207 replies to this topic

[AntsDakota]

I would say a full grown major judging by the size of it...

I'd be willing to bet on it being a media or a smaller major. The massive 18-20mm majors will have larvae that get as big as the queen

I don’t believe pennsylvanicus has that large of majors.

[DDD101DDD]

4/24/20

 

So, yesterday a new worker eclosed. It's slightly bigger then the others, but it hides in the back, so it's hard to take any good pictures of it. The queen has laid some new eggs, and a few of the older eggs have begun to hatch. In addition, it'd appear the queen has lost part of her wings, and I suspect a worker had something to do with it. Whenever she moved around, the wings would knock over the brood, which was entertaining. That random piece of cotton in the nest has been left over the water tower and workers put some sand over it, maybe because it is molding.

 

^the queen's wing

 

^new eggs

 

^mold?

 

^worker doing something to a larva

 

^all the brood

 

 

 

 

[AntsDakota]

Looks like that larva's being fed.

[TheMicroPlanet]

I concur. Or maybe the worker is kissing it goodnight.

[AntsDakota]

Or possibly grooming it, but it looks like tropholaxis to me.

[VoidElecent]

Nice journal. Looks like a healthy, happy colony!

[DDD101DDD]

5/9/20

 

In the past two weeks, a few things have changed. I introduced a heating cable, it currently runs along the side of their formacarium. I started feeding them watermelon, and lots of workers have eclosed. I took a lot of pictures too. Not all the pupae have eclosed though, there are still about 3-4 left.

 

^ New larvae have hatched, and new eggs have been laid.

 

^Here's a picture of them eating the watermelon.

 

I thought this was cool, it's a new worker about to eclose. You can see it's eyes and legs.^

 

^here are some pictures of workers helping their sister eclose

 

^here's them attempting to carry a mealworm.

 

^here's them eating that same mealworm.

 

^ and here is a different mealworm that they put onto their entry point to the outworld. I have no idea why they did this, but it looks like the mealworm is hanging on for dear life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ants_Dakota]

Looks like 2 of the workers are carrying the meal worm, and one is riding!

[TheMicroPlanet]

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

[CANant]

Your colony is doing awesome! I’m amazed your queen still has her wings. Hilarious! Just wait...in no time you’ll have 50 workers. I have over 50 now and only had 13 coming out of diapause February 23.

[ANTdrew]

Superb photography. I had a C. chromaiodes queen last year that never lost her wings. I sold her colony, but she still has her wings, as far as I know.
The new C. chromaiodes queens I caught last week shed their wings after the fact.

[AntsDakota]

Perhaps this is a common trait in Camponotus.

[ANTdrew]

Perhaps this is a common trait in Camponotus.

Basic laziness, yes. Energy saving would be a kinder way to put it.

[AntsDakota]

 

Perhaps this is a common trait in Camponotus.

Basic laziness, yes. Energy saving would be a kinder way to put it.

 

I guess I was talking about keeping their wings, but that works too. 

[DDD101DDD]

5/19/20

 

I'm surprised at the rate larvae are growing, most of the larvae from the last update have pupated, and just like the last generation, there's one really big one that didn't pupate yet. Speaking of which, the really big pupa eclosed, it wasn't a major, but just a larger normal worker. Now I'm really excited about what a major pupa and larva will look like. Something else interesting is that all the larva of this generation don't have the yellow tip that the larvae from the previous generations. Maybe this is because I didn't feed them as many fruit flies as the last generations, or maybe this has something to do with their gut bacteria? I'm interested to see if the workers are impacted in any way. I might be imagining this, but somehow, the newer eggs don't seem as yellow as the ones from previous generations. They now have about 23ish workers, give or take a few.

 

^ this is the worker that came out of the large pupa

 

^ at one point, I think the cable might have gotten too warm, so they tried to shove all their brood in this hole.

 

^ here it can be seen that the eggs are perhaps a different shade? Although the larvae are out of focus, it's clearly visible that they don't have the yellow tip.

 

^here's that big larva I was talking about, it doesn't have the yellow tip either.

 

^this is just a picture of their brood

 

 

 

 

[AntsDakota]

They now have about 23ish workers, give or take a few.

23ish? I would've said 20ish, give or take a few myself. 

[DDD101DDD]

 

They now have about 23ish workers, give or take a few.

23ish? I would've said 20ish, give or take a few myself. 

 

A few are always in the outworld, hence the extra 3.
 

[ANTdrew]

Seems to be a thriving colony. Good work!
For some reason, I hardly ever see these queens. I hope this year will be different.

[jushi]

Wow! It took my queen 3 months to get nanitics, congrats on getting yours that quickly!

[AntsDakota]

Wow! It took my queen 3 months to get nanitics, congrats on getting yours that quickly!

Do you heat yours?