Colony name: Knickerbocker Glories
Species: Camponotus nicobarensis
Queen: BeyANTce
A section of the old nest where the Knickerbockers are storing all their pupae
These ladies currently have two nests. The newer Ant Lab Fusion nest has now been filling up with brood and three of the chambers are full of younger brood, while the pupae are stacked up solid in the older nest. Population explosion-fest, here we come! I still haven’t ordered the new nest as I’m undecided whether to go for a size 3 or size 4 (I want to get another Ant Lab Fusion nest). I’m thinking size 4 as there are two ports to connect it up to and I think that will be really useful.
Otherwise, the ants are doing really well. I feed them a morio worm every couple of days and about half an apple slice. They love apple. And flies. Especially flies. One protein all of the ants love is flies, so I’m trying to source a good supplier of curly-winged flies. In the meantime, I have a good supply of morio worms to keep them well-fed.
I remember back when I first got this colony, back in 2017. We actually got these girls from British Ants as a colony of 5-10 workers. They’ve certainly come a long way since then! Their first nest (once they outgrew the test tube) was a 3D printed nest from Antz for All, and they lived in a 3D printed ant city for a while. Now, it seems as if they’re in units connected up by tubes again, but this time, the units are much bigger!