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Post by trueviper on May 12, 2015 18:18:49 GMT
12th May 2015
I received my Myrmica sabuleti colony from deansyme today and have decided to rehome them into a larger test tube nest until it's large enough to move into an acrylic nest. Also for the time being the colony will use the 2nd half of the Formica cinerea foraging area which I have separated with a wad of cotton wool. Each colony will have its own half until larger foraging areas are needed.
A bright lamp has been placed onto the original nest and the colony have started to move to the new nest with quite a lot of the brood having been already moved halfway and into the tubing. Also I have spotted all 3 queens.
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Post by trueviper on May 12, 2015 20:44:07 GMT
I should probably add that this species is a lot bigger then I was expecting and they look fantastic. The nest moving activity seemed to come to a stand still so I gently tapped the test tube up and down and that's got them motivated! Nearly all of the brood has been moved to the tube and is now being moved into the nest. It's really fascinating watching the move
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Post by trueviper on May 12, 2015 20:45:22 GMT
The nest has now been attached to the foraging area even though I did have to tap the last 5 workers out that were a bit reluctant to leave! The brood has nearly all been moved to the nest and the workers are busy feeding on dead spiders, crickets and maple syrup water. The queens were very hungry, in fact all 3 tripped over each over to be fed by the workers, 1 worker feeding all 3 at the same time. Interesting to watch their antennae feathering the workers head, milking it as if it was an aphid. The foraging area is a hive of activity (no pun intended lol) and is great to watch as this is my first colony with multiple workers. Thanks again to deansyme for supplying an excellent colony
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Post by trueviper on May 14, 2015 16:40:45 GMT
14th May 20015
The colony has been happily feeding on spiders, small crickets and waxworms these last couple of days.
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Post by trueviper on May 20, 2015 17:01:09 GMT
20th May 2015
I've now provided a larger foraging area for the colony and the workers have been busy exploring it. Offered a couple of cut up waxworms this morning however feeding has slowed down somewhat, probably because I've been over feeding them so I won't offer any more food for a few days.
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Post by trueviper on May 23, 2015 21:17:51 GMT
Here's a quick rough video of the colony. I'll post up a longer and better one soon.
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Post by trueviper on May 26, 2015 17:51:24 GMT
So I decided to take woodants good advice and finally get round to moving this colony from its test tube into a brand spanking new acrylic nest. I'm glad I did as they look fantastic in their new home and I love watching colonies move their brood. And I'm sure the colony will fair much better with more room. Sorry about the dodgy cameramanship, I'm still getting used to the auto-zoom Long videos I know but I wanted to record the entire move and it was so fascinating to watch.
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Post by trueviper on May 27, 2015 20:15:21 GMT
27th May 2015
Fed the colony a cut up Peacock butterfly this evening and they really seemed to go for it. The pieces have all been collected up and its started a feeding frenzy in the nest, I've even seen larvae attached to one of the pieces. Trying not to overfeed this colony at the moment and am only feeding once every 2-3 days, maple syrup water every other day. The colony's settled into its new nest really well and I'm really looking forward to the appearance of pupae.
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Post by trueviper on May 27, 2015 20:41:06 GMT
Sorry to repost this video link but I've just noticed the appearance of the nice sized egg-ball that this colony has Time index 2:55 in the top left corner of the nest, you might find it interesting. I've seen a steady increase in eggs in the last 15 days since I've had this colony, having 3 queens helps no doubt.
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Post by trueviper on May 28, 2015 16:51:13 GMT
Picture taken just after the nest relocation on 25th May.
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Post by trueviper on Jun 12, 2015 20:16:08 GMT
12th June 2015
There are now lots of pupae in the nest, also I fed the colony a cut-up meal worm for the first time this evening and it went down very well.
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Post by trueviper on Jun 14, 2015 9:30:17 GMT
13th June 2015 We now have lots of naked pupae! I'm not worried though given my past experiences with my other queens EATING them, even though there are 3 of them, I'd like to see them eating that lot! The challenge is on, queen ant versus food
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Post by trueviper on Jun 22, 2015 17:02:17 GMT
20th June 2015
The pupae are starting to look like they may eclose soon.
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Post by trueviper on Jun 22, 2015 21:41:02 GMT
21st June 2015
I've been diligently watching this colony for a few days now looking out for new callow workers and today I actually watched my first worker eclose! Pretty amazing seeing it actually happen in front of you. There are a total of three in the nest now, in the video there's one in the middle chamber and two in the right hand side chamber.
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Post by trueviper on Jun 22, 2015 21:42:45 GMT
22nd June 2015
More callows today, 7 in total I counted and the nest is a hive of activity as more pupae prepare to eclose.
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Post by trueviper on Jun 22, 2015 21:45:23 GMT
22nd June 2015
I had noticed pupae in the nest that looked slightly different then the rest, larger and darker, and to my amazement winged ants have begun to emerge from them! These will be killed and fed to the larvae I assume, since they probably won't leave the nest?
1st winged ant eclosing.....
....and then a 2nd.
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Post by trueviper on Jun 25, 2015 22:06:15 GMT
25th June 2015
Loads of callows now, and winged males...
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Post by trueviper on Jul 4, 2015 12:07:52 GMT
3rd July 2015
We have a lot of alates plus more callow workers have emerged.
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Post by trueviper on Jul 9, 2015 19:42:39 GMT
9th July 2015 My sabs do sure love their maple syrup!
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Post by trueviper on Jul 19, 2015 13:01:26 GMT
19th July 2015
This will be the last video of this colony in its current starter nest before it's moved into its new 30cm x 20cm acrylic nest that I've just ordered from Anthouse. As you can see pretty much all of the pupae have eclosed and the colony has increased in size, outgrowing the nest they're in.
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