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simon-newman · 4 years

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One year update

Well. Not exactly one year if we count my ants and mantises but today exactly one year ago I bought my first tarantula... And my second one...

For that reason and because i didn’t post about my animals in a LONG WHILE I’m going to update you on all of them.

Anyway... Lets get the hard one done with first: My mantises.

Sadly those don’t live long and a few weeks ago my last praying mantis has passed away. It was to be expected as they live only for about a year and I got them all before even my first tarantula.

Out of 7 praying mantis I’ve bought 4 reached maturity. Two died of unknown causes, one fell during a molt. Yeah... They are fragile like that.

Still - I want to believe those other 4 had good lives filled with roaches and all the other things mantises like...

Ok.

Now the fun part.

ANTS.

I’m not sure if I reported this before but from my 2 Manica rubida colonies one lost it’s queen right before winter.

Normally the colony would be doomed but at the end of their hibernation I joined the two colonies and the surviving queen adopted the orphaned workers.

The surviving colony is doing quite well I’d say:

Here’s Queen Sola in all of her winged glory. The population of workers has decreased lately but I’m planning to upgrade their habitat in a few weeks.

Still - there’s soon gonna be a boom in new workers:

The pile of larvae and pupae is just enormous.

Now. The other colony - mt Formica cinerea? Umm...

This queen is taking it rather easy. She underwent hibernation with just 8 workers last year and took her time before laying new batch of eggs. The 2nd generation of workers replaced the old one as it was passing away and the numbers never exceeded 20 workers. All seem rather small for the species still.

I try to provide them with a lot of honey (they have a constant supply) and more than enough roaches (I’m exchanging them weekly so that they don’t go bad).

There are about 10 pupae and some more larvae in there... not sure how many because those ants make their test tubes really filthy somehow. And yes - test tubes. I provided another, clean one and they didn’t even bother trying to move into it...

I hope they’ll increase their population before hibernating this year.

Now. The recent find...

During my last hike I found this beauty. The young queen of the second largest ant species in my country: Camponotus herculeanus.

Known for their large size, ability to bite into wood and a soldier caste of workers those ants are one of the most desired species among antkeepers in my country.

I was hoping to find a queen of their larger cousins but I’m not gonna be picky about it.

The queen is currently stored in a dark and calm place where she can do her job and give birth to her first generation of workers (which might take a long time - those species develop slowly).

I expect to see first soldier ants in 3-4 years.

Now. The tarantulas in order of acquisition:

1. Tliltocatl vagans (ex. Brachypelma vagans)

Now this little spider underwent a lot.

A name change among other things - the genus was separated into two and... Well... I don’t want to bother you with details. My Brachypelma is now Tliltocatl.

It molted 6 times during the time I had it and I expect it to molt again within a week. It’s currently pushing 8cm in diagonal leg span (DLS) and after molting it’ll be once again my biggest spider.

Sadly it is due to that the colors are so... Brown.

After molting it’ll be velvet black (legs) with a vibrant red abdomen. I’m hoping for a black carapace after this molt as well.

This is also my only suspected female tarantula.

most keepers want females because they live several times longer than males. 15-30 years (depending on species) compared to 3-7 for males.

2. Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens

We got there!

We got the blue colors - finally!

Until recently the carapace was still a mixture of dark blue and gold - now it’s finally getting the blue-green look to it.

It molted just recently and is still kinda shy - I had to lure it out with food for this picture but I managed somehow.

Suspect male but people on arachnoboards told me to wait a bit longer as they can be a bit tricky to properly identify.

It’s last molt is about 7,5 cm in DLS meaning the spider is now bigger than that.

3. Phormictopus sp. green gold carapace

Another BIG ONE.

Big boy actually. Last attempt at sexing left almost no doubts - it is a male.

On one hand I’m happy because males of Phormictopus genus get some stunning colors when they mature.

On the other hand... Well. He’ll have a short life and the species is quite hard to come by so I might not be able to find him a date.

Perhaps I’ll try to contact the breeder who sold him to me and ask if he’s still breeding them but... I have the feeling that the guy doesn’t like me much.

