The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

Hi all,
5 days ago a queen was found my backpack while unpacking from a trip.
I don't have any equipment so just used a container and put her in it with some soil and bits of tree bark.
After 3 days things started to mould so, I took all the soil out and put her and a new piece of bark in.
The next day she laid 4 eggs! Then another 2 today.
I'm super excited.

I can start to see mould forming on the bark but I don't want to disturb her in case she easts her eggs or get stressed etc.
Any ideas?

Here she is with her tiny egg pile
https://flic.kr/p/239eDtW

Today i checked the queen and found that,

1. No mould! That's great because i didn't do anything after removing the soil etc.

2. She has more eggs! It's hard to count because they are soo small and in clumps. I would guess 10+

Very excited!
This will be their new home once the colony is 25 workers +?

https://flic.kr/p/22bbB7q

wow! that is like a awesome dirt setup, like the Hacienda Del Dorado kind of awesome if only i could give my ants that kind of space (share the room with my brother)

antnest8 wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 07, 2018 5:40 pm

wow! that is like an awesome dirt setup, like the Hacienda Del Dorado kind of awesome if only i could give my ants that kind of space (share the room with my brother)

That was my inspiration.

So, it looks like she has doubled her egg pile, what a machine. I really can't wait to see workers.
When should i start putting food in there?

Here is her pile
https://flic.kr/p/DKbb6p

I kinda forgot about my queen and had a look the other day and we have larvae! I'm super excited!

Herer is the pile
https://flic.kr/p/24eKxsZ

The terrarium has grown a lot too, I'm kinda worried about how dense its getting and flies and bugs are starting to make it him so i got some carnivorous plants to take care of that. Hopefully when the ants move in they don't get eaten.

Here is the terrarium when it started:
https://flic.kr/p/22bbB7q

And here it is now:
https://flic.kr/p/EzL6EK

Can you get a better image of the queen so we can identify her?

Jadeninja9 wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 11, 2018 1:37 am

Can you get a better image of the queen so we can identify her?

I will try but the container isn't super clear.

cool

Woah!
I went on holiday for a couple weeks and when I got back there was a surprise waiting.

I went away 4 weeks ago and at that point, there were no workers but a bunch of brood. I put some crushed meal worm in there just because I was going to be away for 2 weeks and the queen hadn't had anything to eat since being caught.
Away I went for some relaxation.

Coming home, the very first thing I did was check the Queen and... WOAH! 3 workers!!!
The queen wasn't looking good though, lethargic and barely moving. I removed the food plate which was completely empty and replaced it with a drop of honey and a tiny bit of mealworm. I wish I took some photos! I saw the workers move towards the food almost instantly and then they would go back and feed the queen and after a few minutes, the queen was moving as normal again.

So, I tried to take another photo of the queen and I think it might be the best I'm going to get. Would be cool if the species could be confirmed.

Here it is:
https://flic.kr/p/25UpuAp

Nice set up! Update this journal more regularly!

Oh and they are definitely Iridomyrmex Bicknelli