Ant has no desire to nest

[OGGKING1]

Recently I caught a myrmecia simillima bullant queen (wingless ergatroid bullant) I have kept bullants before but this one is acting very weird. I put it in a ventilated container with a test tube (covered in foil)

For some odd reason the bullant keeps on trying to escape and has no desire to nest, it is just staying In the outworld.

Ps I currently don’t have any substrate but I will get some as soon as I can, since the larvae need it to spin cocoons.

[OGGKING1]

Also here are pics of my setup

https://ibb.co/g4gpKgd
https://ibb.co/gSyVXLK
https://ibb.co/dgzRccF

[RubyAntKeeper77]

I have not seen the photos, but I would guess she is semi claustral queen which means she is looking for food.

[Antmanboy]

I have not seen the photos, but I would guess she is semi claustral queen which means she is looking for food.

I would agree with this. From what I've seen in Ants Aus videos, most bull ants are semi claustral. I would try to give her a bug if she is semi claustral

[AntsAreCool715]

Recently I caught a myrmecia simillima bullant queen (wingless ergatroid bullant) I have kept bullants before but this one is acting very weird. I put it in a ventilated container with a test tube (covered in foil)

For some odd reason the bullant keeps on trying to escape and has no desire to nest, it is just staying In the outworld.

Ps I currently don’t have any substrate but I will get some as soon as I can, since the larvae need it to spin cocoons.

You are so lucky to be able to keep bull ants. From what I know they are only found in Australia. Also, in your pictures, the ant looks a bit like a worker ant, but I think that's because of the blurriness through the plastic. Good luck talking care of your ants.

[antperson24]

Recently I caught a myrmecia simillima bullant queen (wingless ergatroid bullant) I have kept bullants before but this one is acting very weird. I put it in a ventilated container with a test tube (covered in foil)

For some odd reason the bullant keeps on trying to escape and has no desire to nest, it is just staying In the outworld.

Ps I currently don’t have any substrate but I will get some as soon as I can, since the larvae need it to spin cocoons.

You are so lucky to be able to keep bull ants. From what I know they are only found in Australia. Also, in your pictures, the ant looks a bit like a worker ant, but I think that's because of the blurriness through the plastic. Good luck talking care of your ants.

No, it's a queen. That's just the way Myrmicinae queens look.

[OGGKING1]

Still no luck It’s been about a week since capture and the queen is still roaming the out world not interested in the test tube. Maybe the test tube environment is unsuitable? Maybe it is too cold because it is nearing winter here in Australia

Also the bullant is a queen because it is a special species of bullant that produces queens with little to no wing scars and are hard to distinguish from workers.

[OGGKING1]

I have not seen the photos, but I would guess she is semi claustral queen which means she is looking for food.

I have provided a bit of honey and a chopped up mealworms and the bullant hasn’t touched the food. I have reason to believe she may be infertile since the behaviour is similar to an unrated queen of the same species (roaming around on the ground waiting for a male to fly down) it would also explain the ants unwillingness to nest.

[OGGKING1]

Update: I checked on it the other day and luckily is has decided to nest (it think it was just stressed or hungry)

This is very good news! It’s very odd though because the bigger myrmecia queens act much different than the smaller ones, some examples being that they get much more stressed easier and that they need to feed before finding a place to nest and lay eggs.

I know this from experience of raising a colony of jumping jacks

[antperson24]

Update: I checked on it the other day and luckily is has decided to nest (it think it was just stressed or hungry)

This is very good news! It’s very odd though because the bigger myrmecia queens act much different than the smaller ones, some examples being that they get much more stressed easier and that they need to feed before finding a place to nest and lay eggs.

I know this from experience of raising a colony of jumping jacks

Great, I hope she does well!