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Hello!
This will be my first colony of ants, and my first diary. So I'll do my best :D ( feel free to point out any errors )
First of all, my setup is a Plaster nest in a box, I don't have any sand to put into the box, so the ants will have to run on plastic for now :(
I am hoping that when I get my ants, that they will move into the plaster nest, and I can have the box as an outworld, that has light on it at all times, whereas the nest will be kept in the dark.
I've added a layer of grease to the top of the box to stop the ants from getting out, as I didn't really like the idea of covering the top with clingfilm :D
09/07/14 - Today I ordered my ants, Lasius n iger with 11-25 workers ( I think that's how many workers I ordered ) as I wanted my first colony to be successful from the start, without having to wait a month or so for the first worker to start walking around :D
Feel free to post any questions here, I'll gladly answer them :)
Tips on keeping Lasius n iger will be good too!
P.S : Shall I update this post, or post bellow? Or do 5 or so entries then move into another post? To allow comments to be read too?
Thanks :)
-Squirrel
Hello and welcome. :sign_welcome:
We look forward to your report.
You can make the contribution as you want.
regards
Martin
Some ants game today, but not in the post!
The Lasius n iger flights were in my area today! I managed to get one into a tube ( with sugar water ) and two into a Farm setup. The ants that are due to come in the post will still have the plaster nest, but maybe when the queen in the tube has some workers ( after first hibernation ) I may be able to give them to someone else who wants a colony :D
Since I only have one tube, I have put 2 queens together. This will boost brood development vastly I hope ( if they make it :? )
-Squirrel
Quick update on the two queens in the tube, they have two eggs :D
I'll have another look in a few days, but they laid the eggs within a few hours, as I looked at them in the morning, then now, and suddenly the eggs have a-peered :D
I also let the queens in the ant farm go, as I thought the two queens would be enough.
-Squirrel
one of your queens is gonna get killed, i hope you're aware of that. they are monogyne, means 1 queen per colony.
you can only hope that the second one (who kills the other) doesn't get damaged in the process.
Yes I was aware of this, but the greatly increased brood should make up for this.
Quick update :
The ants I ordered haven't come, but they should come this week
The ants in the tube that I collected now have about ten eggs (ish) when they had two yesterday :D
Quick question : How long will it take these eggs to become adult ants? A month? Or more?
-Squirrel
Quick update :
Ants in the post are not here yet.
Ants in the tube now have around 20 eggs doubled from yesterday :D
Quick question : What should I feed the lava when they emerge from the eggs? Or should I just leave the queens to tend to them, or will extra protein be good?
-Squirrel
the queens have enough protein with them, they probably won't touch anything you give them
My ants arrived today :D
They are all healthy and well, exploring their new home...
The Queens in the tube have not produced any more eggs, but they are tending to their brood.
The Queen from ant-store has about 11 workers, but most of them just sit around the queen and brood all the time. Is this normal? Or should more than 3 be foraging at a time?
Hopefully they start to grow when they get settled :D VERY warm over here at the moment, so brood development should be fast :D
If you have any questions about them, feel free to ask
- Squirrel
Over the day that I have had them, they have taken a house fly, and a fruit fly into the tube. Since I have got home today I haven't seen them out of the nest, but yesterday they did nothing but run back and forth from the sugar - water that I set out for them. So I guess they will be fine for a few days...
In other news I am thinking about getting another species soon ( more than likely next year - after hibernation time ) and I looked at a few species, bellow are the ones that I am thinking of getting ( will only be getting one of the bellow )
Messor. Barbarus ( I will look up the spellings in a bit for these )
Pheodolie. Pallidula ( I will look up the spellings in a bit for these )
Camponotus. Ligneperdus ( I will look up the spellings in a bit for these )
any tips on keeping the above ants, or how they behave would be amazing :D
-Squirrel