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