As for the spider himself... I complained a lot about his temperament - he was bolty and kicked hair at the slightest of disturbances... Was. Recently he got quite calm and almost... gentle... I hope he stays this way.

It also grows FAST. It was a lot smaller than my first two spiders and now can rival them in size at about 7,5 cm in DLS.

4. Psalmopoeus cambridgei

Mr shy. I can’t get a good picture of him no matter how much I try.

Always hiding or escaping the moment I take out the camera. A fussy eater and and overall pain in the butt.

Also - suspect male. His molts are always ruined so they can’t be used to determine it with all certainty but I had a good look on him two or three times and he seems male to me.

I might be wrong tho.

5. Lasiodora klugi

The SMOL one. Not so small anymore.

Still my smallest spider but it grew a lot from that tiny, tiny spiderling that I got back in September.

I hear they speed up a lot after hitting the juvenile stage which should happen soon...

Ultimately this will be my largest spider.

No clue if it’s male or female - too small to even try checking.

6 Harpactira pulchripes

The evil one, eh?

The only Old World tarantula in my collection - Old World meaning it’s from Africa and lacks the irritating hairs the New World Ts use for defense.

To make up for this the OW spiders are faster and their venom is quite nasty.

I get a threat posture from this little guy every time I try to take it’s molt out. That is... 3 times so far.

Still a beautiful spider that grows A LOT with each molt.

So. That’s it. All of my animals not counting the cat. I hope you enjoyed this update.

I’ll try to put together a feeding video. Soon. This time for sure.

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utepbc-blog · 5 years

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Although an ordinary looking and behaving ant, Manica rubida is not as harmless as they look. Swiss myrmecologist Auguste-Henri Forel said "tout le monde craint la pique des fourmis (Everyone fears the bite of these ants)" but also noted that the species wasn't aggressive unless provoked. . . . #formicidaefridays #Manica #rubida #ants #bugsofinsta #myrmecology #entomology #museumlife #naturalhistory #itsallgoodep #instaeptx #formicidae https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv40QZxBDl_/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=16aw70o3nuqjw

#formicidaefridays #manica #rubida #ants #bugsofinsta #myrmecology #entomology #museumlife #naturalhistory #itsallgoodep #instaeptx #formicidae

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motylpillango-blog · 5 years

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Hello!

Hoduje mrówki Myrmica sp, Manica rubida And Formica sp, Lasius brunneus

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ameisen · 12 years

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Tag 18 Der erste sichtbare Tunnel

Meine Ameisen hatten zwar schon viel Sand an die Oberfläche gebracht, nur Tunnel konnte ich bis jetzt keine entdecken!

Als ich dann Heute einen Blick auf die Farm warf, konnte ich fast meinen Augen nicht trauen! Der erste Tunnel im Nest und noch dazu auf der nicht abgedunkelten Seite! Das war für mich ein kleines Erfolgserlebnis, endlich kann ich meine Ameisen im Nest wieder beim Arbeiten beobachten!

Beim Futter versuchte ich nun Heimchen zu verfüttern, da ich keine Fliegen mehr in meiner Wohnung finden konnte!

Das erste Heimchen wurde zwar etwas angeknabbert, aber das war‘s dann auch schon!

Hin und wieder zeigte sich auch die Königin bei einem Spaziergang durch den Schlauch, immer begleitet von ein paar Arbeiterinnen!

#Ameisen #Ameisenfarm #Farm #Manica rubida #Myrmica ruginodis #Formicarium #Ameisenhaltung

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leadandblood · 18 days

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More thoughts on insect!Jopson.

I do think he should be Hymenoptera. It just feels right.

But I've been thinking about what species exactly he should be. I've said a wasp before but now I'm not sure. It does feel right.. But also consider... Ants. Like a Manica rubida. Or Myrmica rubra. The ones with a sting. Or even a Formica rufa with the acid spraying (i think they're the ones who do it??)

I definitely want him to be dangerous when he wants to, but also social and gentle and caring, which really really well fits with both wasps and ants.

Ants were also my hyperfixation for a while lol, would you have guessed?

