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[Phoenix]

06/01/2018

While I was out on Halloween night last year, I happen to notice a queen scurrying about on wall. Took me capture setup out, and bam! Behold, a wingless auriventris queen. I was extremely excited by this find as every auriventris queen I'd caught were all either infertile (drones emerging from cocoons) or died not laying any eggs. I immediately went back home, grabbed some vials and hurried back out but found nothing else other than albosparsus and some other species of Camponotus, Polyrhachis and Colobopsis. 

 

Regardless, I'm quite content with this catch as I know with certainty that every wingless queen I have caught were all fertile, flash forward a month and a half later, some of the workers began to emerge from their cocoons leading to a grand total of 10 nanitics (possibly more actually).

 

Unlike other species of Camponotus, auriventris are only active during daylight and will usually restrict their foraging schedule to such hours which makes for a great viewing experience in my eyes (since I can't sleep as late anymore, lol). Anyways here's a pic of their mum feeding them via trophallaxis.

 

[Phoenix]

06/20/2018

I'm shocked to say, but I believe this colony might not be doing well under my care as their numbers are quite small still. I suspect that the previous setup I gave them was too small and that hindered their growth rate as a result. I've now given them a larger test tube and a bigger outworld for them to explore in. And I will be feeding them every 2 days or so to boost their numbers up as much as possible, hopefully, that will be enough to fix everything.