Esme (Camponotus Consobrinus queen) has 6 larvae and a pupa!

Woohoo!

I noticed Esme's biggest larvae was really active (never seen any of them move before at all) on Friday (17/2) so figured something was about to go down! I was right. The next day it had starting spinning a cocoon.

So here are some pics (firstly the super active larvae, then of the cocoon spinning and now the pupa.

17/2/2012

18/2/2012

22/2/2012

Betsy update

Betsy's colony seems to be doing extremely well. I gave them a couple of pieces of meal worm today and they went crazy within 15 minutes. This seems to be there favourite thing put of everything I offer them. I'm estimating she has about 25+ workers at this point.

Aggie's escapees...

I tend to have several escapees from both Aggie and Betsy's colonies at any given time. They always go back though! One of Aggies wasn't so lucky a week ago and perished on the piece of sticky tape that I had put over the holes to prevent (ha!) them escaping.

Anyway here are a couple of dodgy pics of them going back home again (note the dead worker I left there as a warning to the others :-P). The holes are only the size of a sewing needle.

Darlene update (Camponotus Consobrinus queen)

Darlene has about 15 or 16 larvae of varying sizes. I've been feeding her a drop of honey water every week or so. She is still so much calmer than my other Sugar Ant queen Esme. It has been quite cool here lately so I think that might be why the larvae seem to be growing more slowly this week (or perhaps it's like the watched pot??). Anyway here are some photos.


2/2/2012

7/2/2012

7/2/2012

7/2/2012

Esme update (Camponotus Consobrinus queen)

Some photos of Esme the Australian Banded Sugar Ant (Camponotus Consobrinus) and her 7 larvae (I'm sure she ate some of her eggs initially, there used to be a lot more). They are quite different sizes and seem to have slowed down in growth in the last week or so. We have had some unseasonably cool weather here in Canberra, so perhaps that's it? I have been feeding her a honey water drop about once a week.

2/2/2012

7/2/2012

7/2/2012

Today 11/2/2012

Aggie update

Aggie and her workers love to move house!!

In the last week they have resided in their original red covered test tube, then all moved out to under the mouldy cotton wool ball and now they have dug out a lovely home under the water cotton wool ball, which is quite convenient for me because I can see them there much better :) Unfortunately, it's not so great for photos, but here's a little shot of where they are these days.

It looks like they are going really well - there are at least 15 or 20 workers and a lovely large ball of larvae and eggs!

Camponotus Consobrinus larvae (Sugar ant) pictures

My Camponotus Consobrinus larvae are growing really quickly! Here are some photos of Darlene and her larvae from today.

Cool spider!

^That's something I never thought I'd hear myself say, let alone write it down so that there is a record of the occasion...

Anyway, went outside this morning and look what my little boy found! It was quite tiny, but really quite beautiful.
(and yes, I do realise that it is not an ant...)

Underside

This is the spider's back - hard to get good colour up close, pointing up to the bright sky, but you can see how colourful it was in the first picture.

The back again.

Hope it's back again tomorrow morning :-)

Budding ant photographer!

I forgot I took this picture of my son (3) with my phone a few weeks ago!
Mummy's boy <3

Update on Charlene the Ant Queen

I still don't know what species Charlene is, and these days I am having trouble photographing her too - the tube she likes to live in doesn't make it easy! I'm actually surprised that there aren't already big larvae though - she laid her first eggs around the 16th of December.. They seem to be really slow growing. I'm pretty sure Charlene hasn't eaten anything since I caught her either.

A dodgy photo so I can compare the size next week..

Darlene the Australian Sugar Ant has larvae (Camponotus Consobrinus)

Darlene, my other Sugar Ant queen has a lot more larvae than Esme. She is also much calmer than Esme and has a much bigger gaster (butt) so I'm predicting her colony will do better too. I gave her some fruit juice this morning but she wasn't interested - maybe she's just not a morning person?

Esme the Australian Sugar Ant has larvae (Camponotus Consobrinus)

After a weekend away, it was nice to come home to see that my Camponotus Consobrinus queens both now have larvae! I still think Esme has less eggs/larvae than she did though? She was testing the fruit juice I gave her this morning so took a couple of photos.

Aggie's Ant Family

Aggie (Nylanderia queen?)and her colony are still happily residing under the mouldy cotton wool ball... The colony seems to be increasing in size too - I don't like to bother them though so I cant be too sure of numbers. Today I put a small piece of banana and meal worm in their outworld and within one minute workers came to check it out. Here is the first lucky (hungry) worker.

Betsy's Ant Family

I haven't seen Betsy (Nylanderia queen, we think) since she moved into the ant farm on December 28 last year, but her little colony seems to be going very well! They have made several tunnels and eat lots of things, but mealworms are their favourite. There are lots of eggs and larvae hidden in the corner near where I let them in originally. It was hard to get a photo, but here is the best one I could get today.

Ants update!

I haven't updated for a while because nobody has been doing anything much!

When cleaning/feeding/watering Esme and Darlene (Banded Sugar Ants or Camponotus Consobrinus) I noticed that Esme seems to have less eggs than before? She's the stressy one, so perhaps that's it? Also her gaster (butt) is smaller than Darlene's. They are both refusing any foods except for honey water or fruit juice. Here's a couple of pics for comparing the two of them.

Darlene (big butt)

Esme the stress head (small butt)

And one of Esme and her eggs

Today when cleaning one of Betsy's (Nylanderia) workers escaped. I caught it and put it back in the formicarium (ant farm). Anyway a minute or so later I noticed another worker walking around the outside and caught it and put it back in. The thing is, I'm not entirely sure that it was Betsy's worker after all! It seemed to be really exploring like it had never been there before! oops.

Esme (Camponotus consobrinus queen) lays an egg

This is the second egg I've seen Esme lay. I disturbed her by bumping her jar with my camera, so she uncurled before she was finished. When I saw her the first time a couple of days ago she stayed curled up and it looked like she helped the egg out with her mandibles.

Here you can just see the egg appearing.

Turning around to pick up the egg.

Putting the new egg with the others.

All done! (for now...)

Esme is in the family way too :-)

Last night Esme was very actively trying to hide her meal worm segment away and seemed very agitated. It was obvious why this morning. Two lovely eggs and a hidden meal worm = a happy, calmer Esme!

Charlene is considering a move.

Last night, Charlene decided to have a wander up the tube connecting her delightful specimen container to her outworld. She changed her mind before she got there though! I don't think she wants to move out yet.

Betsy's workers eat mealworms. Hoorah!

Put a small piece of mealworm into the container attached to the ant farm yesterday for Betsy and her family. I hadn't seen any of them since they disappeared yesterday when they moved in. That is until I spotted a worker sneaking a snack this afternoon. It went back into the farm and told the others apparently because then there were lots of mealworm visits over the next half an hour or so.

Things are changing...

I tried to get Charlene (aka The ant formerly known as C - still don't know what species she might be?) to move home yesterday, but she appears to be more than comfortable in her specimen jar.

Some photos of Charlene and her eggs and the outworld she could call home if she wanted...