I think my queen is dying! D=

[CrazyJewels]

Hello fellow ant lovers!

I am ashamed to say I think I'm a horrible ant keeper..

Around 6 months ago I had created a post for help in identification of the ant queen I had caught: Post: # 34902

Hello Ant lovers!
I am new to ant keeping and need help identifying my very first queen! (see link below)
I have caught this queen a few months ago (1-2 months ago) here in Auckland, New Zealand (in the city centre, son't know if that info helps). It took a while to lay its eggs, I lost hope and thought it was a major worker after a month of waiting. It is around 7mm long and very dark black in colour (so I don't think it is an Argentine queen which are big pests here in NZ and so I would not be allowed to keep this colony). I'm hoping it's a native species!

Here are the photos:
https://imgur.com/a/QBdNi - Sorry for the bad quality photos, I can't seem to get closer to the ant without my camera getting all blurry

FYI, the ant queen is in a 15mL falcon tube, and the distance from the 4mL mark to the 7mL mark is 2cm.

I'd like to know if it's fully claustral or not (I gave it a drop of honey ages ago and wanted to know if I should give it a bit of uncooked egg yolk or egg white).

Also you may notice the pathetic amount of water I managed to have in that tube (because of the panic when trying to create a test tube setup for the first time and trying to get the queen comfortable as quickly as possible), is that a problem? The quantity of water has not decreased over the last month or so, I'm unsure if I pushed enough to have moisture coming out of the other end of the cotton ball but she has survived this long and I see her climbing on the cotton ball and staying there for a while sometimes (I keep her in the dark all week and only peek at her once every week). If the lack of water is a problem, is it safe to transfer the queen into another falcon tube even though she has laid eggs? Will shining a light on (or just uncovering) the old test tube to make her move to a new one stress her out too much? She might eat her eggs?

Thanks in advance for all the help!

Not only have I not managed to have workers yet, after 6 months of my queen laying eggs and then (probably) eating them (possibly because of a lack of a temperature controlled environment), but now she also presents a very bizarre behaviour as seen by those pictures: https://imgur.com/a/uuSUdsX

Over the last 6 months I have changed her tube multiple times due to mold showing up is the wet cotton. This time, I was trying to change her tube once again, but since I'm leaving in a few days I wanted to speed up the process of moving by shining a light on the old tube and covering the new one.
It's been two days and she has not moved to the new tube, which has clean water and even a tiny drop of honey. But worst of all, this morning I found her excessively cleaning herself and ending up in weird positions as shown by the previous photos.. I can't see any mites or anything on her but I may also just not know what to look for.

I think (or maybe my biggest fear is that) maybe the warmth from the light helped the fungus which maybe released some spores.. The tubes have holes in the connection to help air flow of course but a large amount of spores would not be diffused so easily.

WHAT SHOULD I DO??

I was thinking of forcing her into the new tube by way of gentle taps and making her slide in there, then try to gently scoop up the eggs with a wet cotton bud, but that also sounds like a recipe for disaster..

Please any help is very welcomed! I've been struggling for so long with this ant I don't want it to end now for nothing! =/ Summer is around the corner here in NZ and hopefully that will help her get workers since I can't have a room at a constant high temperature (i'm a student and only have one room).

Please please help! I'm desperate! xD

Thanks!

Julian

Update: when she is in a ball she may just be laying eggs as we just saw her remove an egg from her abdomen

[cheetawolf]

i have an idea, give her a small drop of honey then leave her alone somewhere in your closet where theres no disturbance. and leave her there, forever. (2weeks) then tada nanatics.

the main problem here is you are being a DISTURBANCE changing tubes, checking up on her, its not healthy just LEAVE her alone!!!!!

your welcome

[CrazyJewels]

i have an idea, give her a small drop of honey then leave her alone somewhere in your closet where theres no disturbance. and leave her there, forever. (2weeks) then tada nanatics.

the main problem here is you are being a DISTURBANCE changing tubes, checking up on her, its not healthy just LEAVE her alone!!!!!

your welcome

Hey, thanks for the tip. This is exactly what I usually do, I only check on her once every 2 weeks, and when I do it's a quick look which lasts maximum 15 seconds and then leave her again. Except, if there is mold in the current tube as there is now. Do you expect me to leave her in a tube where there are fungi growing?? That could spell disaster if she gets an infection!!

