ANTSTORE World of Ants

[AntsNational]

Here are some pics of my new Myrmecia queen, I hope to grow a big colony out of her, any tips are appreciated! Does anyone know if they have a favourite food?

[AntsNational]

I will post pics of her outworld once my camera recharges, but you can see it in the background

[abzantz01]

How did you afford her? lol How much was she?

[AntsNational]

I have a good paying job and she was a private sale

[AntsNational]

To update, the queen has laid her very first 8 eggs since my last post. I look forward to watching her raise her first brood.

Antman

[AntsNational]

A few more pics of the queen in her new cork nest set up that I built for her as well as her out-world where she hunts and gathers food.

[AntsNational]

The queen has been hunting and catching prey and returning it to the nest. Inside she is still tending her eggs. She has devoured a field cricket yesterday night. It was amazing to see her hunting strategy. Her eggs are developing well, one can see that the pearly white 'new egg' has diminished and the embryo is growing within, soon they will turn into very hungry larvae. She is healthy and kept in a 1 G terrarium to start her colony. Once she upgrades to the second generation of workers perhaps ~8-15 workers I will move them to a bigger terrarium. The temperature is kept at a steady 23-25C and humidity outside 20-30% and in the nest 40-50%. So far things have been great! I look forward to growing this colony and keeping them alive and well for many years to come!

[AntsNational]

So I noticed that my queen has been ripping up the cotton at the end of the tube and I was beginning to worry that the water would be released and/or she would get entangled in it and die so I cut a small circular piece of cork which was just small enough to tightly fit perfectly inside the test tube and i blocked the cotton off. Now the moisture can still get through but she cannot tug at it any longer.

For anyone who doesn't understand english very well, I created a step-by-step how-to.

[skybird]

Myrmecia pavida queen who's queen that queen who sclave other ants. From south América from amazonia?

[AntsNational]

Myrmecia pavida originates from Australia and I don't think it enslaves other ants.
Cheers,
Antman

[bugsy]

Great setup, I love this species, yes they are Australian and are very aggressive. I noticed you have a pool of water in the terrarium. Be careful she doesn't drown in it, I have fallen foul of this in the past. I tend to fill water reservoirs with cotton wool. This way the ants can still drink from it as the cotton absorbs the water, it also prevents them from falling in and drowning, Just a tip.... Great pictures.

[mtrein]

Lovely, Peter

[AntsNational]

Great setup, I love this species, yes they are Australian and are very aggressive. I noticed you have a pool of water in the terrarium. Be careful she doesn't drown in it, I have fallen foul of this in the past. I tend to fill water reservoirs with cotton wool. This way the ants can still drink from it as the cotton absorbs the water, it also prevents them from falling in and drowning, Just a tip.... Great pictures.

Thankyou ! I put in a few stones in the dish so no problems now.

[AntsNational]

Thankyou for the compliments, and I have some bad and good news to report. The bad news is while the queen was foraging a cricket must have climbed into the nest hole, and seems to have eaten all the eggs. This was a week and a half ago.

The good news, she has gotten her revenge on this cricket the next day by killing and eating it. A week and a half later and there are 7 new eggs in the nest. She forages regularily. How long will it take for the eggs to hatch, and once they hatch how long for the larvae to grow until pupal stage, and then how long from pupa to eclosing?

Appreciated,
Antman

[AntsNational]

Well after 2 long weeks and a mishap with a rogue cricket before that, the queen is finally a mother. Her eggs have begun to hatch this evening. There are currently 2 newly hatched larvae, and 4 developing eggs. At this very early stage of the larvae's development I have decided to feed the queen egg yolk, and as well I threw in a freshly caught fruit fly. She lapped up all the yolk and gave the fruit fly to one of the larva who's happily gorging on it. A new colony is born! I will update as this family progresses and grows.

Cheers,
Antman