Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2012 11:04:49 GMT 1
Hey every one, Had some flights a few nights ago so I turned my out side light on to see what I could get. I got two queens commen black house hold ants. I was a bit unprepared so I had a tick-tack container and a Tupperware container. I put one queen in each and left them for the night. Now checked them the next day and the one in the Tupperware container was dead Good new is though the one in the tick-tack container is going great. She has laid some eggs. But she has not removed her wings so I am hopping she is fertile. I will start a journal soon if it keeps going well Thanks Megsez Attachments:
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2012 16:05:32 GMT 1
Nice! Do you know what the Latin name is?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2012 22:41:26 GMT 1
Ochetellus glaber i think. There are a few eggs now so gues she is fertile if laying strait away?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2012 22:44:12 GMT 1
Oh okay, I'll look them up and yes she is fertile if she has torn her wings off and started laying eggs.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2012 23:10:17 GMT 1
She has not removed her wings yet. But i have had them before were they did not remove them and she was fertile
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2012 23:11:12 GMT 1
Ah okay.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2012 14:29:25 GMT 1
The distribution of Ochetellus is restricted to two of the Hawaiian islands, so that can't be her if she was caught in Australia.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2012 19:15:30 GMT 1
escaped pet ants maybe
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2012 22:28:12 GMT 1
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 11, 2012 9:08:13 GMT 1
I have a queen of the same species, I think, Meg, that's been keeping her eggs safe for about 3 weeks now. Regarding the comments on the Ochetellus Glaber not living in Australia, I myself sympathise with Meg over the difficulty in identifying species in Australia due to lack of images and proper identification on the internet. I once spent several hours scouring the internet for identification of the small black house ant species which I believe Meg and I have queens of. After much work, Ochetellus was also the closest I could get to an identification. It was very frustrating and I'm not 100% certain it's right, but I think it's the closest species (which I'm pretty sure do live in Australia btw) that I could identify the ants to The good news is Meg, if you have the same Queen ant as I, I think you're in for a treat! Lovely little black ants will be hatching sometime hopefully! This is a picture of the species I think they are, bullying an intruding Green Ant. They are TINY too, they make the little Green Ants look like a car. imageshack.us/a/img9/1672/img1410thumb.jpg
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 11, 2012 11:06:43 GMT 1
That looks like theme in the pick. I was thinking of emailing a pic to a uni or the CSIRO and see if they could tell me what she is.
She has laid over a dozen egg's now so she is an egg machine. Fingures crossed she is fertile. Has you queen removed her wings Charlie?
I would spend more time looking for an ID but my wife would kill me haha ;D
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 11, 2012 15:59:10 GMT 1
My queen 'came' without wings (I was very lucky to have deduced that she was a queen on the ground) and took her home. She started laying eggs straight away, but alas, it has been 4 weeks now and they haven't changed. So I too am a bit worried, but only time can tell and all I can do is keep her calm and happy.
I give her tiny amounts (like, one small drop) of water and a couple of grains of sugar, maybe once a week or two. Haven't had any problems with that so far!
Also emailing a pic would be a fantastic idea, if you like I could find a suitable image to pass on to them (I have a supply of macro photographs from my DSLR I'm sure I could supply to give them a good chance of identification). If you manage to contact CSIRO make sure you tell me! A professional source in Australia for ant identification would be my DREAM right now!
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2012 1:35:42 GMT 1
Have sent an email to the CSIRO and will let you know how i get on. How long does it take for the eggs to chane on average?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2012 6:13:05 GMT 1
So far it's been a month since she's laid her first eggs and there's seemingly been no change. Hence why I'm worried myself. They are still apparently in egg form (though who would know since they are so small), however, I think I've noticed some ever slight discoloration of the eggs going a little darker than before so that MAY be an indication they have hatched and turned to pupae. So maybe about a month.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 14, 2012 8:57:27 GMT 1
Ye they are tiny. I put 1 grain of sugar in and she loved it. Also email CSIRO and they could not help but put me on to the museum in Brisbane and they asked for a pic and said they should be able to help fingures crossed
|
|