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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2009 22:22:08 GMT 1
sounds like there doing good, but remmeber this people. it was not myrm mocking me,,,, it was the guy up in the sky
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2009 16:31:56 GMT 1
LOL
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Post by Myrm on Aug 3, 2009 22:33:22 GMT 1
3 August 2009, Monday @22:30
Every cocoon has been carried out and piled up in the plastic tubing that runs between the two nesting boxes. They seem to do this at least once a day. The cocoons aremainly carried by the larger black workers and then tended to by the smaller yellow workers.
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Post by Myrm on Aug 10, 2009 13:48:11 GMT 1
10 August 2009, Monday
I think the queen has either stopped her egg-laying or has reduced it as I can see no fresh eggs in this colony. Saying that though, the queen has moved into a hidden chamber so it is possible the eggs are in there with her. There is still a lot of cocoons and larvae present, and the colony is still living on the surface of the first nesting box.
There are many more yellow umbratus workers now and they often forage out of the nest.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2009 21:24:42 GMT 1
Great to hear the colonys doing good! ;D
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Post by Myrm on Aug 11, 2009 17:38:58 GMT 1
11 August 2009, Tuesday
Just gave these ants some locust and 5 minutes later there was a stream of yellow umbratus workers and black niger workers emerging from the nesting box, but wait! What's this? They are nowhere near the food I just put in for them. Instead they are all concentrating on something on the ground, but there's nothing there. Ah, I know what it is. I saw an old piece of ant jelly on the ground when I was filling up their water dispenser, and so I placed a few drops of water on the dried up bit of ant jelly. It has obviously soaked up bits of the ant jelly and run into the sand. There are ants everywhere, all cramming to get at it and ignoring the juicy locust. Interesting.
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Post by Myrm on Aug 15, 2009 17:13:57 GMT 1
15 August 2009, Saturday
There has been quite a bit happening in this colony over the past few days. The first thing I have noticed is the large increase in adult umbratus workers being born, with still more cocoons and larvae being placed around the nesting box. The queen put in another appearance yesterday but has now gone back to wherever she hides.
There has also been a lot of nest expansion going on in the new nesting box, though where they are putting the soil I do not know. I have seen some ants emerging from a new hole with soil in the jaws and then taking it away to the middle of the nesting box and compacting it down so that now mound shows. Interesting.
One Lasius niger worker run down the plastic tubing between the right nesting box and the foraging tank so fast that it tripped and slid halfway down the tube before it managed to sort itself out. ;D
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2009 22:38:02 GMT 1
I'm glad the nests coming along and LOL at the slippery ant Oh and thumbs up on the new display picture !
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Post by Myrm on Aug 16, 2009 7:51:53 GMT 1
Hi Kelechi96 Thanks for the comments. I have been looking at your account and I can see that you have been a very active egg ;D so I have ended the trial period for your membership early and placed you into the Larvae member group. You should now see a lot more to the forum. Enjoy! ;D Thank you for all your contribution to the forum. It's members like you that are making the forum succeed.
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Post by Myrm on Aug 17, 2009 9:17:35 GMT 1
17 August 2009, MondayHot Potatoes!!! One of the Lasius niger queens that I obtained from the latest mating flights died, so, yesterday, I put her body in the Lasius umbratus feeding box. There were a few niger and umbratus workers eating from a piece of custard doughnut, that I put in their tank a few hours earlier, about 2 inches away from the dead queen. One niger worker walked past the dead queen and on sniffing it immediately pounced on it and started attacking. It was obvious that, as she done this, she released an alarm pheromone as the niger workers on the piece of cake suddenly stopped eating and lifted their heads, waving their antennae about. Then these niger workers rushed toward the source of the alarm and also started attacking the dead queen. The umbratus workers, who I find to be less aggressive, did not pay much attention at first, but carried on eating as if nothing had happened. However, soon enough a few umbratus workers got their Dr Marten boots on and joined in the fray. The queen was eventually dragged across the feeding tank and up the slope that leads to the opening of the tube to the nesting box. The entrance to the nesting box is about 2 inches up the side of the glass side of the feeding box, and the tube is about 11 inches long. To aid the ants in getting in and out of the feeding box I have made a little slope for them which leads to the floor of the feeding box at an angle of about 50-60 degrees. The slope is made from a nail file. This morning the dead queen is at the far end of the middle box and is still being dismembered by niger and umbratus workers. The contents of the dead queen's thorax and abdomen should provide a nutritious food source for the umbratus queen and larvae.
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Post by oliver on Aug 18, 2009 11:48:12 GMT 1
nice idea about using nail file for slope
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Post by Myrm on Aug 18, 2009 11:49:17 GMT 1
nice idea about using nail file for slope I used a nail file as they have a very rough surface and therefore provide the ants with a lot of grip which is especially useful when they are trying to pull heavy loads up it.
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Post by Myrm on Aug 18, 2009 12:07:17 GMT 1
18 August 2009, TuesdayThere has been about 20 or so new umbratus workers born over the past 24 hours and still there are more cocoons and larvae present. Still no sign of any more eggs so maybe the queen has stopped laying for now. There is still nest building going on in the right hand nesting box with entrances in the soil at both ends of the box. Yesterday they were swarming around some locust and cake I gave them. Read even more regular updates on my Twitter page: twitter.com/SwedishAnt
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2009 15:42:29 GMT 1
w00t for Myrm and his colony! ;D
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Post by Myrm on Aug 22, 2009 12:16:01 GMT 1
22 August 2009, SaturdayI found an injured male Myrmica ant a couple of days ago (could even be one of my M. rug males having flown outside), and put him into the umbratus feeding tank. Within a couple of minutes he was found by a L.niger worker and within 10 minutes several more L.noger/umbratus workers joined in. The male was eventually dragged up the tube into the middle nesting box and taken into a tunnel entrance immediately below the tube port, never to be seen again. I wonder if that male ant ever lived it down that he was duffed up by a bunch of girls? ;D The colony has expanded its nest into the second nesting box but the larvae and cocoons are still on the surface of the sand in the first nesting box. I am not sure where the queen is living. Read even more regular updates on my Twitter page: twitter.com/SwedishAnt
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