Thoughts?

#Insect au #the terror #the terror amc #thomas jopson

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simon-newman · 5 years

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A long overdue update

Ok. I’ve did it.

The last update was a ver,y very, very long time ago.

It was a good one with lots of photos and stuff, good news overall.

This one.

Now. Some stuff happened, sad stuff some of you might recall that I don’t want to discuss here.

I was also occupied with the Half Marathon Beginner training program which was becoming more draining with each passing week.

Now with all of this behind, no hardcore training to do and running season at it’s end I’ll probably do more updates now.

What updates, some poor soul who sees this post by accident might ask?

Animal updates!

So now. Lets begin.

1. Mantises.

Mantids? Whatever the plural is...

Well... I have good news and bad news.

Bad news is... I had two more deaths. Atum passed away a month after Athena and didn’t even reach his adult form.

Case again unknown. he was eating well, doing just fine just... Not molting for a long time. When he refused food and started hanging on the top of his enclosure I was happy - suspecting he finally decided to molt again...

Unfortunately the next day I found him nearly dead - still hanging upside down from the lid. Did he wait too long and couldn’t molt? Something else killed him? I have no idea.

Another death was #4 - the most lively of the Blue Gang.

Here the case is clear - the mantis fell during molt. I tried my best to help but by the time I found it two legs were already gone and one of the remaining ones was unnaturally bent and useless.

The mantis actually ate a small roach when I helped it to grab it but it didn’t help. It couldn’t walk and died soon after.

I fed it’s remains to one of my ant colonies - they are now big enough to handle such large food items.

Ok - this is all for bad news.

Good news! The remaining 4 mantises are alive and well.

#2 and #3 seem to be one molt away from adulthood and from the looks of it they seem to be Hierodula Sp. Blue as well.

You can see a hint of blue on the tiny proto-wings they have.

Also - they are BIG. This is an adult cockroach they can handle for lunch.

I’ll provide more pictures in the near future but know this - one of them is already living in a “penthouse” - the one beautiful terrarium I’ve set up for my animals (in the future it’ll belong to one of my tarantulas).

2.Ants

I think I’ve mentioned the rehouse I did.

The two Manica Rubida colonies were moved to proper arenas. Nest building is currently underway.

I’m preparing a ytong nests about 10x10x7cm that’ll connect nicely to this:

Cat legs for scale. In the middle is the old setup which now houses Formica Cinerea colony.

M.Rubida are both doing astonishingly well. There are new ants pretty much daily and I only expect the speed to increase.

There are deaths however - first, weaker generation is slowly going away.

From time to time I remove a dead ant or two from the enclosure.

Still - the numbers are increasing so it’s all good as the new ants are bigger and stronger.

They (or rather their larvae and the queen) eat A LOT.

I can feed them once a week and usually give them 3 small roaches per colony but they could easily eat more. They dealt with the mantis above in about 3 days - this includes the time they took to eat the roach first (they didn’t know how to handle a mantis at first).

Formica cinerea?

Honestly I don’t know. There’s the first generation and I don’t see any new eggs or larvae. i am kinda worried.

I might try and make a 3rd setup or something... IDK.

Also - they make a mess.

3. Tarantulas

Ok. The not-so-big guys!

They are all well.

Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens molted twice. She’s now L3 and good 3cm in legspan. She’s growing A LOT between molts.

Brachypelma Vagans molted three times - this makes her an L4 and she’s also big... Not as big as the Chromatopelma above.

This is the best picture I could do. Sorry - she is really shy.

Also. I was told they start changing coloration after 5th molt.

Well - either this count included nymph molts or I am getting a fast grower here.

Or it’s just not easily seen. It’s just a tiny brown spider and I got to see the red hair only on a few photos with a really good light setting from behind the spider.

So... Here it is. All of it... Right?

Well. You might be happy with this but my family certainly wasn’t.

Meet new additions:

T003: Phormictopus Sp. Green Gold Carapace

A tiny sling that’s the most expensive spider in my collection currently. Still - only like 1/3 of what the Phormictopus Sp. Purple costs.

