Hello, I'm new here. I created an account to chronicle this journey with my first ant colony (Novomessor Cockerelli).
Initial Observations
1. These ants love mealworms. They eat about 3 to 4 per week. It’s not necessary to cut it up. Mealworm guts tend to stain the sand, causing a mess. They prefer their food still moving. If I smash the tip of the mealworm head with needle nose pliers it will continue moving for quite some time and also provide a place for the ants to grab the mealworm.
2. They show no interest in seeds, grapes, or strawberries.
3. They readily take sugar water and apple slices.
4. They like it heated 24/7.
5. Not the best climbers. They can easily be knocked off the walls with forceps during cleaning if there’s not too many of them in the outworld.
Summary of pictures - Pictures are attached in chronological order. The title of each picture is the date it was taken. If you scroll over the picture with your mouse cursor the title (i.e., date taken) should appear.
10/21/24. Today is move-in day. Colony size is 9 workers, queen, and brood. The queen was last to leave the glass tube and enter the formicarium.
10/29/24. Queen carrying eggs. The eggs all clump together.
11/3/24. I added a sugar water feeder to the outworld last night. I woke up to find that the ants plugged the drinking slots with trash causing all the water to leak out. (Picture 1.) They like to hold their eggs upside down, from the ceiling. (Picture 2.) These ants also like to stack the brood into three different piles based on development: eggs (top right), larvae (water tower), and pupae (left). (Picture 3.)
11/4/24. There are about 11 pupae that will be ready to go within a week.
11/19/24. Colony size is up to about 25 workers now. There are only 2 pupae now, several larvae, and a growing clump of eggs. The younger workers tend to be the ones holding the eggs. They really like to hold the eggs upside down while clinging to the ceiling.
11/20/24. Half the colony investigating the daily food drop. They are much less shy about investigating the outworld now that their numbers have grown.
Attached Images
Edited by Novomessor, Yesterday, 11:24 PM.
