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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 9, 2019 13:10:17 GMT
Also known as the green headed ant, Rhytidoponera metallica is widespread across Australia and I've wanted them for a long time. Fortunately Ant Keeping Depot had a sale a while ago and I had a discount code, so I didn't have to spend too much on this queen who arrived today. R. metallica are semi claustral and have a painful sting, although they avoid confrontation with humans. They are poor climbers and can't grip smooth surfaces which makes containing them easy. In the event of the queen's death, workers will fight for dominance to become a gamergate. Some sources say that R. metallica is slowly losing their queen caste because gamergates are becoming their preferred method of reproduction, although I'm not sure how true this is. Here she is! She was supposed to arrive with brood but either she ate it or she didn't have any to begin with. Hopefully she'll be fine once she's been fed. She's calm and has some lovely colours. Also, I hope that 1moldavite in particular enjoys this journal.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 9, 2019 13:52:28 GMT
The queen briefly tasted some sugar water but didn't seem very interested. I caught a small fly for her and she's definitely interested in that! Hopefully it'll encourage her to lay eggs.
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Post by 1moldavite on Jul 10, 2019 10:31:39 GMT
I don't think anyone who keeps ants could not be bowled over by how beautiful this species of ant is,I hope she does well for you.
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Post by jeoff82 on Jul 10, 2019 13:35:16 GMT
I don't think anyone who keeps ants could not be bowled over by how beautiful this species of ant is,I hope she does well for you. I agree
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 10, 2019 15:29:57 GMT
The seller got back to me and said that the queen should've had brood, so she must've eaten it on the way, but if I keep her fed she should start laying eggs again. I'm going to check and feed her twice a week.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 11, 2019 15:20:38 GMT
Still no sign of eggs and she doesn't seem interested in a second fly I've offered her. I'll check her again in another three days.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 14, 2019 22:01:49 GMT
I just checked the queen to find she's laid three eggs! I'm very happy. I hope she manages to raise them into workers. Apparently the eggs don't take long to hatch- about ten days.
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Post by 1moldavite on Jul 15, 2019 9:47:25 GMT
I'm so pleased for you, it's a worry when you buy a queen and she doesn't have any brood.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 15, 2019 14:16:23 GMT
I'm so pleased for you, it's a worry when you buy a queen and she doesn't have any brood. Thanks! It seems that semi-claustral queens have more chances to found a colony as long as they can be kept fed. Last night I offered her a small cricket and she seemed scared of it, but I can see she's moved it to her side of the test tube to eat it.
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Post by 1moldavite on Jul 15, 2019 21:48:12 GMT
I'm sure in time she will get less nervous of what you feed her.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 16, 2019 17:04:41 GMT
She now has five eggs.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 21, 2019 14:44:56 GMT
The queen now has nine or ten eggs and has moved the remains of her eaten cricket to the opposite end of the test tube, so I cleaned up. I put sand in her test tube because R. metallica can't grip smooth surfaces and without it she'd find it hard to move around properly. I thought it would be a liability but it actually makes it easier to keep the test tube clean since food won't stick to the sides. Here she is with her eggs, which should (Hopefully!) start hatching during the week: And here she is confronting a newly killed fly. The way she moves, especially the way her gaster twitches, reminds me of a wasp.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 24, 2019 1:09:34 GMT
Today I counted thirteen eggs. No larvae yet.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 27, 2019 15:59:27 GMT
I'm not sure how many eggs there are right now, but I feel like there's more. At least 15. No larvae yet. The queen still shows no interest in sweet liquids but otherwise she seems fine. When I took out the remains of her last meal she grabbed hold of it and almost got pulled out of the test tube!
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Post by 1moldavite on Jul 27, 2019 21:40:21 GMT
Obviously she hadn't finished her meal,did you end up leaving it in for her?
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