Death becomes her!

Ideas, techniques, problems and issues associated with keeping Leaf Cutting Ants in Captivity
Britishants.com
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Death becomes her!

Post by Britishants.com » Wed Jan 13, 2016 11:43 am

It happens to us all at some point! But it is not without its lessons! Before Christmas one of my Atta Colonies started to fail, the Queen seemed distance from the fungus and the ants distant from her! On Christmas Eve she became torpid despite having the same conditions as all the other colonies. Despite my best efforts of a new tub and "fungus rolling" (bank rolling) in another words twice with fungus from two other colonies she was found on her back with her legs in the air!
It's odd how she fed on the fungus but then abandoned it to isolate herself. Usually the Queen is buried in fungus or clutching it like a child with a toy. It's like she knew she was going to die! Anyway Jayne Seymour Atta is now with the Angels!

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Deansie26
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Re: Death becomes her!

Post by Deansie26 » Wed Jan 13, 2016 12:00 pm

Its tough to lose a big Atta queen even if these things just happen sometimes and are out of our control as you said.
What is within our control is stopping these names Sean, your street cred is going down like the Titanic lol :lol:

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Re: Death becomes her!

Post by Britishants.com » Wed Jan 13, 2016 4:56 pm

My Queens are named after real ones! Wasn't the Totanic the most famous ship in the world! ;) lol

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Acromyrmexbob
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Re: Death becomes her!

Post by Acromyrmexbob » Wed Jan 13, 2016 7:54 pm

Britishants.com wrote:My Queens are named after real ones! Wasn't the Totanic the most famous ship in the world! ;) lol
I think that was the Titanic. I think the Totanic was a chinese knock off that is still sailing around somewhere in the South Pacific! :lol:

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Re: Death becomes her!

Post by Britishants.com » Wed Jan 13, 2016 7:57 pm

You'll be boarding that for North Korea! Lol

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Re: Death becomes her!

Post by Britishants.com » Sun Jan 17, 2016 3:25 pm

Well I've just bought some clear resin ( how expensive!) so Jayne Seymour is about to be turned in to a fossilised specimen from Jurassic park! Never tried this before but I'd like to build up a specimen shelf of various ants as and when they die through natural causes! I will keep you updated!

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Re: Death becomes her!

Post by Britishants.com » Tue Jan 19, 2016 11:30 pm

Here she is, new paper weight! Image

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Acromyrmexbob
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Re: Death becomes her!

Post by Acromyrmexbob » Wed Jan 20, 2016 12:08 am

I want to go into one of Seans paperweights when I die.

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Re: Death becomes her!

Post by Britishants.com » Wed Jan 20, 2016 1:14 am

It's a useful tool to show those who have never seen a queen Atta, even with a colony in front of you they rarely make an appearance, so to have one on hand is a God send! I will be doing the same for any fallen Queens in future and have a universal mould on hand so I can place them in front of the colonies as to identify the various Queens of different species! So should you have any failures as we all do! send them my way! ;)

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Re: Death becomes her!

Post by Formica123 » Wed Jan 20, 2016 7:06 am

Britishants.com wrote:It's a useful tool to show those who have never seen a queen Atta, even with a colony in front of you they rarely make an appearance, so to have one on hand is a God send! I will be doing the same for any fallen Queens in future and have a universal mould on hand so I can place them in front of the colonies as to identify the various Queens of different species! So should you have any failures as we all do! send them my way! ;)
If I were to send some dead acro workers to you - one of each caste, would it be possible for you to mould them all in the same cast in a line smallest to largest?
I keep over 20 species of ant, inc. Acromyrmex Octospinosus
Owner of AntKeepingShop (www.antkeepingshop.weebly.com)

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