It’ll be a beautiful green-legged giant of a spider with (duh!) gold carapace. For now it’s a tiny bluish-green sling.

And I say it’s going to be a giant - out of all my spiders it’ll grow the largest.

I’d have to get a Theraphosa or Lasiodora to get a bigger one. Easily 20cm of legspan here for an adult.

And the last addition:

Psalmopoeus Cambrigei

It’s both the smallest spider I owned (right now) and the only arboreal in my collection.

I wasn’t really planning on getting it but decided to get an arboreal to gain some experience with those.

Just so you know - arboreal tarantulas are faster and can jump.

it’s better to have some experience before you get an old world arboreal so...

TBH I was looking for some avicularia but the expo I attended had none.

Now - i don’t want you to think this is a case where I picked whatever when they didn’t have what i wanted.

No - I did look into Psalmopoeus genus and decided on this one “just in case” before attending the expo. It’s not an impressive spider when it comes to coloration but many people said good things about this species and IMO it does look nice with a hint of green on an otherwise light-brown body.

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simon-newman · 5 years

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Completely unrelated

Just a note.

Moving your ants to a new enclosure when there are already too many for you to manage them in the old setup...

Yeah...

It. Is. NOT. Fun.

Anyway. Yeah - my ants are FINALLY in their fancy new enclosures and I only got pinched twice.

#Ants #Animals #Manica Rubida #Big Red Ants

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simon-newman · 5 years

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Bonus Picture

Ant Queen feeding her young mouth to mouth.

#Ants #Larvae #Manica Rubida #Ant Queen

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simon-newman · 5 years

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Ants

So...

In my previous post about my new Praying Mantis Athena I mentioned that I’d love to try keeping a few other Arthropods.

Ants in particular.

I am going to try and do so this year.

There are total of six species in my country that I’d love to keep at some point and I’m going to outline my plans for them in here.

So, here they are:

1. Manica Rubida

Common name - Wścieklica Dorodna (Literally - Greater Fury Ant)

This is my favorite native ant and one I grew up familiar with as I had a nest of those in my backyard.

As a kid I used to feed them regularly as they were the biggest, baddest ants I knew.

Indeed - the workers can be up to 9mm long. Those ants are BIG.

They’re also hated by most people because they will defend their nest and do have a potent sting some compare to the wasp’s.

Personally - I’ve been stung by those ants before and while painful it’s far from being as painful as the wasp’s sting.

Anyway - the species is not recommended for beginners due to the sting and the fact that the queen requires some special care (she requires feeding during the founding stages).

Still. I am familiar with them and willing to try keeping them. They are my choice species and seeing as they have their nuptial flight in May I’ll try to get a hold of the queen or two.

I’ve also managed to confirm that those are still present in my area. So far I’ve discovered two sites with nests of this species.

Another interesting note - while those ants don’t have a proper soldier caste there ARE some noticeable differences between workers.

Some of them do have a sturdier build and larger mandibles. I’ll try to provide some pictures when I get the chance to compare a regular and large worker.

This coupled with the fact that there’s surprisingly little information available about this species makes me want to do some research myself.

Document their behavior, preserve different specimen to compare the large and small workers and finally...

When the colony grows to 200-300 workers I’ll try attaching them to a classic ant-farm unit and observe the architecture of their nest construction.

FYI - this is the only Manica species in Europe. There are four species in the US and one in Japan. I am curious if all of them have similar nest architecture.

However - comparing those would require me to cooperate with someone in those countries...

2. Camponotus Ligniperda

Common Name - Gmachówka Drzewotoczna (Literally - Mansion Treecarrier? Ant)

A carpenter ant.

The largest in my country.

The largest ant in general present in my country.

You’d think Manica Rubida above was big with their 9mm worker.

Camponotus workers are just as big in general.

That is... Regular ones.

This species produces actual soldier ants that can be up to 16mm long!

Those are huge. And the queen could be even bigger than that!

Those ants are just enormous and I’d love to keep them.

They’re also good for beginners and have their nuptial flight in late May and June - I’ll try to get one of those if I fail to get Manica Queen first.

