Introduction:
This journal will feature one main Crematogaster cerasi colony and 4 others. The four colonies are only about a year old and the main colony is 2 years old.
Update 0:
The main colony will be named colony A and the other 4 will be B, C, D and, E.
Colony A:
Since the last update in my old journal, I thought they had not grown much even though they always had a large brood pile. When moving the setup, I noticed a spider. The spider was located behind the setup and I had not noticed it. I found a pile of dead Crematogaster ants under the web, around 40 of them. Turns out, the spider had been picking workers out of the setup since it had no lid. After removing the spider(fed to the colony 
). The colony began to grow rapidly, outgrowing their test tube and workers were grouping along the sides and under the tube. I dd not have time to make a nest however until this weekend. The nest was made of wood from a log that I found in the forest. The wood had a very unique grain and black lines from what I suspect to have been a fungus infection. I used a Dremel to carve out chambers and polished the wood with coconut oil. I tried to move the ants in by brushing the ants off the tube then connecting the tube to the nest but the ants panicked after I brushed them off the tube and quickly started swarming. The chaos that ensured was . . . well not very good.
Around 60 workers had crossed the escape prevention when I realized that the only reason they hadn't escaped earlier was because they were content with the food I gave them. Once I caught most of the workers I connected the setup together and the nest was filled up almost immediately.
There also seems to be a Camponotus nearcticus worker that somehow made its way into the outworld but the crematogaster are ignoring it completely. If anyone has any idea what is happening please tell me.
Colony B:
They have 19 workers with a sizable brood pile. A lot of larvae and eggs but not much pupae.
Colony C:
They have 21 workers, lots of pupae and eggs and a pile of powdered insect remains.
Colony D:
They have 23 workers, 14 pupae larvae and eggs. Like Colony C, they also have a pile of powdered insect remains.
Colony E:
This colony is doing the worst, with only 14 workers and a tiny brood pile. I'm not sure what's different as I feed all my colonies on the same schedule and the same amount.
