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I have a queen that is not laying eggs, and when she does, something happens to them and the queen stops taking care of them. Could I take a baby or worker from the other queen (which looks like the same sp) and put it with the queen with nothing? I really don't know what to do. I don't know what exactly they are but the buyer said they might me Camponotus Pennsylvanicus. If you have other suggestions please give me one!!!!

My C. Penn queen, Diana, recently lost her last Amazonian worker. RIP. She's currently caring for a small pile of brood that she lays on top of, rarely moving. I have closed up her test tube and she is calm, but I'm concerned. It's so late in the year and she's got to have minimal stores. Guess we will let nature take its course. This happened because I made a terrible mistake. I had the founding tube attached to an AC test tube portal. It had a tube of sugar water, an empty tube for whatever use the ants wanted to make of it, and the last hole plugged, with food offered in the portal itself. This is my set-up for all my colonies once they have a few workers. I couldn't figure out why my ants were dying until I happened to look very closely at the sugar water tube. The top of the cotton ball had dried out!!! I very quickly corrected the problem, but it was too late for my three Amazonians. Take heed and take warning. The tube looked perfectly fine on casual inspection. It was just the very tip of the cotton that had dried out, enough that the ants could not access the liquid.

A few weeks ago I caught a Crematogaster queen she now has lots of eggs and larvae, do they need any special caring for them? Like food and temparature? (She was caught in a mountain where it was 20-30 degrees c)

RaptorAnts wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 16, 2020 10:58 am

I have a queen that is not laying eggs, and when she does, something happens to them and the queen stops taking care of them. Could I take a baby or worker from the other queen (which looks like the same sp) and put it with the queen with nothing? I really don't know what to do. I don't know what exactly they are but the buyer said they might me Camponotus Pennsylvanicus. If you have other suggestions please give me one!!!!

I found out she might be getting too cold. Any suggestions on how to fix that?

RaptorAnts wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 19, 2020 9:48 am

RaptorAnts wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 16, 2020 10:58 am

I have a queen that is not laying eggs, and when she does, something happens to them and the queen stops taking care of them. Could I take a baby or worker from the other queen (which looks like the same sp) and put it with the queen with nothing? I really don't know what to do. I don't know what exactly they are but the buyer said they might me Camponotus Pennsylvanicus. If you have other suggestions please give me one!!!!

I found out she might be getting too cold. Any suggestions on how to fix that?

You can try to put some kind of heating cable or mat next to her. If you do you have to make sure that it does not get to hot

Good Morning All.

I am happy to say 2 of the 3 Queens I caught with my son have finally had their first babies. 1 Queen has 2 and the other has 4.

I am slightly concerned of 2 things.

1st. The initial workers have been around for a while now and no new ones seem to be coming. At least 2 months.
2nd. one of my test tubes is getting really dirty and almost out of water. I have taped a 2nd one to it with new water, but they don't seem to want to move into it. It has been 24 hours since I put them together.

I also an unsure if I should be feeding at this point (I have done a drop of honey once a month so far). It seems production is slowed if not stopped and the eggs aren't developing. Maybe the queen and workers need more food to jump start the egg development?

Any advice is appreciated.
Cheers.

@LogiZoe
Those are some pretty normal concerns

As for the new ants coming, I'm not too sure. The queens and workers decide when they want to move and normally is not in one day. Leave them in a nice dark area for another week maybe and then check if they have moved.

Now that they have nanitics, you should try to feed them an insect or some kind of protein. The sugar is fine but maybe the queen needs the protein to start egg laying again.

I hope this helps and that you and your son are successful!

Stay safe, wear a mask.

-ArizonanAnts

ArizonanAnts wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 30, 2020 4:44 pm

@LogiZoe
Those are some pretty normal concerns

As for the new ants coming, I'm not too sure. The queens and workers decide when they want to move and normally is not in one day. Leave them in a nice dark area for another week maybe and then check if they have moved.

Now that they have nanitics, you should try to feed them an insect or some kind of protein. The sugar is fine but maybe the queen needs the protein to start egg laying again.

I hope this helps and that you and your son are successful!

Stay safe, wear a mask.

-ArizonanAnts

Thank you for the reply.

Any recommendations on type of protein/amount that I should give 1 queen with 2 - 4 nanitics?

Most say you can't go wrong with crickets, like a leg. In my case, my spoiled brats wouldn't even take a freshly-killed cricket. Someone suggested egg whites, that seemed to work. General consensus is DON'T try any sort of dairy protein because they can't digest it. I had some luck with fish flakes, too. Try different things and see what works, and take anything left over out in a couple days. I have one colony that will only eat this weird goop I got in a tube that I have no idea what it even is, so I'd say experimentation is key! Thing is, by now your queen is out of protein stores and she NEEDS protein to lay eggs. The larvae also need it to grow, especially our big beautiful camponotus beauties. Honey or sugar water will only help the adult ants.

Hello!
I am very amazed at how GI-ANT this topic has become!
I am a new ant keeper, and I am currently caring for 8 black garden ant queens (lasius niger), 2 tapinoma sessile queens, and ONE camponotus vicinus queen.
What non-bug protein sources have you guys have found successful?
I am fine with feeder insects, but I'm not allowed! (something about creepy crawlies, blah, blah.)
Is there any protein source that your ants seem to love that isn't insects?
Thanks!
--AntsNW