Yesterday was a significant day in my ant-keeping journey, this is the first homeborn worker, a Messor Barbarus from Queen 5. Admittedly this brood will have arrived with her and any further workers who appear before August will fall into the same category but I'm still very pleased.
Of course, it can never be that easy, the test tube has almost no feeding space and is a whisker from running out of water, there is probably just enough left to last a matter of a few days in the current heatwave.
I have offered them a tiny amount of nectar and protein jelly, this will be the first chance the queen has had to eat for several months. I will attempt to move them into another fresh test tube in the next couple of days. I intend to use one from my Wakooshi Venus starter nest ready to slot them in there when the time comes once the remaining brood (there is quite a bit) evolve into workers.
This Venus nest has three test tubes to allow a spare to be left and blocked off in case of further water storage while leaving one dry one for seed storage as these are a harvester species. This should have the capacity for them to stay for the next 9-12 months including their hibernation hopefully.
Anyway, this does feel like a significant step forwards so I'm hoping it is not followed by one in the wrong direction.
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