[cheetawolf]

if you make her test tube properly mold wouldn't grow for up to a month!

[JoeHostile1]

if you make her test tube properly mold wouldn't grow for up to a month!

I don’t think that’s helpful at all. You didn’t even tell him how to do it properly.

Ok I can tell your queen is laying good eggs because in the first picture I can see the eggs have turned into larvae. Normally after 6 months of laying eggs that don’t turn into larvae it’s safe to assume the queen is infertile or not mated.

Multiple test tube changes in 6 months is way too many. You’re too worried about mold. If the cotton turns black from ant poo or whatever the test tube doesn’t need to be changed. It’s only when you see actual growth happening in the test tube cotton that mold/fungus can be a problem. The cotton will ALWAYS become discoloured eventually.

Now what I think could be the problem is your poor Queen is trying to hibernate, but you have her at room temperature which is preventing her from hibernating. I’m not really sure about the hibernation of ants in New Zealand. You said it’s almost summer and I looked up the weather in New Zealand and every website I checked gave me different winter temperatures. Some said it goes down to -10C others say 12C is as cold as it gets. Either way around 10C ants are in hibernation mode. So this species of ant you have may not normally lay eggs until after she hibernated during your winter. When you don’t hibernate ants during winter this is the slowdown you can expect.

I would feed your queen sugar water and an insect. She may be eating the larvae because she’s went 6 months without protein during a time when she would normally be hibernating. So hopefully once your house warms up she will start producing workers.

[CrazyJewels]

if you make her test tube properly mold wouldn't grow for up to a month!

It has been at least 2 months that I've changed her tube and previously my tubes lasted at least a month as well.

if you make her test tube properly mold wouldn't grow for up to a month!

I don’t think that’s helpful at all. You didn’t even tell him how to do it properly.

Ok I can tell your queen is laying good eggs because in the first picture I can see the eggs have turned into larvae. Normally after 6 months of laying eggs that don’t turn into larvae it’s safe to assume the queen is infertile or not mated.

Multiple test tube changes in 6 months is way too many. You’re too worried about mold. If the cotton turns black from ant poo or whatever the test tube doesn’t need to be changed. It’s only when you see actual growth happening in the test tube cotton that mold/fungus can be a problem. The cotton will ALWAYS become discoloured eventually.

Now what I think could be the problem is your poor Queen is trying to hibernate, but you have her at room temperature which is preventing her from hibernating. I’m not really sure about the hibernation of ants in New Zealand. You said it’s almost summer and I looked up the weather in New Zealand and every website I checked gave me different winter temperatures. Some said it goes down to -10C others say 12C is as cold as it gets. Either way around 10C ants are in hibernation mode. So this species of ant you have may not normally lay eggs until after she hibernated during your winter. When you don’t hibernate ants during winter this is the slowdown you can expect.

I would feed your queen sugar water and an insect. She may be eating the larvae because she’s went 6 months without protein during a time when she would normally be hibernating. So hopefully once your house warms up she will start producing workers.

Wow, thank you! That's very insightful, I didn't think about the possibility she may want to hibernate, do ants really hibernate straight after having mated??

Yea what I meant by it's soon summer was to indicate that this is the southern hemisphere and we're in spring moving towards summer not autumn moving towards winter.

Am I really worrying about mold too much? You say it can be a problem but that I shouldn't worry too much about it? So for instance now, in the middle of the cotton there is a slight discolouration (which, I admit, I may have overreacted thinking it was dangerous), it looks like mold growing but it's definitely not as bad as it could be, and I have a white colony or some microorganism a bit farther away from the ant where I usually place the drop of honey (which is weird because I though honey doesn't decompose easily). So all this doesn't sound like enough for a tube change then?

I am unsure what species of ants it is, a previous thread told me it's possibly an Iridomyrmex suchieri, or Iridomyrmex rufoniger, but these are both very rare in NZ. The fact that these are not native ants but rather they come from Australia made me think the ant needed a warmer climate and is why I have tried to keep it at room temp.

If it doesn't need to hibernate, will it do it harm to live in colder temperatures for a few months? And I like the idea of giving it a dead insect but am fearful the rate at which mold will grow from it. Last time I gave it a drop or egg (yolk and white) I had a very large fungus colony in 2 weeks.

Thanks a ton for your help! Sorry for all the questions! Sorry for the late reply!