David Bennett Australian Sugar Ants Journal

Camponotus Consobrinus
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Date Journal Entry
2003.03.14.17.41 Hey guys All is good the colony hasnt eaten any new food items. The ants got attacked by the house ants so i changed thier home. There were no loses and 18 house ants were killed. i have placed thier home in a moatwih vaselline around it and talcum powder. I was suprised they put up such a fight and i was lucky i got there in time. There are 4 larvae 12 eggs and 1 pupae. Dave
2003.03.07.01.31 Hello all Wow its been a long time i guess you could say i lost my interest in ants for a while there.. but now its back again and guess what... Ive got another camponotus consobrinus queen. Thats a total of 2 hmm.. i hope it ll work this time. I have thrown out the formicarium i was keeping my previous ants in and got a bran new silocin sealed antfarm which is much larger than the previous formicarium and the design is just so much better.. same with the feeding nipples as Mr ant calls them. Those house ants Pheidole megacephala arent going to kill my camponotus queen again revenge will be mine ... im hoping the colony wont eat thier pupae like the previous colony did. Anyone got any ideas on why they were doing this I was feeding them well and i dont think it has to do with nutrition i think its more behavioral. If you have any ideas email me divadam@hotmail.com . OK now its onto Colony status: This colony is going well and at the moment it consists of an estimated 10 eggs 2 larvae 1 pupae 1 worker and a queen. Insects consumed 2 day period : 1 fly and 3 moths. I am impressed with the consumtion rate interms of food. Im hoping this will keep up and the colony will finally become a sucessful one. Just so you all know i havent added dirt to the ant farm and currently keeping the colony in a tic-tac container the colony was sent in and i have placed this inside another container where the worker and queen forage for food. By the way poting mix seems be the best for these ants just a handy tip given to me by paul hailes. potting is a mix of various organic matterials and the rest of the soil is loam. I think thats all folks have any questions feel free to email me. Dave
2002.04.05.02.09 Heys Guys I Havent updated in ages well anyway heres what has happend my previous colony has died because of an invasion of little house ants because a forager found the sugar water i put in there for them. BUT i have purchased a new colony of the same type of ant. :D:D It now has 3 pupae 5 medium - small larvae one worker and the queen. The queen looks very healthy nice abdomen size and has layed one eggs so far :D i saw that happen right in front of my face. I will try too keep you updated if my updates are slow im sorry i just have alot of school work at the moment and am finding hard. Thanks Dave P.S my internet site has been shutdown thanks to homestead sorry : they are nwo charging and i dont have the money anyway au revior Bye
2001.07.29.18.01 Hi everyone. The ants did not do very well over the winter months. They havent eaten anything and the queen didnt lay many eggs they are just getting the jist of things now. i have put some sugar water in my feeders and hopfully they will start feeding i have about 12 fat larvae and are almost at the pupal stage. what i find with my large larvae is they disapear. They are excatvatig every day and now have 2 chambers. nothing really major has happend they are going alright at the moment. well thats all i really have to tell at the moment. Keep u imformed Dave
2001.06.10.19.32 i havent updated for so long because ive been moving house sorry: . anyway back to the ants. The first pupa has now hatched and they have dug down where i cant see them. but they bring the young up somethimes for warmth and then take them back down. i think i have 5 very large larvae and about 10 small and medium sized. there is a small clutch of eggs which the queen laid yesterday. the colony is taking a while to reproduce but this figures because they are big ants. i have been feeding them with a diet of moths thats all they will touch ive tried honey the mix from antcolony.org no luck . they also eat flys but they dont like them as much as moths. i rip the moths wings off before feeding so the ants can catch it this may seem cruel but its the only way to get them to find ant eat it. i will be trying to update more often. Regards Dave:
