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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 25, 2011 20:04:39 GMT
(Log 24)Queen One's eighth worker eclosed today, and I've lost count of Queen Two's workers- they move too fast. I'm probably going to keep them in their current test tubes/bottles until they outgrow it and need a proper set up. Queen One and her workers: The nanitics are also showing an interest in tiny droplets of honey, which is a good sign. The queens of both colonies will drink any honey that the workers won't.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 29, 2011 8:45:15 GMT
(Log 25)I've found throughout my year of ant-keeping that queens often have different personalities. You get calm and bold ones like Queen Two, and hair-trigger alert ones like Queen One. Last night, I gave Queen One her first insect meal: a moth. She immediately grabbed all of her brood and put them in a corner, before turning to face the intruder with jaws agape. She made no movements, and soon calmed down. The workers were skittish but tasted the moth, so I left them to it. I've found this morning that the moth is eaten now.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Sept 3, 2011 18:04:24 GMT
(Log 26)All queens have workers except for Five and Six. I will note though, that Queen Six is the only one in a soil set up and yet she has 20 pupae- more than the others ever did. I'm finding it hard to find food for all of the L.niger queens though, so I may have to release some of the established colonies.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Sept 4, 2011 9:13:31 GMT
(Log 27)Queen Five's first worker has eclosed. I checked Queen Six as well, and she and her first worker were helping a second out of a cocoon. They've all got at least one worker now.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Sept 8, 2011 10:03:44 GMT
(Log 28)All queens now have at least five workers, some over ten. I found a housefly just now and quickly killed it (Killing the ant's food is never a good feeling), then gave it to Queen Two's colony of about 15 workers. The thing is, I can't find food for all of the colonies so I may have to let some of them into the wild and hope that they survive. Queen Two's workers were scared as you might expect, having never encountered insect food before, swarming all around their test tube as Queen Two tried squeezing herself right at the back with the brood. Within a minute the workers stopped their frantic behaviour and instead started to nip at the dead housefly with a new confidence. Queen Two even ventured up to it and started to sample the food. Out of the colonies of Lasius niger that I have, Queens One, Two and Six will remain in my care. Queens Three and Four have over five workers and are still acting normally, but it's probably only a matter of time until they turn on each other.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Sept 11, 2011 13:56:25 GMT
(Log 29)Queen Six is the only queen in a soil set up, but today she has sent her first forager to the surface. The worker was very timid and quick to run away, but still accepted honey. The Queens Three and Four alliance is still intact, and the queens have produced a very large pile of eggs. Most pupae for each queen have become workers, although there are still a few left for some queens.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Dec 5, 2011 22:12:10 GMT
(Log 30)Things have been going downhill. The two-queen alliance has broken as I found one queen dead, presumably killed by the successor, who is alive. Queen Two's workers have all died and she is struggling to recover, the other queens seem to be fine with Queen One doing the best. I'm probably going to let these colonies go in the Spring.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Feb 21, 2012 9:23:21 GMT
(Log 31)I still have only two colonies remaining, and brood development hasn't changed much. I think one of my problems (Since I've had problems finding food for all of these colonies, which may be the cause) was that I took too many queens from the mating flight. In the Summer of 2012, I'll simply take one only.
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 26, 2012 11:13:38 GMT
I have released the final 2011 colony, which belongs to Queen One. One of the other queens had died quite suddenly along with her workers, but from emptying the test tube just now, I found the cause of death. Two dead Pheidole pallidula workers were also in there, so I can only assume that workers from my little colony of them had slipped out of their set up and found their way into the test tube before bringing back reinforcements. Ants never fail to surprise me. In any case, this journal is closed.
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