The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

Hello, we need help with our queen. Her workers are dying, she only has two left. We have had them for around a year. She is still eating her eggs, and often larvae, and we haven’t had a new worker in a few months. She is in a test tube connected to a small formicarium, although the test tube is just a blank test tube, their water is attached to the formicarium, not the tube they are in. Should we move them? We are clueless and we can’t find any information on our situation. We believe she is a black garden or some form of small carpenter ant.

I would move them back into a standard test tube set-up, the space may be stressing them out and the brood may be drying out due to no humidity in the empty tube they are staying in. I had this happen to one of my Formica colonies last year. I had them in an all-in-one nest, but it would dry out very fast, I lost multiple workers and all the brood by the time I realized the issue. After moving them back into a test tube with water, they are now slowly recovering. Also, is the "nest" test tube being kept dark? If it is a Formica species, they are very skittish and stress out easily, and will eat the brood.

bigbrightacademy wrote: ↑

Fri May 29, 2020 3:52 pm

Hello, we need help with our queen. Her workers are dying, she only has two left. We have had them for around a year. She is still eating her eggs, and often larvae, and we haven’t had a new worker in a few months. She is in a test tube connected to a small formicarium, although the test tube is just a blank test tube, their water is attached to the formicarium, not the tube they are in. Should we move them? We are clueless and we can’t find any information on our situation. We believe she is a black garden or some form of small carpenter ant.

Quick question, have your queen and her workers voluntarilly moved into the 'empty' tube? I expect that tube to be pretty dry and possibly not humid enough for the brood, like NKantsalberta said. What and how often have you been feeding the colony? If you had her for a year, you'd expect a good number of workers by now, any guess on how many died?

For now, I agree you should transform your water tube into a standard test-tube setup and cover it up with foil or something to darken it. Then insert a droplet of honey and a small insect like a fruit fly. After that, connect it directly to the empty tube. The queen and her remaining ants will likely voluntarilly move to the dark and moist tube. If not, you could shine a light over the old tube to encourage them. The insect and honey will provide them with some protein and sugar. After she moved, place the tube in a dark cupboard where she won't be disturbed. Then just leave her be for at least 2/3 weeks before checking on her again.