so i caught 8 queens a couple weeks ago and 2 this week, I've had a few of them identified here, one as formica aserva which is a social parasite she has a single host workers eclosed from pupae(the rest still haven't eclosed yet) that we took from another formica nest. She appears to be doing well and laying a couple of eggs.
We had a Formica Ulkie but she didn't make it.
The other 6 queens have been in the closet for the past 2 weeks and we still don't see any of them with eggs yet, i'm worried they aren't being kept warm enough, the closet should be room temperature. One of the 6 has been identified as a Formica Podlizica and the others look similar. should i be concerned or should i leave them another couple of weeks, someone mentioned that in the wild they can go through winter hibernation before they even lay eggs, if that's the case should i somehow raise the temp a couple of degrees to simulate hotter summer days? or if they need to hibernate before they decide to lay should i feed them before i hibernate them in the winter?
New to ant keeping this year, just wondering what i should be doing, if anything.
Formica queens still not laying eggs
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Re: Formica queens still not laying eggs
Just let em do their thing. Ants have this internal clock inside that tells them to go to sleep so I don't think increasing the temperature can help you out there.
Re: Formica queens still not laying eggs
I have formica podzolica and have produced colonies over the last few years. They won't typically lay eggs till next Spring. You don't need to feed them till then. In fact, I have tried giving them honey after hibernation and they won't eat it. Once there is about 1/2 dozen workers around May of next year, they will forage and feed the queen.
Re: Formica queens still not laying eggs
I just had the queen that was identified as podzilica did in the last week
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Re: Formica queens still not laying eggs
You can't fool ants when winter comes. They have a biological clock, and they follow it no matter how warm it is.Scynthius wrote: ↑Wed Aug 16, 2017 7:00 pmso i caught 8 queens a couple weeks ago and 2 this week, I've had a few of them identified here, one as formica aserva which is a social parasite she has a single host workers eclosed from pupae(the rest still haven't eclosed yet) that we took from another formica nest. She appears to be doing well and laying a couple of eggs.
We had a Formica Ulkie but she didn't make it.
The other 6 queens have been in the closet for the past 2 weeks and we still don't see any of them with eggs yet, i'm worried they aren't being kept warm enough, the closet should be room temperature. One of the 6 has been identified as a Formica Podlizica and the others look similar. should i be concerned or should i leave them another couple of weeks, someone mentioned that in the wild they can go through winter hibernation before they even lay eggs, if that's the case should i somehow raise the temp a couple of degrees to simulate hotter summer days? or if they need to hibernate before they decide to lay should i feed them before i hibernate them in the winter?
New to ant keeping this year, just wondering what i should be doing, if anything.
"God made every kind of wild beasts and every kind of livestock and every kind of creeping things;" (including ants) "and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:25
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Re: Formica queens still not laying eggs
You are absolutely right.AqdasHassaan wrote: ↑Wed Aug 16, 2017 10:23 pmJust let em do their thing. Ants have this internal clock inside that tells them to go to sleep so I don't think increasing the temperature can help you out there.
"God made every kind of wild beasts and every kind of livestock and every kind of creeping things;" (including ants) "and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:25
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