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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 29, 2019 15:01:23 GMT
The colony dug with a vengeance last night and just before I went to bed, I witnessed the queen moving into her new nest. The nest has three entrances (With the characteristic funnel shape) and one large chamber.  Biggest entrance:   Brood chamber:  And they've found a new mealworm.  |
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 1, 2019 23:29:24 GMT
The funnels around the nest entrances are growing ever taller. Oddly, although the workers are still active and digging, they never seem to attempt to climb the sides and escape. I bet that'll change if the mounds of excavated soil grow much higher!  In addition to partially burying their test tube, they've made another entrance at the opposite end of the container. This leads to a long tunnel along the bottom which looks like it'll link with the main chamber.  |
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 7, 2019 20:57:12 GMT
I think they've finally finished construction of their nest for the time being! It's like a lunar landscape in there.  There's many entrances to the nest, some larger than others. There's always at least a few workers foraging and the others come out in force when they find food.  It's hard to tell in this photo but practically the entire bottom of the container has been dug out to form one enormous chamber supported by a few pillars of dirt. The colony only occupies the top corner shown here, which I find pretty funny. Such a big home for such a small colony!  In this photo you can see a few very dark pupae that I think have eclosed now. The queen hasn't laid any eggs since she moved out of the test tube but it shouldn't be long until she does. They're certainly eating enough.  |
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 9, 2019 17:28:15 GMT
The queen has left me a lovely surprise today! None of those eggs were there the last time I checked.   |
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 2, 2019 15:04:09 GMT
The queen has now laid another big clutch of eggs. I can't tell you exactly how many workers there are but there's definitely at least 25 and several larvae and pupae. They're still feeding very well.  |
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Post by Wood~Ant on Aug 7, 2019 22:49:08 GMT
I looked at the Aussie site to see how much a colony of these were, but they're sold out. In fact most of the stock of ants is not available, and what they did have was a bit over my budget sadly.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 7, 2019 23:13:59 GMT
I looked at the Aussie site to see how much a colony of these were, but they're sold out. In fact most of the stock of ants is not available, and what they did have was a bit over my budget sadly. Yeah, unfortunately they sell out rather quickly. It's best to buy from them during a sale like I did with my Rhytidoponera metallica. They have a fairly cheap Iridomyrmex bicknelli queen for sale if you're interested? Those are supposed to be an easy to keep and fast growing introduction to Australian ants. The Camponotus consobrinus queen also looks right up your street, although more expensive. And I think you have to pay another £20 for express shipping, which is compulsory for their ant sales.  I can always try and let you know the next time they get stock in or have a sale. |
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Post by TenebrousNova on Oct 25, 2019 19:06:55 GMT
This colony hasn't produced a lot of brood this year. There's some newly hatched larvae today, though!  And here's the workers bringing a cricket into the nest:  |
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