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What
| Colony #1
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Species
| Camponotus Pennsylvanicus
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Date
| 2002.5.14.0044
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Stats
| W | P | L | E | Temp |
| 61 | 23 | 20 | 40 | Unk | |
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Well it's been almost two weeks since my last log entry. My observations over the past 12 days are the following. I've been feeding MSS, FF, and on occasion chopped pieces of larger moths, and other bugs, pupae (things I find when gardening, digging, and weeding soil). The colony numbers stabilized at roughly 52-54 workers for about 5-7 days. During this time I observed a couple major workers (soldiers 10mm or larger) as well as at least one (or two) smaller workers all dying in a timespan of days(like 1/day). I suspect they were what was left of those 12 workers I started with this year which were between 1 and up to 3 years old. So at this point the remaining workers were all born this year. |
It's only been in the past few days that a large number of callows have hatched. Some of them very large. Deaths have now dropped back to zero and pupae numbers have held mostly constant during this time hovering around 26 (give or take 2 or 3 at any given time). Larvae numbers have dwindled steadily. I estimate that worker count growth is currently at about 0.7-0.9 worker(s)/day. The queen really isn't swollen. But she does have a whole room of attendees (at least 1/3 the colony all to herself.
But while she IS laying (maybe 2-4 eggs/day). I'm wondering if the past unattention has taken some years off this queen. She doesn't seem as robust as before. A bit more timid perhaps. But also maybe just more quiet unless nest is disturbed. I was concerned she might die or be dying at one point. Though she seems to be coming around a bit now. Egg laying is getting more constant which I actually think is a good thing.
What I noticed behaviorly with the workers before they died was two things. First they could not crawl up tubing (which exaserbated the timing of the death, but is indicative of something on exoskeletin which allowed climbing of tubing now failing). These worker also had a tendancy to either leave the nest and forage, or tunnel or chew on nest walls. It was as if they were almost 'crazed' in some way to go out in the world and either find something to 'kill and eat' make the nest larger or die doing it (near constantly).. I think the lack of good footing contributed to these older early deaths, but in general I suspect in time with sufficient numbers normal. I have at least one callow worker which is of super size(12mm probably). And I know I got a large number of 9-11mm ones as well. So I've got some good replacements. All in all this colony is looking very well fed (as one can see on the cams. They are in steady state growth (as more workers mature growth in numbers will also grow). Right now I estimate at the current rate of worker maturation it'll be 2 months before I have 120 workers (give or take 10). I am notcing other things which I should note. Ants seem to definately like the heat, but not the light. I'm pretty sure they are definately trying to stay away from the light - but they do like some of the heat. Partually covering parts of nest and allowing them to move and tunnel into those sections seems to encourage them a bit. They do seem to do better in darkness. So ideally I need to find a camera which has good low light sensitivity (what everybody wants). Also with my other colonies keeping them warm but dark, and nicely stacked.. This is the challenge at this point.. |
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What
| Colony #2
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Species
| Camponotus Pennsylvanicus
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Date
| 2002.5.3.1309
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Stats
| W | P | L | E | Temp |
| 2 | 3 | 8 | 5 | Unk | |
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This colony just is not doing well. I'm sure if I let them explore outside they will be lost and die. I wanted to get more workers from this colony. But it just doesn't seem to be doing well. I'm left with one rather major worker, and one minor. The queen/colony keeps eating pupae to stay fat (bad). The workers arn't really eating either FF's or sugary solution like my other colony. I'm thinking this queen somehow was affected by her first two weeks running around my house (somehow I found her again 2 weeks later scrambling for a better home - anywhere - it's dry in my house). From that point on this queen always thought she was starving and would eat and swell up massively (more than most nuptual queens I had). Anyway I'm not sure this colony will survive. I'm hoping this year to get some Camponotus queens myself. Also noticed a camponotus colony has moved into my house again. They are sister of the colony living in the apple tree in my yard so maybe they just decided to try my house for a bit.. Anyway they are around and we shall see if I can get some C. Penn nuptuals this year by my house.. I'll try to get the start of a colony again.. Also actual counts are off a bit as this colony is also getting ignored a bit as they don't seem to want to do well. |
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What
| Colony #3
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Species
| Unidentified
Formica exsectoides(?) |
Date
| 2002.5.14.0117
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Stats
| W | P | L | E | Temp |
| 80 | 0 | 15 | 200 | Unk | |
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This colony definately has eggs and now larvae. I'm not absolutely positive but I think there is only one queen surviving of this colony. Even so they finally are starting to look up. The queen is very swollen. They have lots of eggs. This colony definately wants more protein. I need to get some shrimp! These are the species which lives in clusters of mounds. Very aggressive. Multiply queened. They definately make large mounds from various sticks, soil, plant matter, etc. Up to 3-4ft in Livingston County Michigan (Howell). If I need to I can go get more workers and possibly queens. I need to get a definite ID on these at some point. |
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What
| Colony #4
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Species
| Unidentified
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Date
| 2002.5.13.0225
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Stats
| W | P | L | E | Temp |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | Unk | |
