ants carrying mealworm to the eggs

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BrunoB
Posts: 46
Joined: Fri Jul 06, 2018 2:35 pm
Location: Portugal

ants carrying mealworm to the eggs

Post: # 48510Post BrunoB
Sat Aug 25, 2018 1:02 pm

Hi everyone, so today I fed my ants mealworm for the first time. They were all excited about it and I left them to it. They are in this setup.
Image

I placed a piece of a mealworm on the nearest flask, on top that plastic thing
Image

Well, when I came back to see if they ate it, it was nowhere to be seen, until I opened the queen tube cover and there it was, right on top of the eggs... They dragged it all the way there.
Image
Image

Now I have no way to get it out of there xD there is no cleaning up that mess. Will they move it out?

Also I wanted to ask you, like you can see in the last foto the workers have been picking on the queen's wings. Is this normal?

CampoKing
Posts: 41
Joined: Sat Jul 28, 2018 1:20 pm
Location: Colorado

Re: ants carrying mealworm to the eggs

Post: # 48522Post CampoKing
Sat Aug 25, 2018 8:33 pm

Some of my Carpenter colonies do the same thing. They'll keep the mealworm with them until it's no longer desirable, then they (usually) will carry it back out as trash later.
In the wild, finding a perfectly good piece of food is sometimes rare, so it makes sense to carry the whole thing to the nest where it can be safely devoured instead of making repeat foraging trips.
Keeper of Camponotus:
C. pennsylvanicus, C. subbarbatus, C. nearcticus

Zayltek
Posts: 25
Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2018 12:05 pm
Location: Bolingbrook

Re: ants carrying mealworm to the eggs

Post: # 48683Post Zayltek
Tue Aug 28, 2018 9:17 am

Plus protein sources are primarily for the larva (to grow big and stronk) and the queen (to fuel egg production)

AntsLuxembourg
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Re: ants carrying mealworm to the eggs

Post: # 48687Post AntsLuxembourg
Tue Aug 28, 2018 9:23 am

Common behavour. I would say just keep watching. They probably prefer the fresh food close to the colony if it's not a threat to the colony. They perhaps feed some of the fresh mealworm to the larvae.
Doing some proper research is the best way to start an antcolony.

Need help or want to help? https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=18153#p70566

Currently not keeping any ants anymore.

BrunoB
Posts: 46
Joined: Fri Jul 06, 2018 2:35 pm
Location: Portugal

Re: ants carrying mealworm to the eggs

Post: # 48690Post BrunoB
Tue Aug 28, 2018 11:49 am

thank you for the info :) About the workers tearing the queen's wings apart, do you think that's normal?

Boomdale
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Joined: Tue Jul 03, 2018 8:49 am
Location: Tennessee

Re: ants carrying mealworm to the eggs

Post: # 48732Post Boomdale
Tue Aug 28, 2018 7:20 pm

My queen had half her wings still attached when the first nanitics showed up. Eventually they disappeared, which I found odd. I don’t believe that ants eat wings. I don’t believe my queen removed them because she has been pretty lazy since the workers showed up lol
Nylanderia Sp.
Pheidole Sp.

Founding - Cremagastor & Solonopsis Invicta

JoeHostile1
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Re: ants carrying mealworm to the eggs

Post: # 48782Post JoeHostile1
Wed Aug 29, 2018 10:58 am

Ya the workers seem to know the Queen shouldn’t have wings. My tetramorium queen refused to take her wings off. I’d have to check on her several times a day because her wings would get stuck to the top of the test tube and she would be hanging there. Her workers spent a week tearing the wings off. Every time I looked at her one of her workers was clinging to one of her wings. By the end her wings were in complete tatters.
Keeping:
Tetramorium immigrans * Lasius Neoniger * Lasius Claviger * Messor Aciculatus * Myrmica Rubra * Camponotus Novaeboracensis * Camponotus Turkastanus * Pheidole Pallidula

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSfFtn6RegZ3F1NdS1g08NA

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idahoantgirl
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Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2015 11:52 am
Location: Idaho, USA

Re: ants carrying mealworm to the eggs

Post: # 48785Post idahoantgirl
Wed Aug 29, 2018 11:49 am

I know that mikey once clipped his queens wings since they were getting stuck on the side of the tube. As long as you don't have to, don't clip em as you risk damaging the queen every time you come in contact with her.
Proverbs 6:6-8

Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.

Keeping Tetramorium immigrans, Tapinoma Sessile

BrunoB
Posts: 46
Joined: Fri Jul 06, 2018 2:35 pm
Location: Portugal

Re: ants carrying mealworm to the eggs

Post: # 48791Post BrunoB
Wed Aug 29, 2018 12:30 pm

JoeHostile1, Yes, I always see some workers on top of her tearing her wings.

I won't touch her idahoantgirl, she barely has any wings now, and I don't think the workers would let her get stuck, they are always around her xD

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