ANTSTORE World of Ants

[AntsNational]

Here is a picture of the queen and her larvae (sorry for the bad quality, I'm not using a professional camera just quite yet).

[DigiSERBIA]

Good good i wish you the best luck ! and try not to give her crickets before she has workers so that your eggs dont get eaten again try feeding her with some cockroaches like Blatta lateralis or Blaptica dubia

[AntsNational]

Good good i wish you the best luck ! and try not to give her crickets before she has workers so that your eggs dont get eaten again try feeding her with some cockroaches like Blatta lateralis or Blaptica dubia

Thankyou for the tip DigiSerbia, I must admit the cricket I left in the tank was a subadult, and hadn't eaten for a day and a half.. I feel guilty about that too! I guess (it was a male) he had no choice but to enter ''the dragon's den'' so to speak!

Anywho, 5/6 eggs have now hatched, and the pair of day old larvae have grown quite noticeably in their first 24 hours of life. I am noting that I see a few springtail-like creatures within the nest tube but they seem to not have an effect on the queen nor her young who seem to be eating them. They appeared from the coco fiber/outdoor sediment mulch I obtained (and sterilized in boiling water for 20 min, but they still appear). The queen caught a 1/4 sized baby cricket today and stung it with determined precision to it's head. Excellent to see mother is hunting for the little ones, as the cricket now lays in the tube, dead. (Very much dead DigiSerbia )

I find it most interesting to note that this species of ant lays eggs that when hatched and left leave behind some sort of egg shell, it would be very interesting to know its compound and potential dependence on atmospheric changes.
The family is doing great!

Cheers
Antman

[AntsNational]

To update:

Unfortunately, there is only one larva remaining. It is growing everyday, and the queen hunts almost constantly to feed it, but it doesn't seem to like crickets :s . I've got alternatives like mealworms and cockroaches so I'm going to try those. It is quite unfortunate that the larvae are so cannibalistic

Cheers

[DigiSERBIA]

Ohh well that sucks, i hope it will turn out better, i didnt know they are cannibalistic:O is that true?

[AntsNational]

I've witnessed one of the larger larva eating a smaller one at one point, unfortunately it is. But it's a good learning experience with this species.

Cheers!

[AntsNational]

Update:

The larvae are all but just one now, and for some reason the queen refuses crickets, mealworms and even roaches. The larva is growing but it isn't growing fast. I am concerned and a bit annoyed about this. I don't give her much stresses. Any suggestions ?

Cheers

[Antchrist]

Why not try maggots (housefly larva)? Buy them at a sportfishing store. Must be perfect for the larva to eat. Soft flesh.

[AntsNational]

Thanks Antchrist,

I'm definitely going to try that! Good call!

Cheers,
Vas

[AntsNational]

Well I never found any maggots, I did end up finding a random house fly in the middle of winter but too late, the last larva had died. I gave it back to the queen to feed on and she did, and I'm hoping that she'll have another go at it. For now she's fattening up on milk+honey+water as well as insect prey (crickets and blatta lateralis). I'm hoping that she'll give it another go.

[DigiSERBIA]

Why didnt u try at a local fisherman equipment store ? Every store here in Serbia has fly maggots as bait for fish

[AntsNational]

I tried a few but they have worms and frozen green glow worms. There's only one more that I can think of and I'll try it as soon as it opens. It's closed for the holidays.

[CROant]

Update please

[AntsNational]

Hello, I update in my forum at my website
Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar

Otherwise, the queen is doing well and has new eggs I will hold my breath for now in hope that these become pupas!

Regards,
Vasile

[David77]

Thanks a lot for sharing your experiences with the rest of us who aren't as fortunate What kind of nest are you planning to keep your colony in when it gets a little bigger?