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Post by antbug on Feb 14, 2010 17:20:13 GMT 1
uhhh....im blind...=P i never seen this journal before...=/ lolz
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Post by Myrm on Feb 15, 2010 13:40:18 GMT 1
15 February 2010, MondayI have just ordered a new flavour of ant jelly from Edu-Sci; this one is banana flavour. I'll have to be careful that I do not get tempted to eat it myself. ;D I have also ordered some dried flies. I am not a fan of using dried food for ants but I thought I would get some and experiment with soaking some overnight and then feeding them to the ants, just to see what happens. This entry will be repeated in my other colony journals
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Post by Myrm on Feb 16, 2010 11:36:13 GMT 1
16 February 2010, Tuesday
Just received the banana flavoured Ant Jelly and dried flies from Edu-Sci. I only ordered them online yesterday afternoon, so that is an impressive level of service.
The dried flies are not quite what I expected. I thought they would be dried whole flies, like those big ones you get coming into your house, but this is tiny chopped up bits of fly. However, I will give it a try. First without soaking them. I will let you know how it goes with all 3 colonies.
This journal entry has been duplicated into all journals
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Post by Myrm on Mar 4, 2010 21:18:15 GMT 1
4 March 2010, Thursday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GOBLIN! These ants have exploded into activity over the past few days and the larvae which halted its growth during the winter months have resumed development again. The workers bring them out into the plastic tubing between their nest and forgaing box whenever my central heating comes on. They still appear to eat very little at the moment, though I guess this may change as the larvae get hungry. They have been asking for diced London bin lid lately. Hmm, do we have any members that are bin lids from London? ;D
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2010 23:16:10 GMT 1
nope not that i know off definitely not ANYWHOO yer imma start running ;D
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Post by Myrm on Mar 6, 2010 13:58:41 GMT 1
6 March 2010, Saturday
Today I am setting up a second ant farm, this one filled with soil, and attaching it to the L. niger colony. They are currently living in sand and I think they will prefer the soil. So, once the water has soaked into the soil, I will attach it to their current set up and let them decide if they want to move in.
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Post by Myrm on Mar 6, 2010 19:51:56 GMT 1
Okay, well, it's been about 2 hours since I put the new ant farm onto the old one, and there is now a worker inside it, running around like a naughty Canadian bin lid. Meanwhile, my central heating has kicked in and it is getting very warm in here. The workers have once again placed all their brood into the plastic piping linking the sand nesting box to the foraging box.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2010 20:51:25 GMT 1
Nice please keep us up to date
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Post by Myrm on Mar 25, 2010 15:14:33 GMT 1
25 March 2010, Thursday
Got back yesterday after 10 days away from home and fed my ants. As usual this colony just seems to ignore anything I put in their tank, which is very frustrating. They have not expanded at all into the soil nesting box I attached to their sand one, but they still continue to bring their cocoons and larvae out of the nest and into the plastic tubing whenever my central heating comes on.
Looking into the nest I can't see much expansion though there must have been some as there is a pile of sand at the entrance to the nest. The queen seems well and there are still a fairly small number of workers, larvae and cocoons. There are, however, a whole new batch of stage 1 larvae in the single chamber that I can see.
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Post by Mr M on Apr 2, 2010 4:11:42 GMT 1
Hey i really like your site. these ants are very strange, ive never heard of this behavior, maybe their too warm if they only do this when you heat them. Its just a thought. i also dont live in EU so im not an expert there.
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Post by Myrm on Apr 2, 2010 10:47:23 GMT 1
Hi Mr M
Yes, I agree. Ants are very sensitive to temperature changes, as are their brood. They like to keep their brood warm as it promotes quicker development. They will move brood around to obtain optimum temperature and humidity.
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Post by Myrm on Apr 3, 2010 19:23:32 GMT 1
3 April 2010, SaturdayThere is not much to report in this update; it's the same old story really; brood movement and no sign of the ants eating whatever I put in their tank. There is, however, some new eggs and I can see the queen moving around.
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Post by Myrm on Apr 4, 2010 13:48:30 GMT 1
4 April 2010, SundayHot Potatoes! These ants are actually eating! You know those little spiders that you see in your garden, normally running across brick walls or pavements, and which are ultra fast? They seem to love them! I killed about 12 of them and out 3 or 4 into the Lasius niger tank. Within minutes they were swarming all around them. Incidentally, the original Lasius niger nest that I started from a single queen way back in 2001, and which got so big they had to move out into the garden and live "wild"; well they are out of hibernation now and their are hundreds of them foraging all over my garden. w00t! ;D
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Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2010 15:45:14 GMT 1
Yeah and w00t.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2010 17:53:23 GMT 1
Cool they are called wolf spiders i get them in my house eek!
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