Happiness is.......

[Acromyrmexbob]

When the colonies that travelled 3000 miles and are in pieces when they are unpacked, start to feed!

[Deansie26]

Are these big colonies? Looks like loads of ants in some of them. Great pictures, banana leaves?

[Acromyrmexbob]

No not Banana leaves. Grape leaves. In fact grape leaves are, by far, the most attractive leaves of all, including privet. Its because they are so soft. I've got a vine growing in the greenhouse so all of the colonies are getting grape leaves today.
Yes some of the colonies are very large.

[Formica123]

Absolutely fantastic, very lucky.

[Formica123]

Andrew did you get any vids of digging a colony up?

[Acromyrmexbob]

Andrew did you get any vids of digging a colony up?

Yes I did but wont get round to processing them for a few days. Very busy just now.

[Formica123]

Ok just wondering

[Acromyrmexbob]

Making real headway with the colonies now. Out of 190 colonies I estimate that I will lose around 10. That normally happens mainly within the first week of coming back. Many of them are difficult to diagnose apart from the stress and problem of being couped up in less than ideal conditions during the flight and also the previous trauma of being dug up. It is possible that some injuries are sustained during these processes. Also there will be times where the queens are not being fed whilst the colony constantly fixes the fungus and rearranges things.

[Jackie62]

Wonderful to see....I'm going to try some privet leaves.

[RichardP]

I can definitely recommend privet from my own experience. Excellent in the UK as well because it is evergreen (at least some species).

Those pictures are amazing Andrew.

It's also quite fascinating to learn that not all the transported colonies are viable. Particularly when you see how well some colonies can adapt in getting their fungus back into shape.

It was a similar situation when I received my Atta colony. Despite meticulous packaging and lightning speed delivery the fungus was a little dishevelled as I turned it out into my nesting chamber. I think they had it all back together within 24 hours.

For some reason I like to imagine that they spent the night piecing it all back together, bit by bit, like a jigsaw puzzle.