ashhad1: (2. Mär 2008 18:26)

Well good news which is surprising
I asked if i should add the old workers to teh new queen and well I got mostly responses saying it wont work. So i just tried to add one worker a small one, at first the queen really doesnt notice but then in an instancethe queen tries to crush the other workers head!! I watch like 5 min and the queen was pawning the poor worker so I left them be overnight. Surprise surprise the worker was alive and well helping the queen with blocking the test tube with the earth so i though Il add the rest one by one and it went all well. Every new worker added was cleaned by the queen? Probably she was putting her scent on the worker. Anyway all 5 workers and the queen are doing well together but at first the queen wouldnt let any workers touch her 3 larvae but now she doesnt mind. All is good and it went well except that there still arent any eggs which im not suprised about (all hassle of adding workers etc.)

I got some pics so enjoy :D

P.S: @Steve Good to know your not getting rid of your ants

ant dude: (2. Mär 2008 21:34)

that's good news then, ash n steve :D btw thx for sharing the pics with us..

i've ordered a new phone now since i still havent found my other 1 :cry: so i hope i'll get ta add s0me pics real s00n...

mine are nesting in the mos in the basin they are in, theres plenty of activity from them so i hope i'm getting loadsa eggs (an s0me m0re workers) :P

JimmyVe: (3. Mär 2008 17:32)

@ Steve: nice to see they are doing so great, good luck. (nice pics to)

@ asshad: It is always a risk and most of the time it doesn't work but i'm very glad to hear it worked in your case. Good job. :) and good luck.

Let us know who you are,
here .
Thanks !

darradar: (3. Mär 2008 17:43)

very nice steve, great suprise.....

ashhad1: (11. Mär 2008 18:42)

k people A lil update for what been happening with my new ants,
as you know i was worried a little as the queen wouldnt lay any eggs due to the reason of adding workers etc.
Well 2 workers died form the 5 so its only 3 and the queen, I fed them honey which was happily accepted all at once.
Now i checked them about 30 min ago and I see one egg stuck to the leg (upper part) on the queen, and its not a mite.
So all is well and the larvae have grown in size, but the egg is kind of huge but that may be because i havnt seen any eggs from this species for ages and only seen lasius niger eggs (tiny lol) so
all is well and hope it carries on :pirat:

EDIT:

Well i just check now again and there are 4 eggs now so its even better then I expected
plus all my other queens have laid loadsa eggs

JimmyVe: (11. Mär 2008 22:58)

I'm glad to hear that ashhad, keep up the good work. :)

SteveUK28: (15. Mär 2008 13:34)

ok update...
4 cocoons.. 5 larva and countless eggs.. at least 20 id say :D

Ive also managed to get my hands on a nice tank for them.. my friend was throwin it so i took it off there hands.. its needs a really good clean and the edges sealing.. but for a 5' tank.. Free.. im not complanig.. and yeh.. thats a double chest freezer its on.. an its longer than it lol... :D

ashhad1: (6. Apr 2008 19:46)

OK another update:
Well, its been hell... :evil03: the queen died as i forgot to feed the colony and the workers (im guessing) killed her and ate her same with the brood........ :tongue02:
NOT! Got you lot then lol :evil05:
Total opposite has been happening :hehe:
the queen and the 3 workers are all fine and happy even though they didnt except the small bugs im giving them except for one which dissapeared after a day or so.
There now are 1 queen, 3 workers, 2 larvae, 1 cocoon and 12-15 eggs or maybe couple more and there might be some freshly hatched larvae... :cam:
Il post some pics soon :D

JimmyVe: (7. Apr 2008 17:47)

Good job ashhad. You almost fooled me. ;)

ashhad1: (11. Mai 2008 17:42)

Another Update!

I know this one was a little late but here I go:

I had 3 workers before and well 1 died and sadly in a painful way. When i first introduced him to the queen (notice he was the first one) The queen fought it a little but accepted it later, but the worker ended up with a broken leg which didnt keep him down cuz she still used the leg alittle. But that leg went broken fully and the worker died shortly after... :priest:

But something good came out of it, one of the cocoons hatched soon before the worker died and it was 4 workers but 3 now.
I was worried a little because one larvae (really big one) was killed and halvly eaten by the queen and worker even though i fed them a small boiled caterpillar. (guess the larvae was dead)
Then i noticed the queen didnt lay eggs for quite some time but shortly after i fed them some honey the queen laid 10 or less eggs all at once and all the eggs from before are larvae now some are big ones and i have 4 cocoons now!

So in a nutshell:

1 Queen, 3 Workers, 4 Cocoons, 5 big larvae, 7 or more small larvae and 10 or less eggs

EDIT: 13-17 eggs actually i just counted up wrong... :D

so its growing slowly!.

Oh ya my father latley complains to me that im cruel to my ants and im like WHAT! IM NOT! but he says that keeping them in the test tube so long is torture (now im thinkninh oh god i cant be arsed explaining him why its easier for the ants and me when their in a test tube) i told him that there still a very small colony and i myself experienced with my old campo colony that some workers died when left foraging in the big tank ive got when they were a lil colony.

So i was thinking i might buy a small plastic aquarium box where i could let my campo have the test tube and a bit of outworld which woudnt make them end up lost some were...
So an opinoin from all u experts on this would be cool!

Nearly forgot here are some recent pics of my ants i promised last time! :cam:

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