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Been keeping this moist. The 6 queens seem to be looking ok. I wonder if this is a species which lives off scale bugs which live on roots, etc. It might be why this species doesn't do that well in captivity. While digging I'm going to keep my eyes open for some roots with scale bugs to try to get a microecosystem going for them.. Anyway so far so good. At least they have eggs and so far are still looking pretty good. |
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What
| Colony #5-6
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Species
| Formica Nitrodiventus
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Date
| 2002.5.13.0237
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Stats
| W | P | L | E | Temp |
| 300 | 0 | 30 | 200 | Unk | |
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These colonies are both doing well so far. The one which is in wood especially. I noticed tonite some workers taking up habitation in the foraging area. The colony which has 4 queens and more workers seems be doing somewhat better. The one in the plaster could use some more workers. They have been feeding well on alternating MSS, FF, and insects, etc.. All the workers are swollen and happy. Larvae are growing quickly.. |
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What
| Colony #1
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Species
| Camponotus Pennsylvanicus
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Date
| 2002.5.2.0050
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Stats
| W | P | L | E | Temp |
| 51 | 24 | 40 | 35 | Unk | |
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Ok. In the past few days I've been continuing to feed MSS, FFs, and moths when I can find them. In general the colony is looking good. I have been covering sections of colony so it odesn't heat too much and spread humidity to cloud glass. They dug out a chamber in the dark and were occupying it. Quite near a light of course since the temp was nice. I've removed the covering for that and they move brood back down into primary chamber. I have done a number of counts the ranges follwo. 49-53w, 24-26p, 6LL, 4-8ML, 26-30SL, 35-40e. The larvae are definately getting used. It's clear there is a pause in the brood development in this cycle 2002.b2 and eggs are still growing (havn't hatched AFAIK). In effect I don't see any really dark pupae and havn't for a couple days. So it seems after the first double there was a pause in larval to pupae development. But we should start to see more hatching in say a week maximum. Queen is still not swollen at all but I still see newly laid eggs this time about 3. Not sure if they are eating or if laying is just slow - 2-4/day. All in all things look good. I added some water in the past week but not much. I also noticed one dead worker. The first in a while. There is at least one major worker coming out to forage as well. The only other thing to note is that they are generally keeping brood segments seperated. There is one small group of eggs and small larvae in upper deck and rest of brood in lower. But segregation is not complete. |
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What
| Colony #2
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Species
| Camponotus Pennsylvanicus
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Date
| 2002.5.2.0050
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Stats
| W | P | L | E | Temp |
| 2 | 3 | 12 | 3 | Unk | |
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Still arn't doing well. Major is the only worker foraging and only really takes up MSS mostly leaves FF's alone - trys to hunt the live ones but just kills them. I noticed in #1 that the smaller workers tend to be the better foragers for MSS and FF's. I've fed ocasionally |
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What
| Colony #3
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Species
| Unidentified
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Date
| 2002.5.20.0050
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Stats
| W | P | L | E | Temp |
| 100 | 0 | 0 | 30 | Unk | |
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I've fed this colony a couple times. But I think they need better foraging. They don't like live fruit flies - they do hunt them but arn't that good at it. They do seem to like frozen ones. Though at this point hard to say. I have them in window so they do get cold at night and warm during day. Not sure if this messes with them as they tend to form mounds and probably regulate temps much better. |
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What
| Colony #4
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Species
| Unidentified
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Date
| 2002.5.20.0050
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Stats
| W | P | L | E | Temp |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | Unk | |
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I've got these in a new claustral cell. I'll try to get pics this week. There is a small wad of eggs perhaps 10. They seem to be doing ok. I try to give them some sun to warm them but make sure to keep the walls moist as it seems the do better when it's moist.. |
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What
| Colony #5-6
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Species
| Formica Nitrodiventus
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Date
| 2002.5.20.0050
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Stats
| W | P | L | E | Temp |
| 300 | 0 | 0 | 200 | Unk | |
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Ok. These colonies are doing pretty well. Each has a few hundred eggs. The last with 3 queens I moved into the plaster terrarium that I had same species in last year. I want to check that indeed it was lack of protein which was problem with pupae not developing etc. So far things look pretty good. They are doing well with MSS and FF's at this point. One thing I do notice is that foraging is definately temp related. They start to really come out when temps are in the 70-80F ranges. I moved them out of old AC-12x12-W2 style terrarium and am hoping I can get them adjusted to plaster. So far they seem ok. Like I said both colonies have hundreds of eggs. Queens look very good, workers swollen. Though admittedly the first colony with 4 queens has more workers than the second. I think each has at least 150-250 workers though - at some point I'll try to get a count. There has been some worker deaths in all the moving and trauma. Hopefully they will be able to get a good brood in. Once I'm convinced they are doing well I'll e-mail Jay who wanted to come and pick up a fully functional one. |
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