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Dear Adam,
damn u seem unlucky indeed!!
I would not overestimate just workers, u need a good stock of brood as well, otherwise there is always the danger of the workers consuming brood. It is quite hard to keep this level balanced.
Hello Major , yes i agree the brood is a issue but my queen is greatly productive, she can supply the brood, she just needs the work force to take care of it lol. I have ordered a colony of one queen and 1000 workers, plus it will have brood aswell. They should arrive next week so that should really help things. The queen brood and workers will be taken out of the setup tonight and put in a testube untill tommorow. My setup will spend tonight soaking in boiling hot water. That will totally steralise it from any mites etc. I will add the queen back once i have let it dry out a little and checked it for mites.
I do get bad luck but the great thing is the ants are doing what they should do. Im just glad i got my colony from eggs to eclosing workers, thats the biggest acheivement i feel :grin:
Adam
Ok so quick update, The queen and small brood and new workers were moved into a testube last night. I made sure not to take any mites with them so all is good. :D They have settled down and collected all the brood back up and the queen is standing over it. The new workers are all over her which is good to see.
I ran the bath with boiling hot water and disconnected the sockets etc from my setup and took the fans out etc. I then submerged the whole setup in hot water :twisted: . After it soaked for 30 minutes i scrubed the chambers and connecting tubes and washed it all down with more boiling water. I then dried it out a little and reconnected it up so it can dry out further and warm up again. Today i have inspected the setup. It looks very clean :D . No trash pile, no mites :P . A nice fresh new nest. I shall be moving the queen and brood back into it tonight after anouther close inspection and then next week i will receive my colony of one queen and about 1000 workers 8) . I shall merge them with my own queen and then that should really boost them along.
Will update again soon guys :grin:
Adam
Are P. diversus polygynous? I didn't think that they were!
Hello Vasile yes they are very Polygynous. Also they are good because there is a high success rate with adding new queens to existing colonies and workers too. :grin:
Regards
Adam
Hello guys , anouther quick update. These ants worry me to much. its amazing how much worry and concern such a small little insect can generate lol. The queen was moved back into the now miteless setup. Temperture and humidity were back to normal. But the colony odor on the plaster and all the substrate that the colony had used to seal gaps etc had been washed away. The queen has spent alot of time filling in these gaps but i have sad news. I do not know why but for some reson the queen has rejected all the puape that were left. She has gathered up a tiny bunch of larvae and moved the puape several chambers away and buried them with a layer of chewed up plaster. There are 15 workers still and a tiny bunch of larva. The queen has laid a small mass of fresh eggs again which is a good sighn. But the colony isnt feeding and i have tried evrything i can. :( The workers also are nantics, half the size of her regualr minor workers so i know they wont last as long and are fragile.
There is to plus side that my colony of one queen and 1000 workers will be here by wendnesday so my queen just has to wait untill then and that will then be a relief on her. :D
Will keep you updated.
Adam
Hi Adam, any news on your colony?
Hello Major was just awaiting to get anouther video up lol. Heres anouther update :grin:
Well there is a mixture of news. The Queen didnt settle down properly after having to move her, she dumped the pupae and finally buried the larva and moved nest chambers. She started laying again and she settled down with her twelve Nantics so i had hope But it was all in vain a few days later she died. The nantics without a queen died the next day.
My blog does not stop here, I managed to aquire anouther colony. One queen , masses of brood and over a thousand worker population. I have hope.
Here is a video for you guys :D i had just fed them a rather large spider that was under my sofa :P
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will update again soon guys
Adam :mrgreen:
Hey Guys , just a quick update. The ants are doing great, there is soo much brood, i am amazed by the amount of it. The workers are all doing great and feeding extremly well. The workers have filled in around the edge of the glass and built up quite a thick wall of soil and plaster bits, I am hoping they do not cover the glass totally.
I have noticed one thing. These ants do not like the light from the led torch, It didnt seem to bother my last queen but this one hates it. It disturbs the colony so much that when filming and shining the light in the chamber, the whole colony starts moving within minutes which is not ideal. So my future pictures will most proberly be tinted red, from the red light i will have to use as this doesent seem to bother them at all.
Will update soon guys
Adam :mrgreen:
Hey guys, well where do I start lol, the colony is doing great they have a good appetite and are swarming out and taking various insects daily. While I was away on holiday the ants decided to break out. Luckily they didnt move out the nest completly.
with my partners help I have constructed a new setup. I still keep the ants in there plaster nests. They seem to love these. The plaster nests are joined by the acrylic tubing like usal but the nest blocks are now kept in a perspex box. This allows me to fill it with a shallow layer of water to moisten the nest chambers. It is heated and also has the fans to circulate the humid warm air. Its doing great so far and the ants moved in within hours :D. While moving I saw the queen, she is healthy and I also spotted piles of eggs and newly hatched larvae :P , Plus alot of pupae too so things are still looking great =D>
Heres some pics below of my new set ups construction, I have included a new video of the ants aswell.
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Will update again soon
Adam :mrgreen: