von Messorus » 20. Feb 2009 09:33
Yes, you are true, the heart shape of gaster. I never looked at their gaster as on a ,,heart" but yes, I think it´s right thing.
Please use C. scutellaris as name, because I first time didn´t know if you meant ant genus or species. But also, this is lovely ant queen and I believe you, that you want breed a colony from her.
I can remember, than in the spring of 07(it was my first ant season) I was very spellbound from workers of Formica cinerea in m garden. I said to myself ,,I want to have these ants at my formicarium" as I was saying always, when I found some interesting species. Now I have one young colony of these ants and I must say, they are really nice. Formica is good for keeping, but I get advices by Skippy(and I got experience that it´s true), that Formica colony with brood needs proteins minimal once a week, or they will eat them... But this is more true for forest species of Europe, F. polyctena, F. sanguinea, F. exsceta.....
Sorry from my bad english