34 replies to this topic

[XZero38]

Been keeping tabs on the queen and her worker, they have been in a fridge with the rest of my colonies at 45 degrees F and they havent moved at all been sitting in the same place since November when i check on everyone i do see her antenna move a bit so i know she is still alive. Ill be taking her and the rest of the colonies out of hibernation towards the end of February. 

[XZero38]

So i took this queen and worker out of hibernation roughly a week ago, I checked on her yesterday and she had a small batch of eggs looked like 2-3 eggs she was carrying around. Ill check on her again in another week and give an update then.

[sgheaton]

LIFE!!!!!!

[XZero38]

Quick update on this queen and her worker.

They are both doing well and the queen has laid a new pile of eggs I counted 9-10 eggs.

[XZero38]

Checked on these ladies this weekend and a couple of the eggs have hatched and are now larva. So yay progress!

[T.C.]

Never had much luck with formica although they are one of my favorite species. Hope to give it another go this summer.

[XZero38]

So i checked on them again this morning and it looks like there are quite a few more larva then i saw yesterday there was a pile of 5-6 larva and a smaller pile next to the larva of a couple eggs.

[XZero38]

Update on these ladies

 

So most of the larva are now pupae, so there is 5 pupae now with the other larva probably not far behind.

 

 

In the first picture you can see a bit of trophallaxis going on between the queen and her worker. Its also happening in the second picture but its not as visible

[dermy]

Update on these ladies

 

So most of the larva are now pupae, so there is 5 pupae now with the other larva probably not far behind.

 

 

 

 

In the first picture you can see a bit of trophallaxis going on between the queen and her worker. Its also happening in the second picture but its not as visible

Really nice first brood she's got there! Looks like it should be pretty successful especially with that many workers in the first batch! Just gotta feed them and make sure you clean it up so it doesn't mold.

[XZero38]

the test tube is actually sitting in a rectangular boxbox with roughly a 1/4 inch of hydrostone in it. So any food or sunburst i place right at the entrance of the test tube and the worker gets in whenever she notices it out there. I've only been giving flightless fruit flies and sunburst as they are the easiest to clean.

[XZero38]

So over the past couple days quite a for workers have eclosed this colony went from one worker to eight.

You can see the newly eclosed workers that are light grey in color.

 

[T.C.]

Making good progress. I am hoping to get a second atempt with formica this year.

[Nathant2131]

How sporatic-moving are they? The Formica fusca-group species I see outside are faster than the speed of light.

[XZero38]

How sporatic-moving are they? The Formica fusca-group species I see outside are faster than the speed of light.

They are very quick! The quickest species i have. That pile of fruit flies were once all alive but the oldest worker hunted them all down in the outworld.

[XZero38]

Just like most of my other colonies this one also did not make it though the second winter.