2001.04.28.05.29 Hi guys Sorry i havent put in an entry in for so long. Anyway back to the ants. i have my first pupa finnally and another one coming by the looks of it. its white with a blacl nob at the top should hatch fairly soon. nothing else has really happend Eggs: 15 Larvae: 7 pupa: 1 keep u up to date
2001.04.15.08.41 There going great they ahve about 7 larvae a clutch of about 8 eggs. theres one very fat larvae which looks ready to pupate which i hope it does. i have fed them some moths and flies and they stung them and devoured them like a delicacy. i also fed them some honey whiched the treasured like gold. the queen is really fat she can hardley walk she should lay another hole clump of eggs soon. Thats really all that has happend besides they ahve renevated the chamber which they are living in it is now about 5 cm across and 2CM in whidth. Keep u updated Dave the ant Site: antfarming.homestead.com/homepage.html
2001.04.01.17.07 Some good news They are finnally underground after all that waiting i closly observed as they dug this tunnel it is about 2 cm down and there is a chamber to the right that is about 3cm by 2 it took them a while to get the queen down there but they got her down after a day. there are only larvae and workers now all the eggs have hatched into little larvae and hopefully they will eventually turn into pupa. I have now got my own site its just started its a bit cruddy but u mite want to have a look its antfarming.homestead.com/homepage.html i ahve a few pics there and info there also a message board and chat and it will be updated everyday except for the days i have to study. Dave the ant
2001.03.27.03.16 Hi the ants are going well the queen and workers have eaten some of the eggs. she ahs laid some new eggs today and the puapa are a little bigger than before. i have now started to make the formacaruim more humig bye leaving a light on next to they for about 5 hpurs a day they dont mind the light which is good and it is helping the larva to grow faster. one of my soldiers is so fat its like a small honey pot ant if anyone knows of a place to get them please email me email:divadam@hotmail.com thanks . over all count 6 workers 1 soldier 12 larva and 5 eggs
2001.03.23.18.26 the ants are going well the queen laid some eggs today for the first time in weeks and the larva are fat but still need to double there size i have seen the ants feeding on some of the sugar water from my feeder which is a good sign the colony nows how to feed from the feeder. nothing else has really happend. Final recout of eggs:15 pupua:0 and larva:7 keep you u uptodate
2001.03.09.16.34 now my queen has about 200 eggs 7 workers and they havent dug any tunnels yet but they have eaten a moth and there abdomens are full with food somethime i can tell the difference between the queen and the soldiers. i have added some pupua from the same species colony and they took them in they sniffed them and then they carried them to were the eggs were and they ate the damaged ones but kept the un damaged pupua. there going great cause im using this feeder that comes with the ant farm and it works if u want to make it i will give u the instructions just email me at divadam@hotmail.com anyway there going great i will keeps u updated.
2001.03.07.03.53 i just found out that i now have 4 workers a clump of eggs about six i think and my ants r eating all the sugar water up. anyway they r starting to dig tunnels into the earth because the queen and workers r on the top of the soil and there are no tunnels yet. anyway there going well i will keeps you up dated.
2001.03.06.01.28 I recieved my ant farm today with queen and 3 workers and 1 egg. The egg was laid right in front of me i saw the workers hatch out of the pupa it was amazing. The ant formacarium is very good quality and i would advise anyone who wants an ant farm u should get it from my supplier paul hail. his site is www.hailesaquariums.com.au . these antfarms come with specail feeders i put some sugar water in feeder and i saw all my tree workers take a sip of the sugar water it really works. they then feed the queen. I found one of my three workers diging a tunnel. and it was moving massive pieces of earth it was fasinating to watch. i will keep you updated. Dave
2001.03.03.18.49 i started with a colony of australian sugar ants black and orange. which i order from an australian supplier. for any australian ant lovers his site is. www.hailesaquariums.com.au i sent hailes a email to ask how the queen was going she had 10 workers 5 eggs and 3 larvae. Hailes is also sending me one of his handcrafted ant formacariums. Anyone can buy these he will import them to u very good quality. im really excited and will update soon.