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Post by TenebrousNova on Feb 10, 2012 20:49:54 GMT
The pupa is eclosing, or has eclosed, as promised. ;D I can't be certain as only the new worker's head is visible among the brood, and her antennae are slowly moving around. I have also seen something quite intriguing; I had once again tried giving them a cricket yesterday. Once again, they had moved it away from the nest and ignored it- but the cricket's body appears to be in the nest with the head about a centimeter away. Maybe this means that the Lambda colony is finally interested in meat.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Feb 25, 2012 10:18:05 GMT
It looks as though they have no interest in mealworms for the time being, perhaps the chitin is too tough to chew through? There appears to be about thirty eggs, about 10-15 larvae and two pupae. There's normally two or even five workers out at a time, on the lookout for food. From previous experience with a much smaller (But sadly, deceased) colony, Messors love dandelion seeds. I'll be sure to stock up on them when I see the seeding dandelion heads.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 2, 2012 9:16:47 GMT
Queen Kappa (The failing one) has died at last. I have put her in the Lambda container to see if the workers are interested- which they are! Two of them sat on top of her remains, examining every part of her. It might have been my imagination, but I'm sure that Kappa's antennae twitched ever so slightly, but even if she is alive, she is completely immobile. Hopefully they'll eat her, but I'm not sure if they will. The Lambda colony will soon have a new worker, as heralded by a mid-way brown pupa. I am not sure if they did eat the two mosquitoes I gave them, but the larvae are growing slightly faster than they did last month. Lambda sometimes pokes her head out of the entrance hole, and she still seems to be active.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 7, 2012 21:21:43 GMT
A new worker eclosed during the later hours of this afternoon. There's definitely some more eggs in the brood chamber.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 11, 2012 21:35:11 GMT
I found a few heads of dandelion seeds whilst walking the dog earlier, and after half an hour of trimming the parasols from them, I have filled a small bottle lid with them. The Messors seem quite interested and bought one or two into their nest. Last time I looked a worker was circling the interior of the lid, perhaps choosing a seed, so I'm quite pleased. There's about thirty eggs and maybe fifteen newborn larvae, among roughly ten larger ones who will soon pupate. There is also the one pupa which has a very faint brown shade to it. The worker who recently eclosed still has her callow colours, but she is quite active. I have a feeling that the mosquitoes I've been finding are behind the eggs that are being laid recently.
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Post by IceWhyte on Mar 11, 2012 21:41:07 GMT
So do they just eat bottom part of the seeds? I bought a pack of dandelion seeds but they don't look like the ones you see flying around.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 11, 2012 21:46:10 GMT
Yes, the bottom part. I'm not sure if they have a preference between wild ones or not, but they seem to react pretty positively to them. Even if they don't grab them, they do seem to sniff in interest for a few moments before moving on. I've found that if they don't like something, they ignore it altogether. It's also a good idea to rinse the seeds beforehand in case they have something undesirable on them.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 13, 2012 9:54:31 GMT
They didn't touch the seeds any further, but this morning they have about six or more in the nest. It is excellent to see that they're genuinely interested. Updated: Their seed collection has nearly doubled and there's a few pieces of ant bread being fed to the larvae. ;D Currently there's 4-6 workers foraging, and one of them is attempting to move a seed out of the lid. I also put a tiny bit of cheese by their nest entrance as a treat, and it was graciously accepted. I imagine that the colony faces a period of growth soon, if the newly laid eggs are anything to go by. Here's what the colony seems to enjoy eating so far: Food | Reaction |
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- Rye Grass Seeds
- Ham
- Cheese (Cheddar)
- Mosquitoes
- Wild Dandelion Seeds | - Positive, seems bored of them now though.
- Accepted each time in tiny amounts.
- Accepted each time in tiny amounts.
- Tentatively accepted.
- Eagerly accepted. |
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 18, 2012 12:08:12 GMT
I bought a culture of fruit flies from the pet shop today, whilst choosing some tropical fish for my mum. Whilst they smell bad, it was somewhat interesting to observe the fly in all of its stages of egg, larva, pupa and adult. I managed to get one out without incident and gave it to the Messors. Like they always do when there's a minor disturbance, a number of antennae began to quiver from the entrance hole. One worker emerged and leaped back as she found the fly, and a slightly larger worker began to make snappish lunges at it (The first time I've actually seen signs of aggression from workers of this colony). The worker eventually tugged the fruit fly into the nest and with a magnifying glass I was able to see what happened below. The workers crowded around it (Including the queen, who showed more curiosity than alarm), before the big worker (Media/major?) snapped a few times and picked it up. She dumped the fly outside before turning and going back in. I then carefully put the fly back in to see if they'll accept this time, and whilst the media/major seemed to want to get it out again, another worker took it off her. I have left the colony alone now, but I hope that they eat it.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 18, 2012 17:47:25 GMT
A second pupa has just formed within the last hour.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 19, 2012 8:30:00 GMT
And now there are three pupae. ;D
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Post by Zarbi on Mar 19, 2012 8:37:47 GMT
How are the queens you had from Wood doing, and do these current pupae belong to a queen you had from him or someone else?
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 19, 2012 9:41:40 GMT
The queen from this journal came from Wood (Who in turn got her from a lady who goes by the name 'Eriduserpent'). Yes, the workers and brood described belong to the same queen. I have another queen in the other Messor journal from Bobdol, but she isn't going quite as well as I hoped.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Mar 19, 2012 14:09:34 GMT
The queen from this journal came from Wood (Who in turn got her from a lady who goes by the name 'Eriduserpent'). Yes, the workers and brood described belong to the same queen. Actually Timenova the Spanish queens you had from me were from a lovely lady called Valentina, as she works as a botanist in one of the universities over there and collected them for me in one of her orchards.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 19, 2012 17:15:12 GMT
Ahhh, sorry. I must have mixed her up. ;D
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