A couple of days ago I gave my Myrmica rubra colony a new foraging box, as their old one was too small, and getting very messy. This new foraging box was actually one I found in my garden shed, one which had been part of a starter kit I purchased last year but had only used […]
Myrm’s Ant Colonies Journal – 30 Sep 19 Read More »
The Lasius niger colony continues to grow, with 18-20 worker ants now present. As I type this there are two new callow workers motionless in the test tube; they were born within the past hour. The queen is looking healthy and I can see the pale elastic membrane between her abdominal plates. This means that either her crop
Colonies Update – 26 Sep 19 Read More »
Last night I saw a worker from the new Lasius niger colony, emerge from the test tube and investigate the protein jelly I had placed in a small feeding dish, located right outside the test tube entrance. When I checked again about half hour later, there were two ants eating the jelly. This is great news as
Ant Colonies Update – 21 Sep 19 Read More »
I have updated the Setting Up page on this site, with a guide on how to set up your ant farm (using a large “Starter Kit” from AntsUK.com). The guide can be read on the page of the site itself or downloaded as a pdf file. You’ll find the link for the download at the bottom
Guide on Setting up your Ant Farm Read More »
My new Lasius niger queen now has 7 workers with her, with one of them having only hatched a few hours ago. There are approximately ten, maybe a dozen cocoons remaining, with some first moult larvae present too. A new ant farm I ordered specifically for this new colony was ordered on Friday, and dispatched
Approximately eight weeks ago I captured a newly mated Lasius niger queen from this year’s mating flights. I had not intended to capture any queens this year, but I was in my garden and saw this de-winged queen running about where I knew there to be an established colony of ants. Not wanting her to be caught
New Lasius niger colony – first workers. Read More »
I often see quite a number of dead ants piled up in the midden area of this colony, though the number of live workers seems to be at a steady constant. Good news, as it means the queen is doing well. I just took a peek into the nest and I can see two black, winged males
Myrmica rubra males Read More »
You are more than welcome reply to most posts I make, but you will not be able to start your own topics. You should see a “leave a comment” option at the end of each post. Before you make a comment, you should be aware of the following: You do not have to supply a
IMPORTANT! Please Read Before Posting. Read More »
Over the past few months I have become more and more concerned for my 11-year-old Lasius umbratus queen. I had not seen her all year, and I had noticed that the number of workers and brood within the nest has dropped dramatically. It didn’t really surprise me as, on average, these queens live 10-15 years,
Lasius umbratus Queen doing well Read More »
As readers of my journals may know, I have a 4-year-old Lasius niger colony (the “Magenta Colony”) which I have raised from a single queen ant captured during the mating flights of 2015. As is normal with new Lasius niger colonies, the growth was slow for the first year, picked up in the second, and
Mystery Death of “Magenta” Colony Read More »