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Formica fusca Day 1
Set up here http://www.antstore.net/viewtopic.php?f=172&t=10611&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a
5/8/09
My Formica f usca arrived i purchased a 50 -150 colony with 2-3 queens, they arrived and immediately started exploring, after less than an hour they started moving house i managed to catch a few pics of a worker carrying a hatchling/worker into the beton nest, i got 3 pictures in sequence below before it disappeared down the hole lol
i saw this on 3 other occasions, carrying workers or hatchlings but not eggs, lavae or cocoons
IMG_0461.JPG IMG_0462.JPG IMG_0463.JPG
update, ok 20 mins later they serious at moving, quite a few workers are moving brood into the beton nest, i got a short video of 2 at the same time there were others in the background moving brood aswell although you could not see them, im so proud :D
my lasius niger are useless they wont even leave the test tube to explore the ytongi set up for them let alone move the nest :roll: lol.
video
http://s825.photobucket.com/albums/zz173/berkh102/?action=view¤t=MVI_0467.flv
ah a closer look revealed them to be workers getting carried into the beton, nurse maids maybe ?
a bit later i peeled back the cover to have a peek see what was going on inside the beton nest, to my amazement one of the queens and several brood, and cocoons were already in the smallest chamber, i never saw her move !!! that was quick work IMG_0472.JPG IMG_0469.JPG
wow about an hour later they all had moved into the beton nest, hmm i only see 1 queen though hmmm no matter i guess,
* edit*
found the other 2 queens they were hiding
Awesome nest insanebe i've got 6 F ormica fusca gynes but still no eggs -.-
gave them sugarwater and a fly and now lets wait XD!
And again!
Awesome formicarium!
I got no eggs either think its cos i disturb them too much, they seem very sensitive, will leave them for a long time while i build my nests for Pheidole pallidula and Crematogaster scutellaris
and that will be the last ants i buy in a long time cos im out of room now lol.
6/9/09
I have given to try to observe nest activity they are far too sensitive and scatter in all directions when i do,
i have placed some live hatchling micro crickets bought from livefood.co.uk in the basin these crickets feed off of the colony waste and remove smaller pieces of waste i can't as well as being a food source the ants can catch although they are not easy to catch.
i have also placed some live fruit flies in there also bought from livefood.co.uk, the ants love these they are easy to catch and will harvest them and take them back to the nest whenever they are hungry and leave them alive when they are not
the ants have also demonstrated an ability to tackle large prey, i placed a large green bottle fly that had been buzzing round my room annoying me in the tank, note the fly was alive and undamaged, when i checked less than an hour later it was being devoured in the nest by 8 workers, i missed the hunt :x
they have also built a small network of tunnels in the sand after i split some water on it, but as far as i can tell they have not built a nest in there
everything is ticking along they continue to eat large numbers of fruit flies and a large amount of honey solution, i also gave them a peice of orange which they stripped bare
more or less hibernating now
put up some more pics please :)
Ok here is an update,
http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz173/berkh102/106.jpg
The empty brood chambers during hibernation :(
http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz173/berkh102/104.jpg
Formica fusca have a taste for oranges, waking up from hibernation
http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz173/berkh102/066.jpg
fusca launch attack on phiedole, phiedole respond by blocking the tunnel with yellow gravel dug up from the base of the tank, impressive
http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz173/berkh102/090.jpg
The digging seen from above
http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz173/berkh102/089.jpg
The Formica fusca clear out some of the blockage but suprisingly are unable to dig as fast as the Pheidole,
http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz173/berkh102/041.jpg
The Pheidole bring out the big guns (big majors) but there is no fighting
http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz173/berkh102/016.jpg
the Pheidole evacuate that area closing off the tunnels as they go.
http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz173/berkh102/024.jpg
ceiling themselves in
http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz173/berkh102/007.jpg
The Pheidole brood is moved to a new location
http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz173/berkh102/006.jpg
The Formica fusca start producing lots of brood, both queens are in this picture
http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz173/berkh102/111.jpg
The Formica fusca make use of the abandoned phiedole nest ( rather exposed if u ask me )
And there we have it, fusca continue to produce many brood, what the phiedole are doing i have no idea they retreated to the centre of the basin but they are still alive and kicking.
any updates? :)