phers: Phers Lasius niger (18. Jun 2007 18:36)

Well my new lense arrived today so i took the following picture. just waiting on my reversing ring to arrive now :)

sithmaster676: (18. Jun 2007 19:30)

nice picture phers :)
the colony seems to be doing well
by the looks of one of the larva you may have an infertile queen born
Sithmaster676

phers: (18. Jun 2007 19:40)

is that good or bad? i thought Lasius Niger only have 1 queen at a time? will the others kill it?

JimmyVe: (18. Jun 2007 20:41)

This is not a larva of a Queen. it is just a larva of a worker. ;)

This colony is to young to produce queens. If the colony is ready and it produces queens don't worry, (make sure they can not fly away out of your nest, or you have winged ants in your home ;) ) it could be that the workers kill her are that she will help the colony with feeding the larva. She is never going to lay eggs and probably would not live as long as your queen.
Lasius niger has in deed only 1 queen in a colony

phers: (18. Jun 2007 21:46)

how long does it take to go from egg to larve to cocoon to worker?

Kiam: (18. Jun 2007 21:59)

I think a few weeks for egg to larvae and another few more weeks to get to cocoon then a few more weeks to be a worker lol

Skippy: (18. Jun 2007 22:00)

I think ,from egg to larvae is it ca 10-12 days and to cocoons (it is only on food) ,but ca 2 weeks ,to worker from cocoons also 2 weeks ,I think. From laying egg to worker it during ca 1 month - 1 month and 1 week

Greets

Skippy

phers: (18. Jun 2007 22:05)

nice thanks. in another couple of weeks i will have doubled my populations.

I'm currently feeding them with honey, bloom poll?? and chopped up grasshoppers...

i made a small mistake when i put the first grasshopper in whole. one and found it and dragged it half way across the arena by its antenni before giving up. thats when i desided to chop it into managable chunks instead :)

Kiam: (18. Jun 2007 22:17)

NP :) I feed mine all flies I catch around on my trampoline at night time :)

Heh this is not good I had 2 maggots I put in myrmica rubra colony I dont know why but they were alive and have turned into big flies lol Just have to wait to they die and they be some good food :p

JimmyVe: (19. Jun 2007 21:28)

http://www.antstore.net/viewtopic.php?t=4303

But this is with a Lasius niger colony