5/9/17

Woke up this morning to find two nanitics developing without a cocoon, I'm not overly concerned about them not being encased because I've read information that they can still develop without a cocoon just once they don't become infected with fungi.

The Queen has recently laid more eggs, now I have read that queens can lay infertile eggs to be used as food, I'm kinda hoping that it's not the case, I have been feeding her protein(fruit flies) so she and the larvae can feed, so fingers crossed the recent eggs are fertile, I think maybe about 6-8 eggs....that was fast so you can see why I'm sceptical.

Here you can see just the one cocoon and two none cocooned developing nanitics.....wait wait I just zoomed into this photo I can see another two  .

You can see here that her mandibles are not damaged after the cotton wool situation.

Side view.

As for my daughter's Queen (Victoria) she's just chilling.

10/9/17

Queen 1 (still nameless) 

She now has 9 pupa, funny thing is there's still only one who cocooned, the other eight are naked, yes I know adding some sand or earth can help the larvae to cocoon but I don't wish to disturb mama, she has actually pulled on some cotton wool covering her brood, maybe she's trying to help the larave to cocoon...it hasn't worked very well, the humidity is fine I can see the dampness on the cotton. I'm not stressing about it nor is mama all is fine, it strange because I see pictures and videos of the larvae doing their thing, maybe mine are just lazy. Mama thankfully didn't eat her last batch of eggs she laid so I know they're fertile, I didn't see an reason for her to do so because I give her 1-2 fruit flies each week, in fact she dumped the last one, I left it there for 24 hours...puff gone Queen and brood are well feed, I look forward to her finally having some nanitics at least I know the brood and queen will have that extra care soon. (crosses fingers please don't hibernate yet).

Queen 2 (Victoria)

ThIs girl has gone rather quiet, she still has around 8-9 eggs, something tells me she's holding out for hibernation or maybe she is gapping out the generations, time will tell.

Oh and within the next week or two we shall have a new species arriving, something else to look forward to . 

Thanks all.