18:43:56 GMT
Fred is sending me both ant colonies from tomorrow to avoid them being stuck in the heatwave. Some of turkestanus workers have died, but he is giving me a bit of a refund on this colony. The Pheidole yeensis however are doing great, so it will be interesting to see how big the colony will grow. I will make journals at the end of this week and add videos and photos.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Aug 29, 2019 12:45:24 GMT
Sadly the C. turkestanus queen arrived with 2 dead workers, but I did get a full refund from Fred as he was aware the workers were dying off. As she has no brood that I can see I won't be making a journal on her, as she unlikely to survive long enough to make a new colony. shame really, but as I said to him this particular species is very delicate and seems to die in captivity. ![???](http://storage.proboards.com/1950551/i/3_to5tWL0CvAjsRQvtaV.png) However, my Pheidole yeensis is great, and apart from one soldier which might have died for some obscure reason, the colony has plenty of workers, larvae and eggs, 6 queens and 4 soldiers. They have fed, and been filmed, so I will make a new journal and add the videos to it.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Aug 30, 2019 11:03:06 GMT
One of the presumably dead turkestanus workers has miraculously come back to life. The problem was that the water had seeped out, as the cotton wool wasn't tight enough and the water had drowned the ants. I think the other worker is dead, but I have moved them all into a new drier test tube and will see if it helps.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Aug 30, 2019 14:23:26 GMT
One of the presumably dead turkestanus workers has miraculously come back to life. The problem was that the water had seeped out, as the cotton wool wasn't tight enough and the water had drowned the ants. I think the other worker is dead, but I have moved them all into a new drier test tube and will see if it helps. The bad news is that she is no longer moving, and so is dead once more. ![:'(](http://www.cosgan.de/images/more/bigs/c021.gif)
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Post by Wood~Ant on Sept 3, 2019 16:38:53 GMT
Both of the dead turkestanus workers have fungus growing on them, so the queen won't last long now. She will either end up as food for another colony, or a meal for my Venus fly trap if she gets weak. There isn't much point in feeding her as she has no eggs, and won't be able to raise new workers this year. So her demise is inevitable sadly.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Sept 5, 2019 13:26:35 GMT
I don't like buying expensive ants, but as Chris at Antsrus had a discount of 10% on a small colony of Camponotus americanus, I decided to treat myself and have placed an order. I will post a journal and videos when I get them, and I hope the large queen will fit into the empty nest I have for her and her girls, which hopefully will have plenty of brood; but in the meantime here are photos of this species which apparently can vary in colour as individuals in each colony. Firstly an americanus queen. ![](https://I.imgur.com/R0Sxe9J.jpg) Workers and brood. ![](https://I.imgur.com/ilOnJSr.jpg)
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Post by Wood~Ant on Sept 5, 2019 18:06:17 GMT
My new colony of Camponotus americanus was posted today, and should be with me tomorrow. The only other member to have kept this species before is Akaant, and he has a journal on them. Read it here.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Oct 24, 2019 14:18:14 GMT
Not a colony, but today I've ordered a new queen with brood from Mierwinkel.nl in Holland. Priced at 27 euros this desert dwelling harvester ant is Pogonomyrmex barbatus and makes ant bread from seeds like Messors. I hope she will be successful in raising a nice colony of workers. Below is a video of this ant.
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Post by Zarbi on Oct 26, 2019 9:05:08 GMT
Good luck with your new queen, as Pogonomyrmex barbatus is a lovely species and will accept a variety of foods such as insects, honey or sugar water and seeds.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Oct 28, 2019 18:38:02 GMT
The Pogonomyrmex barbatus queen was posted today, and I hope she will have plenty of brood. She hopefully will be here for this Friday, and I will make a new journal with a video when she is unpacked. I intend to keep her in the test tube in our airing cupboard where it is nice and warm and dark. I will only use a nest when she has at least 7 workers, and only use a clean test tube if required if the one she is in gets mould. I don't think I will use a sandy soil set up as if it gets dry any tunnels the queen makes may collapse, and I don't want to lose her or any brood.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Nov 24, 2019 15:20:59 GMT
I have made a purchase of a new ant colony for my collection, and this is my Christmas present to myself and the last colony of the year. I've ordered a colony of Aphaenogaster beccarii from Antsrus with about 30 to 40 workers, a queen and brood. Knowing Chris they should be here in the next 3 or 4 days as he normally posts on Monday.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Nov 25, 2019 15:58:24 GMT
My new colony is on its way, as it was posted today at 3pm this afternoon. I will make a video and journal once it arrives and settles in, which I hope may be tomorrow or Wednesday.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Mar 6, 2020 18:56:28 GMT
I was hoping that my new colony of Camponotus truncatus would arrive today, but no luck. Hopefully tomorrow I will get them and begin a new ant journal? ![8-)](http://www.cosgan.de/images/more/bigs/c024.gif)
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Post by Wood~Ant on Mar 12, 2020 16:52:54 GMT
Well I have contacted mierwinkel.nl who says that my new colony of Camponotus truncatus arrived in England, but it looks like the parcel is lost in the void as the postman hasn't delivered it. I can't get a refund or replacement as I didn't pay for tracking.
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