Jackie62 photos/videos of our A. octospinosus colony

Let everyone see the story of your colony(ies) over time. Pictures, developments, success and failures, what works / what doesn't, and your plans for expansion as time goes by!
Post Reply
Jackie62
Minim
Posts: 263
Joined: Wed Dec 09, 2015 9:13 am

Re: Jackie62 photos/videos of our A. octospinosus colony

Post by Jackie62 » Sun Aug 21, 2016 1:28 pm

Acromyrmexbob wrote:Personally I think the standers arounders and the skulkers are part of the residual latency capability of the colony, the ability of the colony to respond to need or crisis. So in a well balanced colony, the requirement for effort will be below the available work force. In times of need, be it defence or a food source which is further away, more resources can be deployed. I am unsure if these 'waiters' take their turn or are, perhaps, older or younger, (there is a definite change in duties as ants mature and age), so these may be older ants which have taken up guard duties. Interesting stuff.
I agree I have noted how when I take a lid off of a tank, those that are seemingly doing nothing come straight for me. If you watch them long enough,the ones that are not working are checking out different areas of the tanks and checking on other colony members, in my experience.

User avatar
Deansie26
Major
Posts: 1237
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2015 3:30 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: Jackie62 photos/videos of our A. octospinosus colony

Post by Deansie26 » Sun Aug 21, 2016 5:16 pm

I dare say they have a harder life in the forest than the cushy number they have with Jackie.

Jackie62
Minim
Posts: 263
Joined: Wed Dec 09, 2015 9:13 am

Re: Jackie62 photos/videos of our A. octospinosus colony

Post by Jackie62 » Wed Aug 24, 2016 2:56 pm

Deansie26 wrote:I dare say they have a harder life in the forest than the cushy number they have with Jackie.
Haha!! Yes, our colony are spoilt!!

Here are another 2 films of the ants.....dismantling rose leaves with black spot! Sorry Jamie....no support for your theory so far, although the ants were not too keen on one of the leaves that had less chlorophyll and was more yellow...they certainly do know what they need....black spot on this occasion was not a problem. Apologies again for the quality and making people feel sick...the camera technique was a bit wobbly!

https://youtu.be/9WbLE_YYIj4

https://youtu.be/8WXpQTJbCrE

Jackie62
Minim
Posts: 263
Joined: Wed Dec 09, 2015 9:13 am

Re: Jackie62 photos/videos of our A. octospinosus colony

Post by Jackie62 » Thu Sep 01, 2016 2:51 pm

Hi All, please see graph and some environmental data below of our colony. The data logger only ran for a couple of weeks and it is my intention to set this up permanently, but I was giving it a trial run for now. The data shows %rh (blue), degrees Celsius (red) and dew point degrees Celsius (green). I am going to try and run this continually over the coming months and need to adjust when the data gets logged, as this data was collected every 10 minutes! I'll set it for every 4 hours or so next time. The colony are cutting leaves and fruit every day and they come from all fungus gardens to the resources platform to do this. I still have males and young queens around and some wingless queens are working again. I'm also seeing more minims out and about, which I didn't see before..The only thing I will say is that something is really going on now. The main, large fungus in the main tank has diminished to less than half it's size, while the other three have stayed the same....I'm off on holiday now for two weeks, so I'll be back again after that and will report more then...have left the colony in the hands of my colleagues... Cheers for now.Image

Jackie62
Minim
Posts: 263
Joined: Wed Dec 09, 2015 9:13 am

Re: Jackie62 photos/videos of our A. octospinosus colony

Post by Jackie62 » Tue Sep 20, 2016 4:33 pm

Hi All, well something has really changed with the colony. The main fungus has almost disappeared now. We have a lot of winged females and males in all the tanks, plus lots of minims and hardly any larger workers...please see video...has the original queen now died and another taken over in one of the other gardens? While I was away, the colony were not given much in the way of resources, so I don't know if this has contributed to these changes...Hmmmm....

https://youtu.be/2swo8mcG29k

User avatar
Deansie26
Major
Posts: 1237
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2015 3:30 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: Jackie62 photos/videos of our A. octospinosus colony

Post by Deansie26 » Wed Sep 21, 2016 9:29 am

Nice update Jackie, it is weird to see all those winged females walking about, can't be the norm in a wild colony can it? I'd have thought they leave and die but not sure.
Almost impossible to tell if it's a new queen I'd imagine unless it survives another decade then I guess you could surmise.

Jackie62
Minim
Posts: 263
Joined: Wed Dec 09, 2015 9:13 am

Re: Jackie62 photos/videos of our A. octospinosus colony

Post by Jackie62 » Wed Sep 21, 2016 1:34 pm

Hi Jamie, yes, it is odd, but of course I can only surmise what is going on....the females are doing their best to leave the tank, but it's surrounded by mesh, so they don't get far and most are dying, but there are hundreds of them and lots of males too...I'm wondering why the larger workers have disappeared too and I can see lots of minims...perhaps it is the end of the colony now, so we'll have to decide what to do next....if it dies, then we will wait for our new Science Building to be built and for Andrew to come and build our new display, which will mean we get a new colony! Cheers for now.

User avatar
Deansie26
Major
Posts: 1237
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2015 3:30 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: Jackie62 photos/videos of our A. octospinosus colony

Post by Deansie26 » Wed Sep 21, 2016 1:56 pm

Maybe the presence of all the winged females is directly linked to the lack of large workers? Especially if there doing work that large workers would normally do. Your colony is one of the more interesting to read about Jackie as its so old, ours are toddlers in comparison.

Jackie62
Minim
Posts: 263
Joined: Wed Dec 09, 2015 9:13 am

Re: Jackie62 photos/videos of our A. octospinosus colony

Post by Jackie62 » Wed Sep 21, 2016 4:34 pm

It is strange, but very few females, that have lost their wings, are working. The winged ones are many and they are basically dying/drowning, where they are flying and falling into the water. I will have a big clean-up job to do in a few days. I will monitor the colony closely over the coming weeks and let you know what happens. My colleague that has known the colony from the beginning says the fungus garden has always been n the large tank, now it has almost disappeared. There are 3, new gardens, with many, many winged males and females around them....where is the queen in all of this?

User avatar
Andyj
Site Admin
Posts: 505
Joined: Sun Mar 20, 2016 7:26 pm
Location: Sunny Devon
Contact:

Re: Jackie62 photos/videos of our A. octospinosus colony

Post by Andyj » Wed Sep 21, 2016 6:52 pm

I'm interested in the queens that have lost their wings and are working, what's the chances of them being fertile i wonder ?

Post Reply