The downside is that those ants take a long time to build their numbers.

They take their time to grow and the famous soldiers don’t appear earlier than on year 3 of the colony.

Still - I am a patient man. I can wait.

I also have an interesting setup in mind already.

You see - those ants like to travel far from their nest while foraging.

I’d just love to set up a tubing pass from one room to another so that I could feed the ants in another room (or the kitchen) and watch them bring the food back to the nest all the way from there.

3. Formica Cinerea

Common Name - Pierwomrówka Żwirowa (Literally - Gravel Feral Ant)

A common species and one I think is very, very common in the area I live in.

I am currently waiting for some equipment to arrive so I can proceed to properly identify the species but there’s AT LEAST 7 colonies of ants that look like this species in the area.

Unlike the above species this one has several similar species living in the same areas.

I still think it’s this one in particular as the ants I’ve observed are a bit grey and not black.

Why would I want an ant this common then?

Well. Because they’re crazy.

Those ants have two modes - stationary and TURBO.

Much like their sister species they’re just constantly running around as if it was an emergency.

So they’re very, very active ants and they don’t even sting!

They prefer to run away when disturbed.

They’re also of comparable size to Manica species - easier to prevent escapes.

This species is not a priority for me but I am 90% sure they are in the area and I WILL NEED THOSE if I ever am to keep the next species which is...

4. Formica Sanguinea

English Common Name - Blood-Red Ant

Polish Common Name - Zbójnica Krwista (Literally - Bloody Bandit Ant)

This is an interesting species of a slave-maker ant that requires some other Formica workers to start it’s own colony.

In nature a young queen would attempt to take over a young nest of another Formica species (Like Formica Cinerea above) and do so by killing their queen.

In captivity you just need to extract some pupae from the other ant colony and provide the queen with soon-to-be workers.

This already means the species is not suitable for beginners but this isn’t all.

The colony can easily reach several thousand in numbers. Possibly over 10,000 ants if they’re kept well.

They are aggressive and can spray Formic Acid so a good ventilation is required so they don’t poison themselves.

Luckily this is not such a problem as with Formica Rufa and the colony remains manageable even at the peak of it’s development (F.Rufa can reach few hundred thousand workers and requires A LOT of space so they can’t really be kept in captivity outside of a specialized insectarium or a zoo - not even mentioning they’re a protected species).

Still - I find the ant interesting and absolutely beautiful with their coloration.

They come in varying shapes and shades within the colony itself and can be given other formica pupae to include in their numbers (forming a kind of a mixed colony if one so desires).

I have no “dream setup” in mind for them as of yet and they are not the species I will try to find in the near future. On top of this I have no idea where to find them in my area (they should be present here but I never saw them or maybe mistook them for other forest ants).

5. Lasius Flavus

English Common Name - Yellow Meadow Ant

Polish Common Name - Podziemnica Zwyczajna (Literally - Common Underground Ant)

This is one of the smaller species in my country with the workers reaching the size of 2-4mm only.

The queen is much bigger than her daughters however.

This is both a species easy to handle and not considered “that interesting” due to staying mostly underground all the time.

In nature they don’t forage much and feed on insects and honeydew from root aphids - something which might be difficult to supplement.

I also don’t intend to keep them anytime soon due to the small size - I am quite afraid they’ll find a way out of the setup I make myself for them.

Pros: They don’t need much space as the short foraging range limits the distance you could setup the outworld.

They’re also beautiful with their yellow or even amber colors.

It’s also repeated everywhere that those ants are extremely common despite not being seen often.

Personally i have to admit to destroying a huge nest of those last year when I was rearranging the stones in my garden (I’ve uncovered an absurdly huge colony which moved out within few hours) - I know however those are definitely around.

Maybe one day a small compact setup for those, eh?

And by small I mean... Yes - their numbers can reach tens of thousands...

6. Dolichoderus Quadripunctatus

Common Name - Nadrzewnica czteroplamka (Literally - Four-dot Tree Ant)

This would be the apex of ant-keeping ability for me because this ant is often described as very difficult to keep and known to just die when slightly mishandled.

