Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2012 7:28:30 GMT 1
A diary of the colonies of my 7 Lasius Niger queens that I named after Disney princesses, except for Maleficent because she is a trouble maker.
My ant collection began on the 31st of July when I went to the back of my garden lifted one of the stone slabs and nabbed a few workers and some pupae and put them in this home made ant nest -
It is a pretty basic build. I super glued the medicine bottle upside down to the bottom of the jar and then filled the sides with sieved dirt.
The medicine bottle stops the ants from creating a nest in the center where you can't see anything and doubles up as a feeding tray.
Within about 10 minutes the few workers collected the pupae and built a small cavern around them -
On the 8th of August the nuptial flights started in my area. I had previously ordered some test tubes and clay granules (from queenantshop.co.uk) that arrived on the 8th so perfect timing. I went out and collected 5 queens. -
Jasmin, Rapunzel, Ariel, Aurora and Maleficent... Maleficent is the one that wont stop tugging at the cotton wool... ever...
On the 9th I did a bad thing, I caught a 6th queen (Cinderella) and put her in with my original ant colony. She seemed like a fighter so I figured she would kill the 4-5 workers and claim the pupae as her own. Needless to say this did not happen. Upon her first meet with one of the workers they both turned tail and ran the other way. She soon slipped in to one of the nooks I had made for the ants to start nesting and covered the entrance. She then began to dig down to the bottom of the jar where she built her own bat cave.
On the 10th I caught my 7th queen (Belle) in a small tub then proceeded to forget about her for 2 days. Before you all start calling me a terrible ant keeper my mum had collapsed and I rode with her in the ambulance. I went to visit her every day in hospital so anting wasn't really on my mind at the time. She is completely fine by the way. She was pissed off that the hospital kept her in for 5 days because they "needed" to do a test that on the day a doctor said wasn't necessary so she was discharged... Yeah... Don't go to Northwick Park.
Any who, after getting home from visiting my mum on the 12th I remembered Belle and went to check on her. She was not good. Without a water source she was lying on her back, dying. I cursed a lot then remembered this post - www.myrm.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=keep&action=display&thread=5493&page=1 And Rubra's advice to gently blow on her. I took her in my hand and did this and she slowly came back, she didn't have much strength so I put her back in the tub sans lid and gave her a small droplet of water.
I knew if she was going to stand a chance I needed to get her in to a test tube set up but all my test tubes were full. I quickly checked on them since I had left them in the dark a few days to rest up and get used to their new homes... Maleficent! The difficult little harpy was still pulling at her cotton... She needed a new home. And so I spent the next few hours building this -
Using a hot knife I cut a hole in the bottom of a Morrisons lemonade bottle, I then used my glue gun to attach a Dove bubble bath bottle cap to a piece of plastic plumbing pipe that I had previously cut to size. Then it was a simple matter of pushing it through the hole in the bottle. It was a nice airtight fit but I glue gunned around the edge to make sure the pipe didn't move. I then filled the bottle with sieved dirt, cut a small hole in the side and added a piece of tubing for future extensions -
Finally I cut a hole in the lid and glue gunned some metal mesh over it for ventilation -
I dropped Maleficent in her new home and she quickly found a nook I had made for her in the dirt. Within 20 minutes she had sealed the entrance and within the hour she had gone. I presume she has dug further in to the center of the nest to get away from me because she hates my face. Ungrateful cow.
I quickly moved Belle in to Maleficents tube and marked it. For the next few days I kept an eye on her. She recovered. ;D YAY!
19th of August - For the last week I have left both the nests and the test tubes covered (except to water the soil of the nests). Maleficent is still missing how ever my first nest has become a hive of activity. It would seem the pupae have hatched but not only that they have all moved. They have moved deeper under the soil and created a vast network of tunnels leading all over the jar. The is also a winged ant among them. To add tension to the moment their new camp is just above Cinderellas batcave! -
Yes she is still alive!
Although they haven't killed her I think they have been stealing her eggs. I noticed a few new eggs amongst their nest and I don't think they belong to anyone else somehow. I don't think this is a peaceful co-existence since I haven't seen any workers tending to her. Maybe they are keeping her prisoner like the wicked step sisters. I put a piece of apple in the feeding dish so I could better see them and I figure the must be 30-50 workers in there. I swear the wasn't that many pupae. They swarmed all over the piece of apple.
20th of August - Cinderella is still alive in her cave though I still haven't seen any workers tending to her. Maleficent is still in hiding, I have decided that by the time the other queens have produced workers, if I haven't seen any activity I will presume her dead and give her home to someone else. Today I shared an affectionate moment with the test tube queens. After watching an antscanada video I decided to try feeding them some honey on the end of a wooden BBQ skewer. I fed Belle first as I still feel guilty about almost killing her and she is kind of my favourite. She may be kinda weak on her feet but she came back from death and has laid more eggs than any of the other queens. Anyway they freaking LOVE honey! I let them get a taste off of the end of the skewer then wipe the excess on the bottom of the test tube and they all cleared their plates. Only Belle got a second helping though.
