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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 29, 2011 19:09:21 GMT
Haha, wow. I've just seen her laying a fourth egg- think about how many she could be laying when I've not been looking. ;D I never thought she would lay so many, especially in one day. I've noticed that the gaster plates of queens who have begun a full job of egg-laying do not have the gaps between them as they do early on- probably because of the energy put towards egg-production, so they don't have as much fat reserve as they did prior to mating- if you get what I mean. There is also another new callow. That's at least nine new workers...about 60-70 in total population.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 30, 2011 13:51:43 GMT
There appears to be workers that stand guard at the tube entrance, and they know straight away when I'm putting something in to feed them. I have to be quick, or they'll make a dash for freedom. The queen has been active this morning- I haven't seen her lay any eggs, but she did walk down one tunnel before going back. That's the most I've seen her move for a while. Apart from that, she's been accepting food from workers. She often opens her jaws hopefully if a worker approaches head on. The egg pile is massive now, and there's two more callows. The colony seems to be doing very well. I noticed that when a worker carried the first dead worker I've seen in ages to a midden chamber, that a intact cocooned pupa was there too. Workers haven't made efforts to retrieve it despite knowing it's there. Is it possible for pupa to die with no physical damage?
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 1, 2011 8:33:50 GMT
After all the effort that I've gone to! I've just discovered that half of the worker population is dead. I'm going to try and retrieve the rest of the colony, but it'll be hard. Queen is alive still, and there's still a lot of brood. They can yet be saved.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 1, 2011 9:08:24 GMT
The transfer to their old test tube was a complete disaster. The workers were completely unresponsive as I put them in, and look like they're half asleep. Only a few of them are acting normal. The queen is acting normal and was very upset when I had to put her in, taking about five minutes for me to catch her, but she's being fussed over by some of the workers now. Moving the eggs out was very difficult, but the pupae were easier. I noticed that the active workers are callows.
I don't know what happened, and that's what I hate about problems like this. I just hope the workers will recover. I probably won't be surprised if they turn out dead tomorrow, but I'll try and keep an eye on them. They were all doing fine yesterday...
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Post by Jenny on Aug 1, 2011 9:17:31 GMT
Hi evidently there is some substance in that nest that they don't like and it is effecting them. With such a closed enviroment and no fresh air to take away any chemical smells they build up. You can't beat a soil nest
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 1, 2011 10:47:44 GMT
They seem more awake now, but I'm keeping them in the ant cabinet to see if they get better. There's still loads of brood (Mainly cocooned pupae in with them), and the queen is healthy if a bit annoyed, so they should be able to recover their numbers if they get better.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 1, 2011 14:01:00 GMT
Better news: The colony is more or less back to normal now, and a new callow has eclosed as well. With the large number of pupae, it shouldn't be too long until the numbers start to go up again. There's at least 40 workers. They have clearly been drinking from the small drop of honey that I gave them earlier, since there is a large callow (Some of the more recent workers are slightly larger than the older ones) that has drunk enough to act as a replete- she's very full. ;D I'm still keeping a watch on this colony. I would still like to find out what killed those workers in the first place. Maybe later, I'll test their appetite with a fly this evening.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 2, 2011 15:36:13 GMT
There's only about 20-30 workers now. I still hope they can recover.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 8, 2011 13:18:50 GMT
More ants dying each day. I should have left them how they were rather than try to move them.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 8, 2011 19:43:02 GMT
More ants dying each day. I should have left them how they were rather than try to move them. Hopefully it's just a coincidence and the queen will soon settle down and replace them. She is settled and is laying eggs, but suddenly there was a lot of pupae hatching and the callows died days later.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 19, 2011 12:48:38 GMT
Some people have Messor barbarus who misbehave occasionally. I, meanwhile, am the proud owner of a naughty Lasius niger colony. The colony is steadily beginning to grow once more in their test tube and the queen is laying eggs- but they have become a lot bolder and I think I'll have to once again think about providing better accommodation for them. Feeding time, for example. In the past, when I would open the test tube to put some food in, the workers would rush to the very back of the tube with their queen and brood. Now they rush towards the open end- and I have to try and capture at least five workers who immediately run out of the open end and all over my hand. This morning I carefully, slowly opened the lid to try not to alert the workers to this escape opportunity, and quickly dropped a freshly killed garden spider inside. Seconds later, they figured the lid must be open for the spider to get inside, so they began their dash for freedom once more. I noticed that the queen was also snapping her jaws as though giving them orders. I think I'll have to prepare them a good old soil set up sometime, since they seem so eager to get out. Last night, my Mum found a Lasius niger worker downstairs. Since this worker was quite small unlike the big ones outside, I knew straight away where she had come from. When I got her inside without others escaping, she was happily greeted by her family like some sort of hero. ;D
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 22, 2011 19:52:35 GMT
I accidentally killed two workers today. Like I said in the previous post, they swarm at the lid whenever I start opening their test tube to put in food. Two workers went straight out as I put the food in, and there would have been more if I hadn't shut the lid- but while shooing the runaway workers into the test tube, they got caught by the lid and were squashed. I remember it happening to the Lasius flavus last year, and to a Messor barbarus worker some months ago. I may look into giving them a plain soil set up tomorrow, where they will be encouraged to swarm out of the test tube.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 29, 2011 8:50:15 GMT
Yesterday I put the test tube into a nice plain soil set up, and opened the lid. As they have done every feeding time, workers swarmed out and soon discovered a drop of honey that I had put on the open end. While some workers went exploring, others sipped delicately from their honey. I then put a (seemingly) dead cricket onto the open end, and it suddenly kicked the drinking workers. Already excited by the new environment, the workers were wrathful towards this cricket and finished it off after a while. The problem with crickets is that they often seem dead, only to start moving later. Nevertheless, the colony is fine.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 29, 2011 15:13:55 GMT
I just got home from five hours in the countryside to find that this colony has vanished completely, apart from a few workers. Then I noticed the sly twitching of antennae from the depths of a few entrance holes- the colony has moved. ;D
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Post by TenebrousNova on Sept 23, 2011 8:29:13 GMT
The colony sends out foragers each day, but I haven't seen what goes on inside. Last night I noticed some small L.niger workers running around my room- I've got several colonies, so I didn't know where they came from. Then this morning, I caught them in the act- a worker was trying to squeeze through an air hole this morning.
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