It’s a tree-dwelling species with characteristic dots on the gaster, it also has a beautiful shine.

TBH some people claim the ant is pretty much impossible to keep in captivity... Easily proven wrong as quick google search reveals people abroad manage to keep them long enough for the colony to grow into a thousand workers.

I blame my countrymen’s inability/unwillingness to do proper research using the Internet that’s not in our language (and I find Polish Internet to be lacking and misleading in a lot of cases).

Still - the species is definitely demanding and not suited for beginners.

They are very sensitive to temperature and humidity, live on trees and tend to simply dump their garbage down + they’re expert climbers that effortlessly pass fluon barriers which makes them the escape artists on top of all the other problems they cause.

Also - did I mention that their Queen requires the same treatment as Manica Rubida above (as in feeding during initial stages)? Because she totally does!

There’s also the detail about the queens being rarely found on the ground and looking almost identical to the workers... Yeah. So many difficulties with just one ant species.

My dream setup is thus a very farfetched project of a vertical formicarium that imitates the tree trunk the ants live in naturally.

The nest could be connected behind the artificial wall shaped in the likeness of a tree - with some small shelves to deposit food on.

I’d also make sure to include a temperature and humidity regulation to make sure they don’t die on me...

Now - I’d love to have the means to build something like this one day... One day...

Picture sources:

http://www.antwiki.org

https://en.wikipedia.org

https://pl.wikipedia.org

https://insektarium.net

https://ru.wikipedia.org/

#Ants #Manica Rubida #Camponotus Ligniperda #Formica Cinerea #Formica Sanguinea #Lasius Flavus #Dolichoderus Quadripunctatus #Yeah - I watched too much AntsCanada for my own good #Am I getting obsessive?

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simon-newman · 5 years

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Full Update

Hello there again all those fascinated by arthropods or animals in general.

It’s been a while since I made a larger update regarding all of my animals and TBH I was feeling kinda down since Athena’s untimely death as she was the first animal I’ve got in two years (that is after my Red-eared slider turtle passed away at an age of about 25 years).

Something I failed to mention before in those posts - I’ve been keeping animals pretty much my entire life as I received the turtle from my parents when I was just a toddler and...

Well.. The last 2 years after it passed away made me realize that animal keeping really puts me at ease and without an animal to look after I am really feeling bad.

So I decided to stop putting everything “for a better time” and got a few arthropods to keep (they require far less effort than a reptile so I can keep more of them at once).

Here’s the (I think) complete list of animal posts so far:

1. Athena

2. Ants I want to keep

3. First molt

4. Lvl 5

5. Princesses Acquired

6. Tarantulas I want to keep at some point

7. Praying Mantis Additions

8. Ants video

9. Expo report

10. Big (late) update

11. Sad update - Athena’s passing

(Now I can limit the number of links in the followup posts)

Now. WIthout further delay I’ll cover all animals in order - Praying Mantises first, Ants second - according to numbers I gave them (most of them don’t have names as I don’t know if they are male or female yet).

I’ll finish with a new addition.

1. M002 - Hierodula Venosa “Golden” (!!??)

Ok. I’ve ordered this Mantis in the online shop so that I could compare it to Athena.

In the end the specimen that arrived was younger than desired and... Well... See for yourselves:

It doesn’t look like Hierodula “Golden” AT ALL.

She molted 3 times so far and is now older than Athena was when I received her so... Yup - it is not the species I ordered.

Perhaps it’s the same species as...

2. M003 - Hierodula Sp.

I didn’t receive any answer from the shop when I asked them to clarify which species it is. So I still have no idea.

This one didn’t want to pose at all - even within the cup that already causes the camera to lose focus.

I did however manage to take a photo of it eating a roach there.

She/He is doing well - just like M002.

They look similar but this specimen has a slightly blue hue of it’s abdomen.

I guess it MIGHT be Hierodula Sp. “Blue” just like the nymphs I got as a bonus from the same shop...

3. The Blue Gang - hierodula Sp. “Blue”

Ok - I’ll cover all 3 of them in one post.

All of them molted 3 times and I am expecting them to molt again soon.

