My Harpegnathos venators

[highered]

Thats interesting, thanks for the advice on mite removal, I will remember it for the future but I think you are forgetting that Harpegnathos venators have to be fed live food.
My experiences of yesterday:
I caught 2 live big black flies that were about the same size of my ants and put them in the foraging area. My ants reacted but were very ineffective in killing them. They bit them, but it took a while for the flies to die, and these were helpless soft flies. With jaws that big I would expect a very quick kill. They then left them for about 10 minutes then picked them up and appeared to be trying to get them to the nest entrance but then I realised they might not be able to access it as the flie was quite heavy so I put in a tissue to act as a ramp for easy access. This didn't work and all they did was walk around the box and not make any attempt to go into the nest. They are also doing a similar thing with their dead workers, they just walk around carrying them. It is a small foraging area though, pictures to follow on Friday.
I did have better luck with the spider I put in there. I killed it then put it in the nest entrance but a worker moved it in about 2 inches then back again but much later in the day I noticed it was gone so I guess they must have eaten it.
By the way I still don't have any brood. My colony size I ordered was 26-50 but I got about 35 and about 5 died soon after. At the moment about 1 dies every day or two. My colony size is currently about 20. Interestingly nearly all of them insist on staying in the foraging area so I guess they must be hungry, but it is very hard to get them to eat. By the way, they have moved the parts of the bumble bee from Monday around.

[highered]

The 2 flies I put in yesterday appeared inside the nest today which is good, but they didn't look as if they had been eaten. I put a freshly died beetle which I tore in half and nearly immediately a worker found it and picked up the thorax/head part but instead of walking into the nest just walked around with it. PS I still don't have any brood.

[highered]

yesterday I put a spider from my flat in the entrance to their nest and later it had disapeared so I hope they ate it.
PS The library computer I use has the wrong cable so the photos will have to wait until Monday.

[Phasmid]

but they didn't look as if they had been eaten

Don't these ants consume prey by putting larvae on it, and the larvae do the chewing? And if they do not have a social stomach as Chemitech says, and you have no brood, then the only ant that may be eating anything will be the queen. This might explain why it doesn’t look like the bugs they take in have actually been eaten.
Just a thought.

I also think you should offer at least a little bit of energy food occasionally just in case (but don't leave it in long), as they still need energy to live and they may not get every thing they need from the bugs they catch. Even Acromyrmex will consume loads of sugarwater.

[highered]

That is very informative, thank you very much I really appreciate that. I still have no brood and was worrying, but only time will tell as to what happens.

=> edit Mod
post from 2:47pm

I was trying to post a picture and got up
Das Bild muss zwischen 0 und 2240 Pixel breit sowie zwischen 0 und 1680 Pixel hoch sein. Das angegebene Bild ist 3296 Pixel breit und 2472 Pixel hoch.
But its just a normal jpeg picture. I don't have much time left on the internet and have a load of pictures to post. Can Antsore please sort the forum out so that any size picture can be uploaded and posted? Thank you.

Or you can resize your pictures so they can fit into the forum.

[highered]

How do you resize your photos to fit the forum please? I only use a library computer which doesn't allow downloading of any software. Thanks for your help.

edit Antstore - Please use the edit function! Thank you!

post from 03:04 pm

Still no brood. I am down to about 10 workers for about a week now. It is annoying not being able to tell which one is the queen though as I have no way of telling if shes dead or not. If she is don't these ants have fertile workers who will fight to become the Alpha laying queen? So shouldn't a worker just take her place?
Behaviour I have noticed so far:
They do wag their abdomen sometimes when you approach or when they feel in danger. I've seen them walk backwards and even sideways briefly.
One worker was dying on the floor of the foraging area and workers were walking over it and the ill worker grabbed a worker that walked over it with its jaws and the healthy worker responded by looking like it stung the ill woker in the head and the worker let go.
After I put the bumble bee in (their first protein "meal") they started fighting alitltle bit with each other.
The above two types of behaviour I have never seen with ants before as normally they all work towards the good of the colony, even if it means they individually die.

[highered]

I saw some strange behaviour yesterday, one worker was looking like she was trying to kiss or "get it on" with another worker. I don't think she was trying to feed her, it did look strange and interesting though.

[JimmyVe]

I dont think they where trying to kiss. Probably your first thought, trying to feed. lol

[highered]

What colour are their eggs? Are they black, maybe thats why I can't find them. Thanks.

[Zagone]

If not feeding it could've just been some siterly grooming. Ants do tend to clean eachother on occasion.

[Phasmid]

What colour are their eggs? Are they black, maybe thats why I can't find them. Thanks.

Possibly. But even so, they should still be neatly arranged and vaguely egg shaped. If they are in sight then they should stand out.

[neab]

Eggs are yellow/brown.

Edit:

A pic of eggs:

[highered]

Wow thats a good picture, thanks for the egg picture too, I don't think I have any then.
Link to my pictures:
My setup:

(Two medium boxes connected together)

My original setup that got too much condensation in it:


My H venators are closest to the heat lamp:


A good picture of my ants, the bumble bee is slightly bigger then average: