Camponotus Pennsylvanicus pulling on cotton in test tube setup

[Cartil]

Hello everyone!

Last Friday (28Jul), I caught I believe to be a Camponotus Pennsylvanicus queen in Halifax, NS. However, as soon as I put her in the tube on Friday, she started to pull on the cotton. Then I briefly took a look at her on Sunday and she had one egg and was just moving around. But then, I briefly looked at her on Thursday and her egg was nowhere to be found (I assumed she ate it) and she was still pulling on the cotton. In between, I have kept her in the dark at about 26 degrees without bothering her. I never disturbed her for more than 2 minutes on Sunday and Thursday. Is there anything I should do differently? Or just wait? I am probably going to have to replace the cotton soon considering she was half way through on Thursday.

Thank you!

[Nj6000]

I think you should just wait .

[AntViking]

You might be stress in her out with how often you are checking on her. Since she is fully clastural I would just put her in a dark corner and look at her maybe once every 1-1/2 to 2 weeks.

[Jadeninja9]

Replace the cotton. Then put her away in a dark place. I just put my 10 queens in a shoebox with an unused shirt at the bottom so the test tubes don't roll around. Only check on her for about a minute every 2 weeks.

[Cartil]

Ok! I won't check on them as often then. It will be hard, but I don't want to lose them!

[Jadeninja9]

Me too lol. It's so hard for me to resist looking at them. I haven't even followed my own advice so far lol.

[Cartil]

hahaha I see! But I wonder how often people actually check on their queens, because everyone is always saying to not check on them for weeks at a time, but then they also say: "If the mold covers up the cotton, you need to move them" or "once they have nanitics, you have to start feeding them after a few days", etc, but how would they know when that happens if they don't check on their queens regularly... Anyway, I will try to only check on them every 10 days or so!

[GangreneTVP]

I cut to black paper, wrapped it around the tube and taped the overlapped ends making a black sleeve for my tubes. Works like a charm. Even if I go into where they are they don't see anything but darkness. I checked my two queens every 1-2 weeks.

FYI, the sleeve doesn't cover all of the water part of the tube so I can keep track of the water levels.

[Cartil]

Pretty good! I will try to do something like that. Thank you!

[sherwinx17]

I just use some see throw red plastic paper (I think it's called that) and I can see my colony 24/7. I've been using this for my T. karavaievi colony for a few months (since only a queen) and I'm pretty sure it will work for all ant as others use it too.
Also my Cataglyphis queen pulls at it's cotton for more than three months and she still hasn't laid eggs (I'm 90% sure she's fertile).