I numbered them as well mostly for safety measures as now I know what to expect from each of them.

M004:

The most hyperactive, bolty Praying Mantis in my collection.

It refused to eat on camera and jumped out of the container after I took this picture - it turned into another chase on my floor...

I only saw him/her eating the roaches I left in her cup a few hours later.

M005:

As you can see this one is far more cooperative - it stood still while I took the picture and then ate without causing any trouble.

M006:

The most docile of the three - was not interested in posing for me and just waited for food.

I didn’t let him down.

And I say “him” because looking at the pictures above I think I can risk saying that it’s a male.

4. M007 - Hierodula Sp. “Golden” (Atum)

The intended mate for Athena - now a lonely older Praying Mantis in my collection.

He’s eating well but I try not to overfeed him.

He was on the same diet as Athena before so if she really got poisoned by something he could also be affected. So far he seems to be doing just fine - blissfully unaware of his future wife/executioner’s untimely passing.

I think I’ll follow the advice of the keepers at the expo and when he matures I’ll post a request on the forums to find a mate for him anyway.

Apparently mature males are quite in demand in the Mantis-keeping community.

We’ll see in the future. As of now it’s been almost a month since his last molt and he’s still accepting food.

I expect the next molt to be the semi-final one...

Which means that bast case scenario Atum has some 4-5 months to live.

Ok. Time to update on my Ant “colonies”.

5. A001 - Manica Rubida

Behold the stunning beauty of Her Royal Highness!

She made a pose like a JoJo character. Isn’t she fabulous?

Well - as you can see SHE is doing fine, but WAIT!

Do you see that thing among the larvae? (just under the queen’s abdomen)

No?

Here’s another photo:

Do you see those weird thingies now? There are at least four of them!

Those are pupae.

Yes - we have our first worker ants preparing to mature.

I guess it’s going to take about 2 weeks and we’ll finally be able to call this “a colony”.

So... How’s the other queen doing?

6. A002 - Manica Rubida

She’s doing fantastic but she’s not willing to pose for me.

As you can see she also has some pupae in there.

In fact the last time I counted she had 7 of them... Not sure where she stuffed the remaining 5 but she’s a crafty one - I guess she could even hide them under the cotton (I wouldn’t want to disturb her too much so turning the test tube to see is out of question).

Anyway - I’d love to provide more pictures of her but the sun started to do some weird shit and messing with my camera’s ability to focus.

I’ll just put this picture here:

Do you see this pupae? She has those cute, tiny eyes!

It’s hard to believe she’ll become one of the most hated ants in my country...

And with this we covered all the animals you knew I had.

But I did tell you that I’ll be visiting an expo last week.

I did.

I mostly intended to try and get some orchid Mantises (Hymenopus Coronatus) but...

Well - with Athena’s death I started doubting my ability to care for a more fragile species.

I am putting those on hold for now.

I went to ask about the possible reason of Athena’s death and three different keepers all had the same theory.

Pesticides.

She was kept the same as other Mantises in my care and fed the same food items.

She was the only specimen I kept on my window for display purposes.

All it took was for someone to spray their garden in the area and she might have gotten poisoned as well...

How... unfortunate.

Still - just to be sure I didn’t buy any new mantises.

The thing is - I convinced a family member who lives with me to go as well.

I was kinda surprised when she suggested I get something else instead.

Something to put on a display where my empty fish tank stands now (I’ll wait for 2 more years before re-establishing it).

Something... Different from the animals I am keeping now. Different and longer-living but still fairly easy to care for.

I am proud to introduce:

7. T001 - Brachypelma Vagans

Hard to see it down there but there’s a tiny little spider hiding in the burrow.

How tiny? Well - it was the size of my smallest fingernail.

It molted already a few days ago and now is the size of my index finger nail.

“I never saw it leave the burrow and it’s really hard to take a picture of it as it sits down there - this is the best I could do” - was the thing I intended to write here as I started this post yesterday.

Lo and behold.

As if it knew and wanted to become famous - in the evening it left the burrow to hunt down the roach I left in there during the initial photo session.

