27 replies to this topic

[Formicoidea]

Back!

 

I am having way too many holidays.

 

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and happy New year!

 

While i was away this time i left my Queens in the care of my brother's friend's brother. Yea.

He did awesome, considering that it was his first time looking after ants. (He's also pretty young).

 

Good news?

The Rhytidoponera Metallica queen has had her first... two workers! most of the other larvae have cocooned. There a quite a few now. The workers are quite small, I remember seeing a similar comment made in CoolColJ's journal about his Rhytidoponera queen. Do semi-claustral queens have nanitics? or just a slightly smaller first batch, to reduce the amount of foos she has too find?

The queen is still the active forger, the workers seem to only tend to the brood. Just as the study Antennal_Scrobe shared last year said!

Also!

My Rhytidoponera victoriae (Lets hope we got it finally ) has two cocoons! This is absolutely awesome!

I was not even sure she had Larvae so it's a huge step forward. One cocoon has already hatched but the worker is dead. I found it while cleaning the sand in the outworld.

 

Bad news?

While my Queen carer was evacuated due to the bushfires. Yep not fun, i wasn't there but boy... I still find ash all around the place. (Thankfully the fires have not reached us).

The second Rhytidoponera Metallica queen escaped.

It was actually pretty lucky. That was the only double up i left with him, and, the least productive queen escaped.

 

I got them back and put in fresh sand. Will try to get nice(ish) pictures soon.

[RushmoreAnts]

Do semi-claustral queens have nanitics? or just a slightly smaller first batch, to reduce the amount of foos she has too find?

A nanitic is the queen's very first set of workers, no matter how large they are in relation to normal workers.

While i was away this time i left my Queens in the care of my brother's friend's brother. Yea.

He did awesome, considering that it was his first time looking after ants. (He's also pretty young).

He should get some ants of his own (and join Formiculture).

[Formicoidea]

my Rytidoponera's after i give them honey

[Formicoidea]

He should get some ants of his own (and join Formiculture).

 

He was really interested in the banded sugar ant. His Mom didn't seem to keen though

[Formicoidea]

quick update:

 

Metallica: 5 workers, lots of cocoons, lots of larvae.The population is exploding and it seems that the queen is constantly topping up the egg stores.

 

Victoriae: 2 cocoons, one larvae. Also. A worker! the worker is unbelievably light, so extra fresh.

[Formicoidea]

Some pictures of the little thing. still a bit light.

 

 

[Formicoidea]

So. Update time.

 

Rhytidoponera Metallica: They are up to about 10 workers, with lots of eggs and maybe some larvae. (they are still eating but i can't see any). Interestingly the workers are taking over as the foragers, a lot of the time there will be one of two outside.

 

Rhytidoponera Victoriae: Still one worker. There are still two cocoons, but i get a feeling one is new. Not sure what happened to the other one. They currently have no larvae ( they aren't eating, plus i can't see any) but she recently laid a few eggs. I think i am disturbing them way to much, stress is the probable cause for the lack of brood.

[Formicoidea]

Update time.

 

So i moved, which has unsettled things a bit but its all calming down.

There have been definite developments with the rhytidos. Not necessarily good.

 

A while after i moved the Rhytidoponera Metallica escaped. They were housed directly above me. One then fell off the counter and landed on my bed, on my pillow.

She stung on the face a few times, which really woke me up. I got up and got them all back into their test tube. Turns out that they had also invaded the Victoriae setup. the Victoriae had blocked up the entrance with sand and the workers were safe inside. The queen was gone.

Edited by Formicoidea, February 24 2020 - 4:52 PM.