Today my ants came the queen is way huge and some of the workers are aswell
they have settled in and have been taking some harwthorn flower petels into the nest and the really tiny workers are mushing it up and putting it in the fungus 
. Colony consists of about 200-300 workers.
The castse in my colony at the moment are
* Queen
*Really tiny workers
*Tiny workers
*small workers
*medium workers
*large workers
*major workers
*A small soilder
As of yet there are no soilders but they will arrive after the next 4 months when the worker population has grown over a 1000. I can see eggs larva and lots of pupae in the fungus some pupae are white and some are yellow so they will start to move soon.
(update) The workers have been going like crazy cutting leaves there are loads of leaves on top of the fungus and more workers are bringing more in.
They have also been drinking from the water drinker.Also the fungus garden is about the size of a golf ball.
tues/25/04/06
The workers have been working hard they have cut a load of rose leaves today and have been addeing it to the fungus garden.They are also cleaning the queen alot and feeding her
.I have seen some workers carrying eggs from the queen into the fungus and evry now and then some of the larva and pupae are brought out onto the surface of the fungus and there is a great rush to clean and see to the larva.Then they are taken back into the fungus. .There is a major worker pupae on top at the moment next to the queen. The workers have also taken a piece of fungus and moved it away to the corner of the container here they are also adding leaves so eventually the two will join.
wed/26/04/06
The workers have been working hard again today they have taken some willow leaves into the nest and some pieces of camillia flower petels.I am noticeing the fungus is growing larger
as the workers put layer and layer of mushed up leaves.The workers have decided to put the larva in a fungus chamber whitch i can see into i have seen the workers taking bits of fungus to the larva and its nice to see. They have also been picking pieces of fungus and then shaking them then addeing them back to the fungus garden.
thurs/27/04/06
Yeah!!! I have had two new workers hatch today one is slowly walking around on the fungus and the other has just started to move and get up.The workers have been cutting more leaves today and earlyer they got exited for some reason.When i was whatching a load of workers came out about 23 and went strait to the rose stem climed all over it then went back to the nest 
.The queen has also been active today she has been fed alot and has been moving around on the fungus. The fungus garden is defitenly getting larger ther are now great big craters on the top that the workers have been making with all the leaf mush and now it is spotted with tiny white dots all over. 
sat/29/04/06
The colony has been doing great
more and more workers are hatching evry day and the fungus is growing fast all the new added leaves are covered in a thick white fluff .The queen seems fine and is getting lots of food and being cleaned alot from the workers.
wen/3/05/06
Im glad to say the colony is going from strengh to strengh as more workers have hatched and the fungus garden has grown big and is rubbing the top of the container
.I have been doing more reasearch and also asked the person who i got them of about the need to cull off fungus gardens when the colony grow very large. I have learnt that when the colony has made enougth fungus gardens (about 4 football sized ones)They then have enought food for the queen to start producing reproductives(new virgen queens and males). 
The problem is that they will never leave for there mating flight as they need the right conditions to do so and this is impossible to simulate in captivity 
.So they stay in the nest and become parasites and eat all the fungus 
.So evry now and then you take one of the fungus gardens and cull it.The problem with this is that you have to make sure the queen has not got inside and that you accidently kill her. 
.So what i have done is cut a thin sheet of plastic so as it fits in the clear tub tightly i have then cut some small triangles out the bottom and top so the workers can get in and out with there rubbish and stuff 
but the queen carnt.in this divided part the queen sits on a bit of fungus i have put in of the larger garden.I now know where she is and she is now happy as i can see more eggs being layed.
fri/05/05/06
The colony has been very buisey
there has been alot of larva and pupae activity i have seen lots of yellow pupae being moved about and the big major worker pupae i think is a soilder has gone more dark yellow so im hoping it will start to move soon .The queen is laying extremilly well and now piles of eggs are being fetched from her almost constantly. The fungus has seemed to had a growth explosion overnight as is now much more bigger.It could be though cause i put a rose stem in yestarday and thats the one thing they really like.
thur/11/05/06
Im glad to say the colony has been doing brilliant loads of workers have hatched incluiding the major worker ive been waiting for and the fungus is now three times its size and nearly filling the box.
The queen is doing super and still laying masses of eggs there allways seems to be larva pupae and eggs being moved about and i can see holes in the fungus absoulutly packed full of larva and others with pupae of all diffrent sizes and colours from white to cream to yellow to dark yellow to up and moving.
Fri/17/06/06
The colony is doing great and has now loads and loads of workers.There seems to be an population explosion as i can see over 20 new workers almost evryday the fungus garden is now filled up the tub(ferrera rosa box)
.The queen seems fine and is always eating or being cleaned .
mon/07/08/06
Im sorry theres been no update for awhile but ive been really busy social life an all well wat can i say the colony are doin great there are loads of soilders workers an basicaslly more an more evryday.There is just one big problem due to all the heat we been havin ive struggled to keep the temp of the room to 25 an after a spell of cold weather i went to visit a friend i left all the air con units an fans on in the room but it had to be a hot day an wen i got back the temp of the room was 36c NOT GOOD the queen was movin about an all the workers were carryin all larva pupae an that all around. Im worried my queen is steril but im glad to say i can still see shes layin eggs an that i have tons an tons of newly hatched larva so i hope they have had a lucky escape Ill shall keep all posted to eney more developments
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