ANTSTORE World of Ants

[ralphdrake]

Hello my fello ant lovers, I know i have not been on lately but thats probably because ant action over in australia has been dull for where i live!

ok down to buisness, no first a little history, i had a queen named sheila i looked after her for about 5 months!! nothing happened no eggs nothing, i spoke to some experts and their was some problems 1: i had caught her in mid flight. 2: no eggs so unfortunately i let her go at night and wished her all the best.

ok i caught two queens about 4 months ago, 1 died and im thinking because i didnt sue test tube and its cotton bud ran out of moisture, i had forgotten all about this queen i have and just realised it was their i checked it and to my amazement 2 EGGS! this is great but im not sure what to do now because this is my first queen to have eggs.

im not sure what to do, i keep her test tube in my cuboard in the dark and im worried she doesnt have enough warmth down in their?

so if anyone has any recommendations of what to do with this new queen please give me information.

and if this has been to hard to read due to english i apologise.

[HeldGoP]

what kind of ant you talking about?

the best treatment depends on the species, some need to catch insects while founding a collony, some just need to be left alone.

greetings heldgop

[ralphdrake]

hmmm im not sure what she is unfortunately, she is black with a kind of marone under belly, i will try and get a picture using my webcam (camera broken) but may take awhile to get a good picture!

[HeldGoP]

ist hard to identify an ant by color.

how big is she? (no guessing, take a ruler plz)
do you know how the ants from this kind live in the nature? do they dig holes, live in trees or wood?

greetings

[ralphdrake]

it is 2cm's, i live in a dry bush area, i found her under a big rock not burrowed but in a crevis in it? i hope that helps

[HeldGoP]

does she look like a Myrmecia?

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[ralphdrake]

nah man definetly not it looks more like Campanotus, if thats how you spell it!

[NuEM]

Even high quality close up pictures are often not enough, to identify an ant down to the species level, usually one can only determine the genus. So without pics at all, using only a laymans description it's next to impossible to identify the ant, unless it has some really outstanding and unique traits.

[ralphdrake]

ok i took some pictures anyway their not very good but may give you a general idea of the figure of it! she does not move much usually staying still in the same place for a long time, i have not noticed her pick up the 2 eggs she has but she does usually keep her head over them, sorry if this does not matter.

[ralphdrake]

Hey people well it has been awhile since my last post on this just some updated information on my queen, i still do not know the name of the species but she is doing fine with plenty of eggs and larvae and by the looks of it a 3rd stage larvae (what i call it) which is pretty big

[mpir]

Hi,

nice to hear that your queen is doing fine. Good luck with them also in the future.
About identifying her: you'd still have to post some really detailed macro pictures and then people would be able to tell you what genus is the queen.

[JimmyVe]

Nice to here she is doing fine. like Mpir sad, if you place better pictures of your queen (and workers) we may be able to see witch species it is.

[LeonofLondon]

Looks like some kind of Camponotus species

[ralphdrake]

Yes hopefully when i get a better camera or borrow someones i can put some pictures on, i will wait until she has workers so it may be easier to identify her, thanks for taking a interest

[ralphdrake]

Hey guys i thought i might update her Progress, im going to Queensland soon for Vacation so getting posts in before i leave.

She has about 6 Larvae 3 are in their 3rd stage.

she has been pacing up and down her tube lately im not sure why, I only check her ounce a week.

So i decided to put some food in, i got my cricket container chucked them in the freezer for 5 mins got a small one and cut of its head, quickly so i didnt hurt it.

put it in their just far enough so if she ignores it i could pull it out, i checked on her in about 1-2hours and she had moved her Larvae to where i put the cricket and brought the cricket down to the water end and has started eating, she is still going she is loving it!

i jsut want to know will she be ok for 2 weeks for im going on vacation and worried she will need attention, i thought just chuck a cricket in their and leave her, any opinions?