Summer 29th January 2019
Camponotus suffusus bendigensis 17mm queen 2
20mm Test tube - heat cable
9 workers - 5 cocoons, 1 large, 2 medium, 10+ small larvae/eggs
2 cocoons look ready to eclose in a few days.
Colony is growing fast!
That large larvae cocooned last night, and it create a bright brown cocoon.
Much like the others, but that white cocoon remains white.
Don't know why the difference in colours
click to enlarge
Pheidole antipodum 14-15mm queens x 9
All setups have a styro foam double chamber entrance
in styrofoam and heat cable incubator
1) Dual queen - red dirt - cleared all the red dirt and heaped up at the middle of the test tube
5+ nanitics - huge stack of eggs, larvae and some pupa
2) Dual queen - cardboard insert and aquarium filter wool water dam
big stack of eggs
4) Queen with red dirt - moved the red dirt to block up the double chamber entrance
3 nanitics, small clump of 15+ eggs, 12 donated brood from queen 5 - mostly pupa
6) Queen - bare test tube, former partner of queen 5
2 nanitics, big stack of broode
7) Queen - bare test tube, former partner of setup 2
small clump of eggs
Heat cable
3) Queen with coco coir - moved all the coco coir against the cotton dam, wicking the water into it
big stack of brood - 25+ nanitics, 4+ mini majors
5) Queen - bare test tube
15+ nanitics - huge stack of brood
Setup 1, Queen 3 and 5 continue to get more workers.
Queen 4 got another nanitic from her donated pupa.
Queen 6 has her first 2 nanitics. She has just as good genes as queen 3 and 5 by the looks of it.
She laid a week after queen 5, when I separated them, and now a week later than queen 5, has her own workers with similar starting brood size.
Queen 7 seems to have eaten some of her eggs, just a small clump now
I think i will donate some brood to her, as she was separated from setup 2, so probably running low on reserves.
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Queen 3's nanitic mini majors have matured and now no longer tend the brood, and I see them sit in a group in the front part of the chamber.
Already seeing the polymorphic spread of the castes at this early stage, with different sizes, builds and head shapes
Podomyrma leg muscle bulges on display in second pic
There are minor workers, larger workers, small mini major, and larger mini major
Got a pic of queen 5 chain laying eggs out of her gaster
Edited by CoolColJ, January 29 2019 - 3:41 AM.