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Myrmica sp. Colony History

I figured I'd start this blog by detailing the history of my oldest captive ant colony.  On April 29, 2011, I found a single Myrmica sp. queen under a rock on the side of a busy road (not exactly the best place to look for ants).  She was slow and lethargic due to the cold weather and possessed no brood.  I collected her and eventually gave her access to a simple test tube nest connected to a small plastic container using rubber tubing.  Within a very short period of time, she was boldly venturing out into the "foraging arena" (plastic container) daily and retrieving any fruit flies that I had placed within.  By early May, she had laid a small cluster of eggs.  She continued to forage and rarely left dead insects untouched, also showing great interest in droplets of honey.  Her first workers eclosed on July 27, 2011.  Surprisingly, they were only slightly smaller than the queen herself.  The queen ceased all foraging activity and let her first workers take over.  By October, the colony possessed over 20 workers, all of roughly the same size.  The entire little colony is currently in a mini-fridge hibernating at a temperature of roughly 7º C.

May 15, 2011 - shortly after first eggs appeared:

July 29, 2011 - first workers:

September 24, 2011 - 15 workers and a large amount of brood:

I created a relatively short video covering this colony's history for anyone who is interested.

Introduction

The purpose of this blog is mainly to keep track of the progress of my captive ant colonies and make note of interesting behaviors.  It will likely also include observations of ants in the wild.  All of the media displayed on this blog, unless stated otherwise, will be my own.