3 replies to this topic

[antmaniac]

Largest queen in my collection. It is in a take away box at moment.

 

12/1/2016

 

15/1/2016

 

21/2/2016

 

15/3/2016

 

25/3/2016

 

 

Edited by antmaniac, March 25 2016 - 3:00 AM.

[antmaniac]

10/4/2016

This colony has a bunch of growing larvae, still quite slow develop compares to other colony. One trick I found is, if I allow the ants to starve without honey for a while, then they will go crazy for it and stock up the honey. Otherwise if they have a constant access to honey, they will just cover it up and ignore it. I guess they are quite picky with their diet.

 

12/4/2016

 

13/4/2016

Fruit fly outbreak in the kitchen tonight. So I killed as much as I can and give some to this colony as extra food. The queen is very greedy eater. I observed that she actually used the front two legs to hold the fly and chew them up. I have seen the similar action from wasps. They actually chew them into a tiny black bit after squeeze and suck out the juice. Soon after this photo was taken, a worker transported a larva to block out the light.

 

Edited by antmaniac, April 13 2016 - 5:27 AM.

[antmaniac]

20/4/2016

The chubby queen is actually really good at caring for the brood. She took some wet paper to assist the larvae spinning the cocoon. Soon the workers learn this and started to do the same. Due to the oversize gaster, the queen always appear as if she is dragging a heavy load with her whenever she moves and do upkeeping duties. The workers like to cling on the queen and cleaning her oversize gaster.

 

[antmaniac]

30/4/2016

Close up shot of the queen and the brood. The exposed larva failed to spin the cocoon.

 

10/5/2016

The two exposed larvae actually became pupae. Unfortunately today they disappeared. I presume the queen ate them. The cocoons are still there though.

 

21/6/2016

Unfortunately the queen was found dead today with head and legs all curled up. Everything was going so well the night before though, so don't know what is the actual cause.

Edited by antmaniac, June 21 2016 - 5:27 AM.