The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

So... Im not sure if there are guidelines for this, but here
POST 1: Introduction and Rivka's new home

For a long time I've been intrested in keeping ants. After watching the Antscanda youtube channel for over 2 years and many failed attempts to start a colony.. I've finally made it! my first queen that laid eggs that actually developed!

I caught the queen a few weeks ago - So this journal is not from the beggining of this colony.
This is my Crematogaster sp., which I decided to be named Rivka


So Rivka's colony started at about the middle of August of this year,
After the first week after i've put her in the test tube she immediately started laying eggs.

A few weeks passed and we're at this weekend, this picture was taken on saturday:


As you can see, the eggs grew bigger, and I'd guess there are about 10 - 16 eggs there.
Ive seen other journals of this species, most of them didnt last and some had a quite fast growth, i believe because my room is mosty cold because of the air conditioner the ant is developing slower than usual.
hopefully they'll keep developing and ill be able to see them blossom into a big colony

So my beloved queen already has 3 pupae!!

In general, shes pretty calm when i move her tube around to take so pictures, but i think since three of her underlings are about to become active soon shes a bit more alert!


I imagine the first nanites should arive in the next week or two. Im so excited!
The rest of the pictures can be found here:
https://imgur.com/a/1tmul

Update 19/09/17

First Worker! pretty sure its a crematogaster like i said it is haha!


i have also built a new outworld!




hopefully no ant will be able to get out!

I havent updated recently, so i decided its time to sum up my discoveries since:

First of all, we have a complete set of 5-8 workers. They all hide up with the queen in a little chamber they made near the cotton.

Their test tube started to become dirty and moldy, so Im now in the proccess of moving them to a new one. its been a few hours but they havent traveled much into the new one, so ive put the heating lamp closer, will provide pics if wanted.

NUTRITION
Since ive started feeding them, they have shown no interest in any kind of sweets. Not honey, not sugar water - completey ignored it.
HOWEVER - it seems like they are very fond of soft bugs, like larvae (which i found in my parrots water), some sort of green winged bug, and spiders. They love spiders.

Right after they complete their transport to the new home ill get them back to the outworld and provide them with as much food as possible since i havent been able to feed them in a week or two.

How are they going now? Are they still in the test tub? How many works do you have?

you should change your parrot's water more often But on a more serious note be careful what bugs you feed them that are wild caught. They can have pesticides on them.

how many are there now id love to know