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Post by bobdol on Sept 22, 2011 19:43:38 GMT
Yesterday I received a Lasius niger queen from Wood and jenant , there were 2 workers when it arrived as well as plenty of brood in all stages. Last night another worker hatched from its cocoon and so 2 became 3:) After successfully feeding the colony some sugar water soaked cotton I decided to see if they wanted some protein After placing a small piece of mealworm at the end of the tube the Queen was the first to dig in. Then a worker joined and as I type this the queen is still tearing into the mealworm. I have never seen such a hungry ant I have really good hopes for this colony as, at the rate they are taking their food there will be plenty of new ants soon ;D
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Post by bobdol on Sept 23, 2011 15:58:19 GMT
In the last 6 hours two more workers have eclosed bringing the count up too 5. I think I will transfer these guys to a Ytong nest soon where they will have more room and acsess to a larger foraging area
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Post by bobdol on Sept 25, 2011 9:02:35 GMT
Another callow hatched today and I've attached the colony to a small ytong nest which I hope they will move into
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Post by bobdol on Sept 30, 2011 16:52:09 GMT
This colony now has around 10 workers I have moved them into an ant world which they seem to like and have made a small chamber which I cannot really see into that well There is a large amount of eggs in this colony now though which is probably due to the high protien diet I have been giving them;) There are also some larvae although the cocoon supply seems to have ended so no more callows for a while
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Post by bobdol on Oct 2, 2011 9:14:42 GMT
These guys are still remaining underground although they seem to have taken a piece of cranefly stuck to the side of the ant world as it is no longer visible.
I have attached there ant world to the Leptothorax basin so they have access to plenty of honey which is smeared alround the tank on the twigs/bark/leaves.
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Post by bobdol on Oct 13, 2011 17:10:13 GMT
Still remaining in the underground chambers the colony seems healthy although I have seen none of them above ground for a while.
I have placed some sugar water, dead maggot and apple in the foraging basin so hopefully they will take this food.
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Post by bobdol on Oct 16, 2011 8:51:31 GMT
Yesterday I saw 4 cocoons which were not in the colony when I put them in the ant world, they were in the bottom chamber which has not previously been used. Today I also saw three small clumps of eggs against the plastic side ;D There is probably more brood in there that they are hiding as I can rarley see 2 workers at the same time so there is lots of hidden tunnels/chambers where the brood could be hidden I also got a glimpse of the queens abdomen yesterday which was surprising swollen, it looks like she is ready to burst!
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Post by bobdol on Nov 6, 2011 19:41:00 GMT
Today there has been a lone worker wandering around by herself, she is not interested in food and I'm wondering if she may be lost! At least now I know they have access to the surface and food. There is a lot of brood in the colony at the moment, with about 6 cocoons visible at any one time, about 10 medium-large larvae and a pile of eggs. There may be more as some parts of the nest are hidden and until recentley I could only see about 2 cocoons and the queen but now they moved a lot of brood into a more visible chamber. ;D
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Post by bobdol on Nov 13, 2011 19:16:33 GMT
A few days ago I was forced to remove this colony from their ant world after a tunnel collapsed leaving the queen and workers stranded in a tiny chamber about 5cm below the surface... I opened up the ant world and workers proceeded to swarm everywhere. After nearly an hour I had collected about 4 cocoons, loads of larvae a few eggs 9 angry workers and a flustered queen. I also discovered 2 dead workers a bit further away from the main colony. The whole colony is now in a test tube and seem happy, sadly one worker died shortly after being transferred however, there is now three more callow workers in the colony that have eclosed since the move bringing the entire count up to eleven. I was amazed at how much was squeezed in the tiny chamber they had made in the ant world and was so happy too see a huge lump of larvae in different stages which are now spread across the glass in the tube being tended non stop ;D. I'm hoping they will progress quickly as I don't want to hibernate this colony with so many larvae as I fear they will die, I may just leave hibernation out for the first year if the queen continues to lay eggs.
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Post by bobdol on Nov 27, 2011 17:56:22 GMT
This colony is now in hibernation as the workers were not feeding at all. Since being in hibernation for the last week they have clumped the larvae into a large blob and crowded around it. I will wake them up some time in Febuary I think.
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