On Wednesday, my new ant nests and outworlds finally arrived!
After I unboxed the nests and outworlds, I began to try moving Scar Smile’s colony into their first proper nest. For a long time, they were stubborn, so I tried connecting the colony’s test tube directly to the nest. However, in the process, a tube slipped, allowing the queen and a nanitic to escape! Fortunately, I was able to contain the rest of the colony, and I quickly caught both escapees in snap cap vials. After catching them, I reunited them with the rest of the colony. I then connected the tube to the founding nest. From there, they still took a while, but they eventually moved into the nest.
The photo above shows most of the colony, except for two nanitics who are out of frame but nearby. What I found downright hilarious in this image is that one nanitic has taken up the queen’s habit of looking at the camera! That one is in the top left corner.
Scar Smile’s colony has eight nanitics, but the Brown Eyed Girl Clone (pictured below) has five nanitics and five new workers. However, Scar Smile’s colony will soon retake the title of “Largest founding colony”, as they have two pupae about to eclose (they are the darker pupae), with several more not far behind.
I also moved The Brown Eyed Girl clone into a founding nest. They were equally stubborn, so I connected the test tube to the nest, this time with no escapes. I also saw some slightly lighter colored adults, which were the second generation of adults in this colony. Before the workers arrived, there were five nanitics, but now, there are ten adults aside from the queen, indicating that five workers had recently eclosed from their pupal stage!
