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

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

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.

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.

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!

Darlene is going to be a Mummy!

Darlene (aka The sugar ant formerly known as D) has 3 lovely looking eggs this afternoon! They weren't there this morning, so it looks like she got busy while we were out :-) They eggs are enormous compared to the other queens' eggs. Of course it's not really surprising considering how big she is!

I gave her some mealworm yesterday, but she seems to have been rather offended by it and hidden it behind her cotton wool ball!

Some pictures for you - ain't she pretty?

Oh dear, 2 new queens!

24/12/2011
Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. That is of course, except for me!
I was about to go to bed on Christmas Eve, and one of the blinds was caught on our Christmas lights so I climbed up to untangle it where I discovered a queen ant jackpot! On the window, seemingly attracted by my festive display were 15+ Queens (sugar ants I think?) all without wings. I caught 2 (they will be known as D & E until I think of more creative names for them), as I couldn't help myself, knowing very well that my hubby would be "thrilled" (sarcasm!) that I now had 5 queen ants!
First 2 photos are of D, last one is E. They are enormous!