7 replies to this topic

[AntsCali098]

Man I've been on a journal making run. This journal may have 1-3 month gaps due to the fact that I don't love making journals. This is an old colony of mine that has been through a lot. I caught this colony last year, and since then they have been through so much. The big and most recent part of this colony's history is that they recently escaped 2 different times in 2 different setups. Fortunately, both times I was able to collect the queen and about 85% of the workers. This colony used to be at around 500 workers (which is this species max size) but now they are closer to 300 after losing some workers to escapes and some of them have been randomly dying in their AA formisquarium. I am not certain why this is happening. There setup is simple, a small AA outworld connected to a normal formisquarium. There is always about 25 workers in the outworld. I hardly get to see the queen because she is mainly hidden under all of their brood and workers, but I do get to see her sometimes. The queen is probably one of my favorites in my collection. She's just such a beautiful shiny black and I've had her for so long. Hopefully this colony can grow back to 500 workers! Pics below

A portion of the colony itself


The queen


The setup



A bit of the dead workers

Edited by AntsCali098, August 13 2022 - 9:28 PM.

[AntsCali098]

Update 8-19

This colony kept losing workers in their AA nest. I moved them into an aus ants nest today. Hopefully they will do better. The ants moved within 10 minutes (they always move crazy fast). I have replaced the sponge in the nest with cotton because the sponge was worn out. Is this an okay substitute?

My pheidole navigans queen just got workers so another colony to add to this journal. I also have a third colony about the same size as the main one as kind of a backup. Sorry no pics this time. I'll try to get them next update

[bmb1bee]

Nice journal! Looking forward to the next updates on your navigans colony(s). Wish you luck on them.

[AntsCali098]

Thanks! Appreciate it

[AntsCali098]

Update 8-25

 

Main colony is doing great in their new nest, it really fits them. The queen has laid a nice new batch of eggs, which is the only brood they have at the moment. I expect them to recover nicely. I am going to feed the queen with nanitics today or tomorrow. Sorry, still no pics, I will get them next update.

Edited by AntsCali098, August 25 2022 - 12:53 PM.

[Ant-nig321]

Update

[AntsCali098]

I'll try to get an update with pictures today.

[AntsCali098]

Update 10-2

 

Disaster struck. Both the main colony and backup escaped, I wasn't able to contain their tiny size. I will likely sell the queen with nanitics, and I have a 2-queen colony almost with workers. I guess that'll be the main colony now.

 

One of the 2 queens with the brood