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Post by TenebrousNova on Nov 24, 2020 17:11:29 GMT
A culture of Macrocheles robustulus mites has arrived today. Not the same as Hypoaspis miles, but they should do the same thing. These tiny predators come in a small bottle of substrate, which I distributed in the Worm World and outworld. There's no guarantee that they'll be able to eliminate the parasitic mites of course, but it's worth a try. They are too small for the Carebara workers to notice and definitely too small to pose a threat to their brood in any way, so I'm hoping they'll enter the nest and do their job. They breed rapidly and when there's no other prey for them, they will die off on their own.
I also introduced some tropical springtails to help clean up the mess left by the ants. These are just big enough for the workers to notice and I have noticed a few minors grabbing them, but for the most part they should be left alone. I haven't noticed any uptick in the amount of worker deaths yet so it seems they're holding on. They are still enthusiastic feeders.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Nov 27, 2020 2:48:52 GMT
The colony took several crickets and have been eagerly collecting seeds today. There's still loads of parasitic mites- if I pick up any worker and gently roll her between my fingers, at least a dozen of the little buggers will detach and start running off. Unfortunately, manually removing the mites from the entire colony is completely impossible. Ants become more susceptible to mites in stressful situations and this species is particularly vulnerable. My theory is that their journey from Thailand and their subsequent move may have contributed towards this.
In the meantime, fingers crossed.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Dec 15, 2020 21:04:19 GMT
Not much to report. The mites continue to plague this colony but I'm not seeing a significant number of dead workers. They're still continuing to act and feed normally. What the situation is like inside the nest with the brood and queen is anyone's guess, but I hope they're doing well despite their unwelcome guests.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 15, 2021 21:12:20 GMT
I feel a massive fool. I assumed this colony was dead back in December and stopped checking on them. It's just as well that I never got round to throwing away their formicarium, because they are very much alive! The mites are still infesting them but somehow the colony survived. I don't see any signs that the queen has died. The colony hasn't eaten in a long time, so I'm forced to wonder if the mites were truly harmful? I suspect that they managed to survive because the soil never dried out and I'd left lots of seeds in there. Still, I feel very guilty for unknowingly neglecting them. So I'm going to spoil them rotten, mites or not! There's probably a moral to this story, but I can't think of it right now...
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ryand
Ant Larva
Posts: 8
Likes: 7
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Post by ryand on Apr 15, 2021 23:46:56 GMT
Its fascinating that a species known to be so temperamental in terms of actual keeping have survived on with little attention and covered in mites. Any sign of the predatory mites still kicking about? Fingers crossed for you mate!
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Post by Wood~Ant on Apr 16, 2021 8:27:40 GMT
I can't think what the moral of this could be, but it does remind me of the comedy movie Galaxy Quest where the motto of the crew was "Never give up, never surrender." 🛸
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Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 16, 2021 14:23:16 GMT
Its fascinating that a species known to be so temperamental in terms of actual keeping have survived on with little attention and covered in mites. Any sign of the predatory mites still kicking about? Fingers crossed for you mate! Exactly! C. diversa is supposed to be so fussy and sensitive with the workers living a few months at most, but here they are. I've underestimated them. I've seen no sign of the predatory mites. I could try again at some point with a different kind. I don't see any signs of the queen having died, assuming that they'd dig her up and put her in the midden like other ants tend to. Hopefully she's still around.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 21, 2021 18:47:43 GMT
Once again after a period of inactivity where I assumed the colony had died, they proved me very wrong. They've even exposed a brood chamber on the side of their set up! And yes, they are still covered in mites. I'm amazed by how forgiving this colony has been, especially since Carebara is on the "expert" end of the ant keeping scale. I've had common species die on me much easier than this.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 25, 2021 23:14:17 GMT
I had a pleasant surprise when I checked the colony just now! Look very carefully and you might see the eggs in this photo, proof that the queen, who I haven't seen since she entered the nest, is still doing well. Attacking a locust. I've noticed that the mites don't seem to be quite as numerous. And me getting savaged by one of the smaller majors, who refused to let go!
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 31, 2021 20:07:26 GMT
My efforts to feed up this colony are paying off, as I see at least two very big clutches of eggs today. Easily over a hundred in total! The queen still refuses to grant me an audience (I'd love to get a photo of her in her nest) but she's clearly active. Right now the foragers are wrestling with a pair of dubia roaches and collecting some fig seeds. The mites definitely seem to be decreasing in number. Even the majors only seem to have several on them at once, when a month ago they were completely covered in the things.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 7, 2021 19:55:01 GMT
My colony hardly ever ventures to their outworld, so usually I just drop food into the Worm World that they're nesting in. Yesterday I tried encouraging them to go into their outworld by dropping in several crickets, a locust and a dubia roach. Eventually when a few scouts went down, they ran back to tell the others about the feast. They are slow to rouse but once they know there's food around, few insects can escape their hunger. At its peak there were about a hundred workers in the outworld and a super major also showed up to assist her little sisters. The majors in particular look very well fed, since they act as living food storage for the colony. For some reason they were also taking pieces of perlite back up the tube and bringing them to the nest. And there's the brood. It's interesting how they arrange it like columns that stretch from the floor to the roof of the chamber. You can see a major larva at the top right!
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 25, 2021 16:32:55 GMT
The brood pile is getting even bigger!
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Post by TenebrousNova on Sept 1, 2021 15:48:37 GMT
I saw an interesting hunting tactic earlier. The roach I'd given them was still alive (my bad) and a minor worker got too close to its jaws and chewed to death. The majors responded by grabbing hold of its jaws and crushing them to the point the roach couldn't use them any more. Brutal, but clever.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Sept 23, 2021 23:41:26 GMT
Here's the brood pile tonight. Obviously the colony isn't nearly as big as one of their age should be, but they're gathering more and more momentum now. I see hundreds of eggs, larvae and pupae in the brood chamber, including a few big major pupae.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Oct 20, 2021 20:07:51 GMT
Now that it's getting colder I'm giving the Carebara more seeds, since they make up a large part of this species' Winter diet. As usual they will devour crickets, mealworms, locusts and roaches with no trouble.
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