120 replies to this topic

[Kennethlwr]

Finally it’s done!! Time to decorate the tank and ready for expansion!!

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[Kennethlwr]

Here we go!

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[Kennethlwr]

Not sure how to make a connecting bridge, so I connect a tube across both tanks and now we wait!




And... after 5hrs of waiting.. this is the progress so far! I tried putting 2 big mealworms in the new tank and it seems they are trying to transport it back to the old tank.. haha

[Kennethlwr]

Sad to say after so long.. they still haven move in yet, they are just using the bigger tank as a bigger outworld.. the current nest is almost bursting!

[Kennethlwr]

[Bobby_Hill]

Update?

[Kennethlwr]

Hi all, so sorry for missing for so long.. haven really had much free time Since covid hits.. my CD colony is going strong, probably around 10-15k worker size! Will post more video soon!

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[ANTdrew]

That’s insane!

[Kennethlwr]

Alright! This is a close up latest video of my CD colony.

sorry it’s been a while since I upload any new videos. My current 9months old colony has grown to probably about 10-15k workers I estimate.. it was just a few months back since I upgraded them to this new tank, they have already filled up the whole tank and there are also many workers in the outworld and probably underneath the cocopeat... and check out the eggs.. it’s all so big! I have been feeling them like about 20 mealworms daily and occasionally crickets as bonus!

I also added a feeding video to see how fast they attack their prey!

(Remember to set to high quality for better view, and please support me by subscribing the my YouTube channel! Thanks!)

Edited by Kennethlwr, May 2 2021 - 8:01 PM.

[Kennethlwr]

Guys.. I just caught a CD queen.. but she still has her wings on so I am guessing high chance she is not fertile.. I am trying to get one of my male to put together but they are all in the nest.. any idea? I think I got hundreds of males inside

[Chickalo]

That is just insane.  I'm jealous of you with your Carebara diversa:  I love how polymorphic they're are, again it's insane.  But the size...?  Yeah no, that's way to large for me to hande   Good luck with their future!

[Kennethlwr]

Check the huge amount of alates!

[Fatatoille]

From what I have read, diversa colonies generally don't accept more than one queen, and the workers will attack and kill any introduced queens. When they do, its usually a daughter queen from the incipient colony which will later bud off with a few hundred workers to go start a colony elsewhere. There may also be some regional variation; where colonies within a certain locality will accept multiple queens. To be honest, there is not enough research to come to a conclusive answer about whether carebara diversa are in fact polygynous, and most examples are usually anecdotal or due to misidentified carebara species. I would say there's no harm in trying though, if worse comes to worse, your colony get a free meal out of it.

Edited by Fatatoille, May 17 2021 - 4:41 AM.

[Kennethlwr]

Hmmm thanks for the suggestions! But I am thinking more of taking a few drones out from my colony and put them together with the wild caught CD queen in a test tube and probably let them mate and creates another colony.

[KitsAntVa]

Try to replicate their flight conditions outside, such as watering their outworld and nest heavily(if that's why they fly in the wild)

[AntBoi3030]

Try misting there setup, just don't make it wet enough for them to dig

[migas]

i am starting to raise a CD colony as well. how do you control the humidity at each stage of population size? how do you know how much water to give?

[Calebhunter123]

Update please?

[AntsCali098]

Just read this whole journal. Awesome colony for sure. Hope they are still alive and we get an update in the future. Sorry for bringing back a "dead thread"...

[Invix]

From what I have read, diversa colonies generally don't accept more than one queen, and the workers will attack and kill any introduced queens. When they do, its usually a daughter queen from the incipient colony which will later bud off with a few hundred workers to go start a colony elsewhere. There may also be some regional variation; where colonies within a certain locality will accept multiple queens. To be honest, there is not enough research to come to a conclusive answer about whether carebara diversa are in fact polygynous, and most examples are usually anecdotal or due to misidentified carebara species. I would say there's no harm in trying though, if worse comes to worse, your colony get a free meal out of it.

Carebera diversa are not polygynous, many havespecies have been misidentified as diversa and have multiple queens