Stubborn Queen

Questions from those who are just starting or considering getting into the ant keeping hobby. If you’re intimidated or confused by the in-depth posts of the other sections of this forum, feel free to post here, and we'll start from square one!

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Cale3459

Stubborn Queen

Post: # 16616Post Cale3459
Wed Feb 01, 2017 1:06 pm

So I was trying to get my Camponotus penn. colony to move to another hybrid nest last night by uncovering the old nest and using a light while leaving the new nest shaded and removing the hydration tray from the old one. The workers quickly found the new nest and began moving the brood but the queen was being stubborn and absolutely fighting all the workers trying to move her into the new nest. She kept attempting to put her head in a corner and refused to leave the nest. I got called away to take care of something and when I came back I thought I had killed her because she was curled up in the corner! Abandoned trying to get them to move immediately and hoped for the best. Checked the colony this morning and they have moved the brood back into the old nest and the queen appears to be doing fine. I guess she just really didn't want to move into a clean nest.

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shaky33
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Re: Stubborn Queen

Post: # 16618Post shaky33
Wed Feb 01, 2017 2:37 pm

Cale3459 wrote:So I was trying to get my Camponotus penn. colony to move to another hybrid nest last night by uncovering the old nest and using a light while leaving the new nest shaded and removing the hydration tray from the old one. The workers quickly found the new nest and began moving the brood but the queen was being stubborn and absolutely fighting all the workers trying to move her into the new nest. She kept attempting to put her head in a corner and refused to leave the nest. I got called away to take care of something and when I came back I thought I had killed her because she was curled up in the corner! Abandoned trying to get them to move immediately and hoped for the best. Checked the colony this morning and they have moved the brood back into the old nest and the queen appears to be doing fine. I guess she just really didn't want to move into a clean nest.
A lot of the times the queen does not like moving unless it is COMPLETELY necessary. Also she can sometimes not trust the judgement of the workers.
- Rhytidoponera metallica
- Camponotus consobrinus x2
- **** sp.
- Nylanderia sp.
- Melaphorus sp.
- Camponotus cairns
- Crematogaster sp.
- Colobopsis sp.
- Myrmecia nigrocinta
- Iridomyrmex purpureus
- Camponotus eastwoodi

AntLove4Evr

Re: Stubborn Queen

Post: # 16677Post AntLove4Evr
Fri Feb 03, 2017 6:47 pm

Cale3459 wrote:So I was trying to get my Camponotus penn. colony to move to another hybrid nest last night by uncovering the old nest and using a light while leaving the new nest shaded and removing the hydration tray from the old one. The workers quickly found the new nest and began moving the brood but the queen was being stubborn and absolutely fighting all the workers trying to move her into the new nest. She kept attempting to put her head in a corner and refused to leave the nest. I got called away to take care of something and when I came back I thought I had killed her because she was curled up in the corner! Abandoned trying to get them to move immediately and hoped for the best. Checked the colony this morning and they have moved the brood back into the old nest and the queen appears to be doing fine. I guess she just really didn't want to move into a clean nest.

Maybe she's laying more eggs? Or she doesn't feel good about the new nest?

Cale3459

Re: Stubborn Queen

Post: # 16679Post Cale3459
Fri Feb 03, 2017 6:49 pm

No new eggs, just the original batch she laid before hibernation. No too worried about it to be honest, just wanted to give her a cleaner space. I'm just going with stubborn :lol:

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