|
Post by bobdol on Sept 6, 2011 15:58:27 GMT
I received a healthy Lasius flavus queen today from wood ant/Jenant The queen currently has a batch of eggs some larvae and some tiny cocoons Currently housed in a test tube I am planning on putting this colony in some sort of soil set up (Possibly an ant world) as soon as there is about 5+ workers Will update as much as possible, Thanks for reading.
|
|
|
Post by bobdol on Sept 9, 2011 16:56:38 GMT
There is now around 6-8 cocoons as well as a further 5 larvae and a batch of eggs ;D I placed a piece of mealworm in there which she has just had a small nible on but, does not seem to interested Fingers crossed for first worker soon
|
|
|
Post by bobdol on Sept 22, 2011 19:32:46 GMT
Yesterday I recieved another Flavus queen from wood and jenant. This queen is from this years mating flight and currently has 4 tiny workers tending her and the large pile of brood. The workers are so small it was hard to tell how many there were even in the test tube! At first I thought this colony were very shy as they would not come and feed from the sugar water I placed in the tube however, as I type this one of the workers has discovered the piece of mealworm only a couple of minutes after I placed it in the tube so it seems they are not too afraid of leaving the cotton as I first thought The first Flavus queen is also doing well although there is still no first worker There is plenty of brood though and she seems really happy so hopefully we will see worker No.1 soon:) I will call the orignal Flavus queen Q1 and the new colony Q2
|
|
|
Post by bobdol on Sept 23, 2011 16:00:22 GMT
There is actually 5 workers now although I'm not sure if there were 5 when they first came:P Its so hard to tell as they are so tiny. Last night 3 workers all fed for about 1 hour from the mealworm I placed in and this morning it has been hollowed out
|
|
|
Post by Wood~Ant on Sept 23, 2011 18:39:32 GMT
There is actually 5 workers now although I'm not sure if there were 5 when they first came:P Its so hard to tell as they are so tiny. When Jen posted this colony it did only have 4 workers, so the 5th is a new callow addition since they arrived
|
|
|
Post by bobdol on Sept 23, 2011 20:13:58 GMT
Great! Out of interest how many workers was there when the Niger queen was posted?
|
|
|
Post by Wood~Ant on Sept 24, 2011 7:46:15 GMT
Great! Out of interest how many workers was there when the Niger queen was posted? Just 1 newly emerged callow, all the rest were still cocooned pupae and other brood.
|
|
|
Post by bobdol on Sept 24, 2011 10:15:59 GMT
Ok, thanks! 2 must have hatched in the post then:P
|
|
|
Post by bobdol on Sept 25, 2011 9:01:42 GMT
Yay, Queen number 1 has her first worker now:) It eclosed late last night and is very unstable on its feet right now:)
I have attached the second colony to a small ytong nest which I hope they will move too.
|
|
|
Post by bobdol on Sept 30, 2011 17:00:58 GMT
I have moved the first queen into a very large jar ( about 20 cm by 10cm) filled with soil. She has about 4-6 workers now with plenty of other brood in various stages however, they will not seem to eat any insects I give them.
The second colony must be around 10+ workers now although its so hard to tell as they seem to have dug into the cotton a bit. There is also loads more cocoons + larvae and eggs. They fed from a fly yesterday and some cake today so they seem to be healthy ;D
I am hoping to order these guys an antworld soon as, they did not like the ytong nest.
|
|
|
Post by bobdol on Oct 5, 2011 17:20:48 GMT
The first colony has now moved out of the test tube into a small chamber up agaist the glass that a lone worker has been working on for a while They have a lot of brood still although quite a bit is still in the test tube Hopefully they will take it down soon The second colony is still living in the test tube, they seem very content there and so I'm not rushing to make/buy them a nest. Its hard to know how many there are although it must be 10+ at least:) Yesterday they fed on a maggot I found in the compost
|
|
|
Post by bobdol on Oct 13, 2011 17:01:25 GMT
Sadly Colony 1 did not adapt well too the jar and in the end the queen just wandered aimlessley on the soil whilst the workers stayed in the test tube I put them back in the test tube in the dark of the wardrobe with the other colony, I will wait till they get bigger and then try again possibly with a cork or ytong nest. There is still lots of brood in different stages with around 6+ workers. I was surprised to see a naked pupae amongst the brood yesterday but I've heard this can happen although its rare... Colony 2 is also doing well with 10+ workers and plenty of brood, they are still housed in the testube and seem to like it there... I will try to offer both colonys a more natural home but at the moment they seem to like where they are and are growing at a steady and healthy pace.
|
|
|
Post by bobdol on Oct 21, 2011 12:09:19 GMT
Colony 1 is still living in a test tube although I plan on giving them the option to move into a small ytong nest instead. There is about 6 workers in this colony as well as plenty of brood.
I decided too move colony two into an antworld in the same way that I did with my niger colony. This basically consits of tipping the tube into the nest and hoping all goes well...
Anyways the queen and most of the workers and brood are now sitting on the surface of the ant world whilst other workers expand the starter tunnel I made for them. Sadly, I lost a few eggs in the move but I may give the colony a few cocoons from a wild nest to make up for this.
There is exactly 12 workers, about 5 cocoons, 10 larvae and 10 eggs in the colony as of now.
|
|
|
Post by bobdol on Oct 23, 2011 16:33:46 GMT
These girls have made quite an extensive tunnel system with a large chamber in the middle where they keep the brood and queen, which now also includes 4 cocoons from a wild colony I gave them to replace the eggs lost in transit.
|
|
|
Post by bobdol on Oct 30, 2011 9:21:44 GMT
The colony in the antworld continues to thrive with lots of cocooned pupa and larvae. The 4 wild cocoons I gave them were quickly adopted and 1 at least as eclosed as I've seen a much larger worker walking around in the tunnels. They don't seem to want food of any sort so I may put them in the garage overwinter if they won't forage so at least there metabolism will be slowed down. Sadly the colony in the test tube does not seem to be doing as well and although there is a large batch of larvae (10-15) and some cocoons the queen seems to be unwell and is often just lying on her back or at the far end of the test tube... I hope she gets better as now even the workers seem unwell. They have had constant access to sugar water and I tried to feed them some chicken last night but they don't seem at all interested. One good point is one of the naked pupae is currently eclosing although the workers are not taking much notice of it. If this queen does die at least the brood can be absolved into the antworld colony.
|
|