Queen becoming unferilized

[perryismyname]

I had a queen that has been in a test tube for a long time now and she has laid 6 eggs over this large period of time all 6 hatched. Sadly I lost 4 of these workers to honey as I did not know they would get stuck and all die in it. I needed to feed them as the period of time is over a year rotating test tubes. I am pretty sure the 5th worker died of natural age as it could be over a year old. But one day I accidentally knocked my test tube holder over and the two queens I had in it both fell 3 inches and hit pretty hard. One Camponotus queen started flipping out after that and died 3 days later. But the second unidentified one seemed fine. She is too small for me to take clear pictures of so I can't really identify it, but after the incident, she hasn't laid any eggs and it has been since last fall. Now her 6th worker just died and she is all alone in her test tube with no eggs. Is it by any chance the fall destroyed her reproductive organs? What else could be the Problem?

[Batspiderfish]

She's probably out of protein. The colony should have had a foraging space soon after the workers eclosed. Good luck.

[perryismyname]

She's probably out of protein. The colony should have had a foraging space soon after the workers eclosed. Good luck.

What all should I be feeding her for protein? I have been trying to give her small bits of steak and all of the nice meats that we eat in our house but IDK if she eats them. I rarely see fruit flies so what should feed her? also, I didn't give them a foraging area as she never got over 6 workers.

[Jadeninja9]

She's probably out of protein. The colony should have had a foraging space soon after the workers eclosed. Good luck.

What all should I be feeding her for protein? I have been trying to give her small bits of steak and all of the nice meats that we eat in our house but IDK if she eats them. I rarely see fruit flies so what should feed her? also, I didn't give them a foraging area as she never got over 6 workers.

Mealworms, crickets, very small drops of honey, even spiders and moths maybe. And you can give them a very tiny foraging space, like as big as the testube portals on the AntsCanada shop.

[Batspiderfish]

She's probably out of protein. The colony should have had a foraging space soon after the workers eclosed. Good luck.

What all should I be feeding her for protein? I have been trying to give her small bits of steak and all of the nice meats that we eat in our house but IDK if she eats them. I rarely see fruit flies so what should feed her? also, I didn't give them a foraging area as she never got over 6 workers.

Don't confuse foraging areas with formicariums, which the common advice is to wait for 20 workers before giving them access. Ants should be able to freely forage and dispose of garbage soon after the first workers arrive. Only large colonies will typically find table meats to be palatable. Your queen needs frozen or freshly killed insects for their hemolymph, which is drinkable, and the only way adult ants can consume protein from meats. You can buy feeder insects like wingless flies (recommended) at pet stores or over the internet.

[carsonman99]

She's probably out of protein. The colony should have had a foraging space soon after the workers eclosed. Good luck.

What all should I be feeding her for protein? I have been trying to give her small bits of steak and all of the nice meats that we eat in our house but IDK if she eats them. I rarely see fruit flies so what should feed her? also, I didn't give them a foraging area as she never got over 6 workers.

Don't confuse foraging areas with formicariums, which the common advice is to wait for 20 workers before giving them access. Ants should be able to freely forage and dispose of garbage soon after the first workers arrive. Only large colonies will typically find table meats to be palatable. Your queen needs frozen or freshly killed insects for their hemolymph, which is drinkable, and the only way adult ants can consume protein from meats. You can buy feeder insects like wingless flies (recommended) at pet stores or over the internet.

Not only large colonies accept table meats. I have two Formica colonies both have 3 workers and one is willing to accept sliced chicken meat while the other won't even acknowledge it.

[Batspiderfish]

Not only large colonies accept table meats. I have two Formica colonies both have 3 workers and one is willing to accept sliced chicken meat while the other won't even acknowledge it.

Emphasis on 'typically'. The only recommended practice is to give our ants as close to what they would have in the wild as possible, which is insects.

[perryismyname]

She's probably out of protein. The colony should have had a foraging space soon after the workers eclosed. Good luck.

What all should I be feeding her for protein? I have been trying to give her small bits of steak and all of the nice meats that we eat in our house but IDK if she eats them. I rarely see fruit flies so what should feed her? also, I didn't give them a foraging area as she never got over 6 workers.

Don't confuse foraging areas with formicariums, which the common advice is to wait for 20 workers before giving them access. Ants should be able to freely forage and dispose of garbage soon after the first workers arrive. Only large colonies will typically find table meats to be palatable. Your queen needs frozen or freshly killed insects for their hemolymph, which is drinkable, and the only way adult ants can consume protein from meats. You can buy feeder insects like wingless flies (recommended) at pet stores or over the internet.

Okay thank you. I will try these tips.