ANTSTORE World of Ants

[adam james]

Cheers Andie , yes mate about 4 -5 weeks is the life span of the minor workers , Because of this the queens of this species lay almost continuasly lol.



Adam

[MajorSpud]

Hi Adam, as a good gint: try male bee larvae, which are dismissed the the bee-breeders, the ants soak these up like liquid protein. Good for few workers and many larvae.

everything else i can say: feed them like crazy, only if they stop taking food in, stop feeding. This is to my experience very crucial to the colony when founding in captivity.

next tip: aphids, shouldbe easy to come by nowadays and the ants also love them. they do not hatch them, but devour them completely.

[adam james]

Hello Major , thanks for the tips , i have tried aphids , and they took them last time, why i didnt think to try them again. The bee brood (drones are harder to come by , but i know a local bee keeper , will ask him.

Thankyou mate , i just hope the workers hold on for now.

Adam

[adam james]

Ok guys anouther quick update , The colony has now took a drastic change in behaviour , the worker population has dropped lower and i can only count 30 ish workers, a few are in the trash pile. But the worst is i have noticed a few larva all chewed up in the grabage area , Due to the small amount of workers the colony rarly ventures from the queens side and the gabage pile has been moved to a few centermetres away in the next chamber. I put a few aphids in last night all were complety ingnored. I tried a fruit fly maggot and this crawled into the nest but the ants ignored it , this morning while checking though it was being chewed up by a worker and a minor soldier

There are still plenty of pupae and the queen seems ok so far so fingers crossed all stays ok. Also there are over a thousand larvae these are almost the size of workers now so hopfully they pupate soon , but im sure the workers cannot feed all these so maybe thats why they are sacrificing a few. I have noticed the major soldier and tiny workers all have swollen gasters again and the queen is still producing piles off eggs so i assume they are getting there food from the larvas

Adam

[adam james]

Hello Guys , i have a small update The colony is still here and seems to be hanging in there. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel at least lol. There are several Pupae that are yellow and a few that are darkening more so i expect these to eclose either today or tommorow . The interesting point is these worker pupae are tiny. smaller then the minor workers that are there now. I think they are nantics The colony did slowly stop feeding as the workers population went down so i think they have reverted to founding stage. The other great think is the queen is still doing excedingly well , laying masses of eggs daily and the larvae count is going up again and no more consuming the brood. The ants are taking flys which i prekill and then push into the nest chamber as the workers that are left dont venture far.

Population is 11 workers , one major and minor Soldier lots of eggs larvae and pupae.

Also i have Mites !!! but i am glad to say they are in no way parasitic, they forage in the ants trash area and go no where near the brood. I have seen ants spot them and the mites run away very quick. Also i have looked closly at the ants and not a single one is infested so im 100% certain they are harmless.

Will upload a few pics and perhapes a video soon


Adam

[AntsNational]

Hi Adam,

The mites you have are not harmful, they feed on waste left by the ants as well as the refuse piles. I have kept colonies for many years with them and they won't harm the ants.

[adam james]

Hello Vasile yes i agree, , i have watched them for several weeks now and they do not interfere with the ants at all. They avoid contact with the ants and keep to the small crevices in the nest and scavange on the left overs in the trash pile.

Adam

[adam james]

Hey Guys some great news the first worker has eclosed, It is currently sitting amongst the brood pile under the queen moving slowly. I am glad , the worker count has dropped to 7 workers so these reinforcments are greatly needed. Also more pupae are darkening so hopfully now there should be a steady stream of workers emerging. I hope.

Pictures and maybe a video soon to follow.



Adam

[MajorSpud]

Hi Adam,

congrats mate, hope it goes on well for you now, any pics?

Best
Major Spud

[adam james]

Hello Major , not at moment mate but will get some more pictures up over the weeeknd , Hopfully get a video done too.

Regards

Adam

[adam james]

Hello Guys well the colony is beginning to improve, it is down to one worker but with the new one eclosing the other day and some more eclosing since the worker population has gone up to 9 workers , the major soldier is still there and helping the queen with the brood but its starting to look promising.

Here is a few pictures and a video, hope you like guys.

Will update again soon guys

Adam

[MajorSpud]

Hi Adam,

check the link below, pics of today feeding my colony some "gouda" middle-aged.

viewtopic.php?f=146&t=15351&p=147676#p147676

45% fat is what gets the party started....

Edit: great pics mate, hope they grow rapidly

[adam james]

Hello Major, Looking great mate, i will google translate it and look forward to reading your updates

Adam

[MajorSpud]

just separated offshoot colony, lets see what happens.

[adam james]

Sounds great MajorSpud , hope it works out and you get anouther colony

Well guys anouther update and this one comes with mixed news. The colony is doing alright, it is certainly hanging in there. The plus side the pupae are eclosing and the worker population is now 15 workers. The major soldier died yestarday, it must of been over 5 weeks old and i dont know how long it had been alive since before i received them so im assuming old age was the cause.

Now heres the problem with my ants. Mites !!! Now i know i have seen the mites for awhile now and they havent bothered the colony at all. But since the large soldier has died and the last remaining old workers the mites have slowly moved closer to the nest chamber. This morning i have come to see somthing shocking. The mites are moving into the ant chamber and actually dragging the worker pupae away I have watched this. The new workers still pale dont know what to do. The queen is still laying but eggs are just being scattered around the floor and the pupae and remaining larvae are being dumped then collected back up. The Ants are clearly distressed by the mites, and now there are alot of mites !!!

Tonight when i get home from work i will be removing the remaining brood and workers and queen into a test tube for a few days. I will make sure no mites come with the ants . The the whole setup will be submerged into boiling hot water in my bathtub and allow to soak overnight. That should wipe out the nasty little beasts.

Mites may be harmless and feed on trash, but my colony is weak and not feeding itself properly. The mites proberly sense this and a nice juicy meal of pupae.

Anyway thats my update so far.

I hope i can get anouther colony of maybe a few thousand workers to add to my queen. that certainly should help things along im sure.

Regards

Adam