Jonzii's Lasius niger journal

[crockatt]

My ones have been covering up the walls where the light can get in, and that is with red acetate covering the whole nest, I think the sun getting brighter and warmer now and its to protect them and the brood. Doesn't help when you want to see what's going on

[Jonzii]

The nest area on mine is covered with the red stuff too, guess it must be the extra light. They have now completed the roof building, I cannot see anything within about an inch of the nest entrance now.

[Jonzii]

Checking on the girls today, they have now dug out a chamber and a few tunnels that I can see in to. However this is not where they keep any brood, it is pretty much empty apart from the odd worker wandering in. 

They seem to be thriving though, very active now and a bit of sun today brought all the brood to the surface again. Didn't get any pictures but counted nearly 50 cocooned pupae, and about the same number of larvae at various stages. 

At this rate I think the colony could be at least a few hundred in the next few months 

[Jonzii]

What I've noticed recently now that the worker numbers are increasing, they are very good at maintaining the nest area. Any waste is now carried out and dumped in the foraging area, whereas they would leave it on top of the sand before.

Obviously this is a good thing, but they insist on hiding everything under the stones and pebbles I have in there. I have to go around picking everything up to make sure I get it all. I think they enjoy making me do some work for once!

[Jonzii]

All of the cocooned pupae was bought to the surface earlier, so managed to grab a quick picture. Still going strong, more workers eclosing all the time. 

[Jonzii]

Just spotted one of my niger workers that had something stuck to its gaster, and also on one of its legs.
Obviously I was concerned that it could be mites or something like that. I have had a close look with my macro lense and I think they are grains of sand. The worker has managed to remove all but a couple of them on its gaster now. None of the others have any as far as I can see, not really sure what's made it stick to this one.

[Jonzii]

I can't believe how many cocooned pupae are currently being cared for in this colony.
I can't get a good picture of them as they only bring them out at night now and the light is terrible in my room, hopefully will get one soon.
I counted over 70 earlier, and that was just the ones I could see. They were being tended to by about 15 workers, plus 5 newly eclosed callow ants of which there are many.
This colony has certainly exceeded my expectations so far, and I am extremely happy with how they are doing up to now.

[Jonzii]

Saw a niger worker running around the table on which my niger colony is sat, assumed that one of mine escaped. After catching said worker and placing it back in the foraging area, it quickly made its way up the stick to the tube back to the nest. At the entrance of the tube it met another worker coming the other way, it quickly became clear that this worker was not from my colony.
My worker didn't take to kindly of this intruder and quickly chased it off, and pursued it away into the foraging area closely followed by another. Never seen them look so angry!

I removed the other ant as I didn't want it to die because of my mistake, and placed it outside. Not sure how this ant got that far into my house, it's quite a journey for a small ant. I think it may have hitched a ride on something.

[Jonzii]

These girls have been busy digging tunnels and a few chambers, yet they do not use them at all. Instead or seems that they are just digging out sand to further construct the extension on top of the nest. What was just a roof linking the walls in both sides, has now grown to a small network of tunnels, and maybe a chamber. To be honest I don't really know what's inside it. 

You can see where they have been digging, on the right hand side and in the middle too. The bit they have built is the thing on the left. The original sand level was level with the middle in the picture, you can see how they have built up from there. 



This one shows the entrances to where they have built, this seems to be where all of the colony is living. 



They no longer bring out any brood, so I have no idea how they are doing to be honest   But they are very active still, always plenty of foragers so I assume all is well. 

[Jonzii]

Lots of tunnels and chambers have now been dug out, so I can see into the nest area better now. The Queen and brood are still hidden away somewhere, but judging be the many workers I see travelling about I would estimate that the colony is somewhere around the 150 mark. 
Still very active, and always have around 40 workers swarming over any insects I give them. 

[crockatt]

Glad to hear all is well with your colony, long may it last, I am still sulking from the death of my queen

[Jonzii]

Thank you Crockatt. Very sorry to hear about your colony, they seemed to be doing so well too. 

[Jonzii]

A couple of short videos of the girls. Many tunnels and chambers dug out now, lots of brood some of which you can see. Still haven't seen the Queen, but she must be well. Sorry about the quality, a combination of bad equipment and bad camera man. 

[Jonzii]

Hi All, I've not been around much for a while due to work, but this colony is still with me and thriving. My best estimate would be at least 500-600 workers, maybe more.

Always at least 100 workers out in the foraging arena, and many more when its feeding time. Love watching them come flying down the connecting tube when they realise something is going on.

Anyway, I'll try and get some updated pics soon.

[Deleted]

Nice to hear they are still doing well