I tried giving some honey to the workers in Nest 00 but they didn't seem that interested. Final pic of them -
My ant collection began on the 31st of July when I went to the back of my garden lifted one of the stone slabs and nabbed a few workers and some pupae and put them in this home made ant nest -
It is a pretty basic build. I super glued the medicine bottle upside down to the bottom of the jar and then filled the sides with sieved dirt.
The medicine bottle stops the ants from creating a nest in the center where you can't see anything and doubles up as a feeding tray.
Within about 10 minutes the few workers collected the pupae and built a small cavern around them -
On the 8th of August the nuptial flights started in my area. I had previously ordered some test tubes and clay granules (from queenantshop.co.uk) that arrived on the 8th so perfect timing. I went out and collected 5 queens. -
Jasmin, Rapunzel, Ariel, Aurora and Maleficent... Maleficent is the one that wont stop tugging at the cotton wool... ever...
On the 9th I did a bad thing, I caught a 6th queen (Cinderella) and put her in with my original ant colony. She seemed like a fighter so I figured she would kill the 4-5 workers and claim the pupae as her own. Needless to say this did not happen. Upon her first meet with one of the workers they both turned tail and ran the other way. She soon slipped in to one of the nooks I had made for the ants to start nesting and covered the entrance. She then began to dig down to the bottom of the jar where she built her own bat cave.
On the 10th I caught my 7th queen (Belle) in a small tub then proceeded to forget about her for 2 days. Before you all start calling me a terrible ant keeper my mum had collapsed and I rode with her in the ambulance. I went to visit her every day in hospital so anting wasn't really on my mind at the time. She is completely fine by the way. She was pissed off that the hospital kept her in for 5 days because they "needed" to do a test that on the day a doctor said wasn't necessary so she was discharged... Yeah... Don't go to Northwick Park.
Any who, after getting home from visiting my mum on the 12th I remembered Belle and went to check on her. She was not good. Without a water source she was lying on her back, dying. I cursed a lot then remembered this post - www.myrm.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=keep&action=display&thread=5493&page=1 And Rubra's advice to gently blow on her. I took her in my hand and did this and she slowly came back, she didn't have much strength so I put her back in the tub sans lid and gave her a small droplet of water.
I knew if she was going to stand a chance I needed to get her in to a test tube set up but all my test tubes were full. I quickly checked on them since I had left them in the dark a few days to rest up and get used to their new homes... Maleficent! The difficult little harpy was still pulling at her cotton... She needed a new home. And so I spent the next few hours building this -
Using a hot knife I cut a hole in the bottom of a Morrisons lemonade bottle, I then used my glue gun to attach a Dove bubble bath bottle cap to a piece of plastic plumbing pipe that I had previously cut to size. Then it was a simple matter of pushing it through the hole in the bottle. It was a nice airtight fit but I glue gunned around the edge to make sure the pipe didn't move. I then filled the bottle with sieved dirt, cut a small hole in the side and added a piece of tubing for future extensions -
Finally I cut a hole in the lid and glue gunned some metal mesh over it for ventilation -
I dropped Maleficent in her new home and she quickly found a nook I had made for her in the dirt. Within 20 minutes she had sealed the entrance and within the hour she had gone. I presume she has dug further in to the center of the nest to get away from me because she hates my face. Ungrateful cow.
I quickly moved Belle in to Maleficents tube and marked it. For the next few days I kept an eye on her. She recovered. ;D YAY!
19th of August - For the last week I have left both the nests and the test tubes covered (except to water the soil of the nests). Maleficent is still missing how ever my first nest has become a hive of activity. It would seem the pupae have hatched but not only that they have all moved. They have moved deeper under the soil and created a vast network of tunnels leading all over the jar. The is also a winged ant among them. To add tension to the moment their new camp is just above Cinderellas batcave! -
Yes she is still alive!
Although they haven't killed her I think they have been stealing her eggs. I noticed a few new eggs amongst their nest and I don't think they belong to anyone else somehow. I don't think this is a peaceful co-existence since I haven't seen any workers tending to her. Maybe they are keeping her prisoner like the wicked step sisters. I put a piece of apple in the feeding dish so I could better see them and I figure the must be 30-50 workers in there. I swear the wasn't that many pupae. They swarmed all over the piece of apple.
20th of August - Cinderella is still alive in her cave though I still haven't seen any workers tending to her. Maleficent is still in hiding, I have decided that by the time the other queens have produced workers, if I haven't seen any activity I will presume her dead and give her home to someone else. Today I shared an affectionate moment with the test tube queens. After watching an antscanada video I decided to try feeding them some honey on the end of a wooden BBQ skewer. I fed Belle first as I still feel guilty about almost killing her and she is kind of my favourite. She may be kinda weak on her feet but she came back from death and has laid more eggs than any of the other queens. Anyway they freaking LOVE honey! I let them get a taste off of the end of the skewer then wipe the excess on the bottom of the test tube and they all cleared their plates. Only Belle got a second helping though.
I tried giving some honey to the workers in Nest 00 but they didn't seem that interested. Final pic of them -