ANTSTORE World of Ants

[miszt]

yeah, leave the test tubes outside, they'l b fine give them a while tho, u may find people that want them anyway over the next few months, and they will happily stay in the tubes for 3-5months while the colony is still small

[jon2thefish]

fair enough, right i'm gonna have a try now @ placing some water into the tube and placing cotton wool afterwards and tryin to make it water tight.

[ashhad1]

You lot are lucky as I dont think they have flown yet in my place and if they did then I missed it...

[jon2thefish]

ashhad if alot of mine appear to be fertile, you can give me a shout for one

[JimmyVe]

Here in Belgium the last couple of days there where a lot of flights. (from different species) Very nice, only i did not have the time to catch some...

[Lowth01]

well its bin hot weather all day 2day and they havnt flown. frustratin cus i can see all da lil flyers in da nest in my garden

[jon2thefish]

The next step

[jon2thefish]

For my own curiosity, i have left some tubes uncovered, some half covered up and then the others completly covered up to see if there is any difference in the development of the eggs/colonies

[jon2thefish]

These tubes measures only 100mm, of the 5 tubes that dont have any covers 3 already have small cluthes of eggs, say about 2-5 eggs stuck together, may word they are small. All the other collection of tubes havent been touched at all. Is this size of tube ok?

How long should i leave them before checking on them. We talking over a month, maybe 2?

I'll keep an eye on the water levels.

I understand often the Queen will eat this first batch of eggs. Tell me, having the female lay this first batch of eggs, is this any suggestion shes been fertilized or to have to wait to see progress in the eggs themselves.

I tried posting the photos once, but was told they were too lge. I hope ive posted these in the correct part of the forum

[sithmaster676]

hi all
i recommend feeding your large amount of queens a little bit during there period on there own, it increases the chance that they will survive the long time the queen has to be on her own.
i also recommend covering all of the tubes to make them a lot more happier causing them to be less likely in eating there eggs.
but the size of the test tube is fine but make sure you watch the water as you don't have much in there.
hope this has helped, but you have a nice number of queens
sithmaster676

[jon2thefish]

Hi Sithmaster

I like the idea of feeding the queens in keeping up their reserves. What do you suggest feeding sugar/Honey/water or some protein like a fly or cricket, I'm right in thinking in the wild the queen would cover herself up and just use her wing muscles and possibly some of the eggs to keep going, but hey im happy to speed things up and keep the queens happy.

I hear what you say about making them happy with the covering. All tubes are in a shaded room with no direct light, but i'm afraid this is part of my experment. The open covered tubes have a water source, peace and quiet so i'm gonna hold fast of that suggestion for the moment.

Miszt suggested getting a syringe to top up the water supply, so ive got one on order.

Thanks for the info m8, any other thoughts please give us a shout

[miszt]

Your queens will need both protien and honey water, i put one dead fruit fly and a very tiny drop of honey near the top of the test tube for them, u need to be able to clean the honey away easily so dont put it to far in, however you dont have to feed your queens at all, they fatten up before the mateing flight, but theoretically they should be stronger and build the colony faster with a supply of food, maybe something u can add to your experiment?

Keeping them dark will imo make them happier, but at the same time it will make them photosensitive, which will make the colony stressed if they move into for eg an uncovered farm or ytong nest, I usually keep them covered, but i've decieded this year they will be kept sumwhere shaded but not dark, means i can check on them without causing them to much stress reguly.

The ones you have in the dark should be fine being checked every 2-3 days, just not in very bright light

[jon2thefish]

lol i got my job cut out now feeding 28 queens, yip looks like ive been greedy. Well a challenge it is now. i better buy some bananas tomorrow, its beena a few yrs since i try collecting fruit flies i might consider getting a wingless species.

Might see the difference between Queens which are fed and Queens that arnt. Then again i might start stretching my experiments a bit thin.

Photosensitive thats what i was thinking with regards of coverin some and not others.

The end of the day these animals are in my care and i certainly dont want them to suffer. So i hope people will speak up if they think i'm being cruel.

Trust me to start running before walking...lol did i mention i breed freshwater sting rays

[miszt]

u really breed freshwater sting rays?! i want one! lol

[jon2thefish]

Oh dear i often get into trouble going off topic in forums hahahaha , i'll post some pics into off topic heading