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Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 22, 2012 9:49:46 GMT
When I opened the lid to check and feed this colony earlier, they literally began to swarm up the sides. I hastily shut it again until their anger subsided. The queen, all of the brood and workers happened to be sitting outside the 'nest' of cotton, which is why they acted as they did. I could see plenty of callows, as well as one who was yet to get on her feet. Since this colony is doing so well, I'd eventually like to try making a 'proper' formicarium for them, perhaps with their existing container as an outworld. What with last Summer's incident however, I will have to be very sure that this new habitat won't cause mass worker deaths. I will do some research into it, since I've never tried it before.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 30, 2012 9:38:13 GMT
There will shortly be an influx of new workers, as many pupae are darkening at once. ;D The queen seems to have her favourite corner, which she always sits in before I check them. I imagine that this corner is the point of genesis for most of the brood. As she moved from this position when I looked, I could see two callows next to her. From experience, new ants seem to spend a lot of time with their mother. Perhaps this is how they obtain their identifying scent? The batch of new larvae that hatched a few weeks ago has now quickly advanced to the medium size, and a new batch has began to hatch within the last few days. I have noticed that two new pupae are slightly bigger than the others, which is another good sign. Overall, I estimate that there will be at least 300 workers by the end of the Summer, assuming that there are no accidents of course.
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 14, 2012 8:10:45 GMT
I regret it, but I had to kill about six workers today. This colony is clearly getting big enough at about 150 workers to no longer be treated lightly, as I discovered this morning. I took off the lid as usual for a quick examination. The queen had finally come out for a change with her brood, and there were some more eggs. I put some honey in, then the bad things happened once the queen went back inside. A few workers ran to the top and went along the rim of the container. This is quite normal and I can usually brush them down- but suddenly a further five followed them with antennae dancing frantically and jaws open, then twenty. Before I knew it, about five had got out and I had to put the lid on as carefully as possible whilst putting the escapees back in. This left about six workers running through the gap between the snap-on lid and the rim of the container. There were maybe thirty workers angrily attempting to join them, and if I tried to return these workers then there would be a mass-exodus. I had to sacrifice those few by closing the lid fully, and even though they will be replaced quickly at the rate of colony growth, it wasn't a pleasant thing to do. I'm going to have to treat this colony with extra caution now, as they seem to have gained a dramatic boost in confidence and aggression as their numbers grow.
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 14, 2012 16:01:04 GMT
The colony has calmed down now, but it looks as though they won't hesitate to repeat that performance again if I'm not careful. They appear to have a number of workers stationed on the sides, presumably they can smell their dead sisters? In any case, the queen has been sitting atop a big pupa pile this afternoon. I have been given the idea of a custom formicarium some more thought, and I'm not sure if I should try making either a pumice nest or a traditional styled one with two planes of plastic with soil in the middle. I do have some tubing in a drawer, so if I were to carry out this hypothetical move I suppose I would connect it to their current tub, which would become a foraging area. It seems all too easy to make an error and give them a gap to get through though. Better get planning!
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 18, 2012 8:20:11 GMT
Most of the eggs have now hatched, colony growth is accelerating with at least one callow every few days. There's almost four hundred small larvae, and maybe forty who are large enough to pupate soon. There's roughly one hundred pupae. Here's one of the pupa piles; also visible are some of the big larvae:
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 25, 2012 6:39:42 GMT
Whilst watching this colony this morning (They have wanted a lot of honey due to the heat ), I looked through the magnifying glass and discovered some sort of tiny annelid- mite sized- in the refuse areas of the nest. Since they only seem to be found in those areas, aren't too common and don't seem to be affecting the colony negatively, I can only conclude that they're there for the waste products, which they appear to be feeding upon. Queen has been doing her job quite well and is occasionally visible under her cotton shelter in a mass of black/brown workers. ;D
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Post by Wood~Ant on May 25, 2012 6:51:27 GMT
Ants have both good, and bad myrmecophiles living in their nests. Mites come into both categories, but the ones found in the midden are not harmful to the ants and do more good as they act like tiny dustbin men or refuse disposers.
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 25, 2012 14:05:57 GMT
A bit indistinct, but if I tried holding a magnifying glass then I may have dropped them. Here's the majority of the brood. ;D
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 7, 2012 8:51:32 GMT
The pupa pile has now reached dramatic proportions, as there's about 200 and workers actually have to climb up the pile now. ;D The eggs appear to be kept close to the pupae, whilst the larvae are mostly under another piece of cotton on the other side of the container- presumably to protect their older and unhatched siblings from cannibalization. The queen's appearances are getting rare now, as she almost never leaves the comfort of the cotton she nests under without a big retinue of workers. Nevertheless, she is still laying eggs, and I briefly saw a large pair of antennae poke from the nest if I'm not mistaken. I cannot give an accurate approximation of the worker population as they travel in big groups, but I believe there to be around 300.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 9, 2012 19:15:01 GMT
Their main piece of cotton dried out, so I planned and executed the daunting task of removing what shelters many angry workers and swiftly replacing it. Firstly, since they were due their feed, I gave them a cricket and drop of honey whilst they moved their brood inside. After a few foiled attempts to remove the lid without alerting workers to an escape route, I was able to do so and remove a few bits of rubbish before bracing myself. I picked up the cotton, gently brushed the workers and brood from the underside, binned it, then placed the newly prepared piece of cotton into the container. The disgruntled queen moved underneath it along with the workers and brood. Here's the scene underneath the old piece of cotton: The new piece was moulded so that it formed a hollow dome to provide more space, much like an igloo. They look quite snug in there.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 19, 2012 17:18:43 GMT
Here's a peek of the rapidly growing egg pile. Combined with the other bunches of eggs workers are transporting, I estimate at least two hundred. I was also able to (Sort of) catch the colony's proud progenitor in the midst of it all. "He's opened the lid a tiny bit to put in some honey! Run!"
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 20, 2012 15:35:20 GMT
I have some more content today, having changed a piece of cotton (Again, a carefully planned and executed operation). When the colony finally calmed down, I was able to take the lid off completely for the first time in ages. Since the cotton the queen was nesting under was too old, I decided to play with fire and take some photos of the upheaval. Here she is: Against side: Overhead of queen and her guards: Clearer shot of the workers after the queen left the scene: Short video of the queen.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 25, 2012 18:35:59 GMT
The metaphoric wheels of this colony are still steadily turning. The queen has become emboldened and isn't as quick to hide when the colony is brought into the light, and she is still doing an excellent job where egg laying is concerned. There are not quite as many pupae at the moment as plenty have eclosed, but a lot of larvae are present right now- ranging from newborn to the biggest size. I gave them a large bluebottle this morning, and the worker's attention quickly diverted from escape to feasting. ;D Said bluebottle appears to have a large crack in its belly, and is currently hollowed out with a few missing legs among the larvae. I wouldn't mind taking a leaf out of Honeydewman's book and eventually giving this colony a thistle plant for aphid herding.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 2, 2012 19:22:03 GMT
I have been having luck with finding food for this colony, so the brood mass is quickly growing again. I found a small housefly and gave it to them. It turned out to still be alive, and ran away with a hoard in hot pursuit. A single worker grabbed the fly's back leg and remained in this position for some five minutes whilst the others caught up. Curiously, I noticed a worker come up to the one restraining the fly and give her a cleaning. ;D
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 13, 2012 13:11:05 GMT
I long ago lost count of the worker population, but it is between three and four hundred, and rising. I have noticed that the newer generations of workers are increasing slightly in size. They are feeding well and the queen is still laying a lot of eggs.
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