The last roach roommate stayed alive for two days and disappeared overnight.

I guess this one refused to share expenses and had to go.

Yup I got my first tarantula.

Umm... Well...

8. T002 - Chromatopelma Cyaneopubescens

I got two actually.

This one is far more active as it’s idea of a burrow is a trench around the center of the cup.

It also actively responds to feeding roaches and takes them down instantly.

I guess it doesn’t want a roommate

Or she doesn’t want a roommate...

Most people don’t even attempt to determine if a small sling is male or female (that’s why they are quite cheap) but I am me and I have this Pocket Microscope I bought for $2 which can magnify stuff 60 times...

The problem here is that I am a complete amateur and the microscope can’t take pictures so despite getting quite a clear view I can’t tell for sure myself.

I give it 75% chance it’s a female tho.

We’ll see how good I am at it.

So yeah...

I have tarantulas now.

Two so far.

From what I’‘ve learned there are two types of Tarantula Keepers out there.

First type - the ones who keep 1-5 tarantulas.

Second type - the ones that own more than 100.

There’s no in-between.

For now I’ll stay at 2 - I’ll think about more when I am able to have a proper animal room... Perhaps in a few years...

Anyway - this post grew quite long, didn’t it?

Thank you for your time and I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

I’ll keep updating - preferably every 2 weeks. I might also make more videos.

See you.

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simon-newman · 5 years

Video

youtube

Update on my ants - 3 separate occasions I recorded them...

I barely saw more of them myself.

Also - the second part of the unpacking of Mantis package.

#Animals #Manica Rubida #Ants

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simon-newman · 5 years

Text

Princesses acquired

How ironic.

Just yesterday I started writing yet another animal-related post and started it by mentioning there’s nothing to report regarding my plans to keep ants.

Yesterday...

Today the temperature during the day reached 27 degrees Celsius and it’s expected to drop by a half tomorrow with high possibility of rain.

You know - literally IDEAL conditions for my #1 desired species of ants to have their nuptial flight.

The flight that happens between 8AM and 10AM according to the research paper I found.

And I was there - stuck at work till 3:30 PM good half an hour away from the nearest discovered nest - sure that the young queens won’t be waiting 6 hours for me to find them.

Imagine my surprise when I took a bus home and on the 100m walk from the bus stop I noticed one crawling on the walkway!

I decided to go on a short detour and soon found another one!

There were actually a lot of them still searching for a place to found a new nest - I saw them but decided that two should be enough.

Ladies, Gentlemen and Others.

Here they are - my Manica Rubida Princesses:

The winged one was the first I found and it is less promising - she plays dead most of the time and seems quite clumsy - the wings are probably hindering her movement at this point.

The other one bravely explored the test tube, inspected the wet cotton and cleaned herself for a good start - far more interesting to observe and far more promising as a potential future queen.

As the winged one was either playing dead or crawling under the dry cotton and trying to hide I only took close up pictures of the former.

Isn’t she beautiful?

Anyway - in the end they both got annoyed by the bright light and started pulling at the dry cotton so I stored them in the dark. I’ll check on them next week.

Just a promising note - the last I saw of the winged one she stopped playing dead and was also cleaning herself. That’s good.

As for my other updates and a shameless way of advertising - I finally edited and uploaded the feeding video of my Praying Mantis.

Enjoy. (the volume is set a bit too high - please lower your setting before playing the video - I am still learning)

youtube

Yeah - the maggot on the second feeding was a bit too big for her.

She ended up holding the last 1/6th of it for about two hours before deciding that she has no need for it and throwing it away.

The fly from the first half was devoured whole.

Yes - I know that my current equipment is shitty and I’ll need to upgrade if I want to make a good channel.

Hope you enjoyed the updates. I’ll finish the OTHER post on Sunday after I rewrite the initial part.

#Manica Rubida #Ants #Wścieklica Dorodna #Mantis #Praying Mantis #Hierodula #Animals #Videos #Animal Videos #I have no mercy for flies and I don't think praying mantis would accept dead ones anyway #I have the names for my ant princesses but I don't want to name them just yet

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