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Post by Deleted on Jun 7, 2009 16:13:00 GMT 1
it is:D
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Post by Myrm on Jun 13, 2009 19:58:01 GMT 1
13 June 2009, Saturday
The larvae have been put into groups according to age and size, with the larger older larvae being away from the queen, and the cocoons being furthest from her. The smaller larvae are in the same area as the queen, and the eggs are by her feet. Plenty of workers tending to all the brood, with the umbratus workers tending to stick with the younger brood.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2009 22:19:05 GMT 1
Nice. I think ants usually organize brood in the manor you stated. I have noticed I have a better chance of seeing a queen in a colony if their are early stage brood and almost no chance if they are pupae. I have noticed that in Tetramorium, Formica, and Pheidole species.
Congrats on the first few L. umbratus workers.
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Post by Myrm on Jun 17, 2009 22:03:22 GMT 1
17 June 2009, WednesdayA lot of activity (foraging and brood rearing) in this colony. More and more of the larvae are turning into cocoons, which will mean more and more yellow, adult umbratus workers are on the way.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2009 22:36:09 GMT 1
Nice, do you have ant way to get pics? I would love to see a mixed colony.
Also, I can't help asking, is that Rhytidoponera metallica in your avatar? It is one of my favorite species and I dream of going to Australia to see them.
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Post by Myrm on Jun 20, 2009 19:04:05 GMT 1
20 June 2009, SaturdayJust fed these ants with some waxworm and a fresh garden pea (oddly enough ants seem to love them ) There are about half a dozen ants eating it. There are about 12 cocoons in the "cocoon area," and the queen has just pushed out a load more eggs. ;D ...Also, I can't help asking, is that Rhytidoponera metallica in your avatar? It is!
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Post by Myrm on Jun 27, 2009 14:41:34 GMT 1
27 June 2009, Saturday
The amount of cocoons has doubled now; about 30 from what I can see. Still loads of larvae in separate piles according to age. When this lot become adults the colony size will have trebled. ;D
I fed them a fat juicy fly yesterday which they devoured, and now they are tucking into a cricket. I plan on get a few tubs of medium sized locusts this week to use as ant food.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2009 12:11:12 GMT 1
Oh wow, That is good News. Glad to hear they are feeding well
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Post by Myrm on Jul 2, 2009 10:56:12 GMT 1
2 July 2009, ThursdayHi forum members and naughty bin lids The pile of cocoons is ever growing and I watched some workers bury a batch of larvae in the sand. They do this as larvae require to be against a hard object in order to weave their cocoons. Sometimes, if the larvae cannot be buried you'll often see a worker ant standing over a larvae in order for the larvae to press itself against the ant to spin it's cocoon. Some of the yellow umbratus workers have been foraging outside the nest.
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Post by Myrm on Jul 3, 2009 7:17:00 GMT 1
3 July 2009, Friday It's Friday! No work (or school) for 2 days! w00t!
I watched a worker uncover a buried larvae who had spun a cocoon. Interestingly, I noted that when first spun, the cocoons are a little translucent. I could still see the contents of the larvae's stomach in the middle.
It was also interesting to see that as the worker was removing the sand from the new cocoon, she was placing it onto a nearby larvae which was ready to make a cocoon.
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Post by Myrm on Jul 5, 2009 9:21:29 GMT 1
5 July 2009, Sunday
There are now about 50 cocoons at the far end of the nesting box. A new group of larvae has been moved near to the cocoons which, I guess, are next in line to become cocoons. Two more groups of larvae are located in the upper section of the nesting box (still on the surface) which are very much smaller and younger, and finally there are two large batches of fresh eggs. The queen stays out of site a lot now.
Yesterday I gave these ants a chopped up locust and they went made for it. Again, some yellow umbratus workers joined their niger step-sisters in collecting food for the larvae and queen.
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Post by Myrm on Jul 12, 2009 19:51:13 GMT 1
12 July 2009, SundayThe number of brood grows by the day it seems. There about 50 cocoons, two piles of larvae, with perhaps 50-100 in each pile, and two very large batches of eggs. I also witnessed some larvae being buried in the sand as they prepare to spin themselves a cocoon; the larvae prefers to be buried as this makes cocoon-making a lot easier. Once the cocoon is complete, the worker will uncover it and place it into the cocoon pile. New umbratus workers are being “born” every day more or less. If the umbratus queen does not tarry, then this will be a very large colony.
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Post by Myrm on Jul 18, 2009 18:37:16 GMT 1
18 July 2009, SaturdayAt least this colony seems to be doing well. The egg pile grows ever bigger, the larvae piles grow ever bigger, and there are more and more yellow umbratus workers emerging from their cocoons. I have just watched 3 umbratus workers help a new sister out of her cocoon, and there are 3 yellow-white fresh workers sitting nearby.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2009 18:38:54 GMT 1
I hope this colony does better then your other colony
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Post by Myrm on Jul 19, 2009 12:51:38 GMT 1
19 July 2009, SundayWell, I have removed the Lasius emarginatus workers from their ant farm and cleaned it out, filling it up with moist peat. I then attached it to the umbratus nesting box so that they now have a double nesting tank set up; one with sand and the other with peat. Now they can choose which they would prefer to nest in. If the move out into the peat then I shall remove the sand from the other, fill it with moist peat and then re-attach it in anticipation for a larger colony. Here is how it looks The ants are currently nesting in the sand nesting box (left) and the new peat nesting box (right) is linked to it with a plastic tube. Another tube runs from the peat nesting box, behind the photo frame and attaches to the foraging box (far right). Picture taken with my phone.
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