NEWBIE

Discussions about the care and keeping of ants

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Frazzlle
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Aug 07, 2019 12:42 am

NEWBIE

Post: # 62141Post Frazzlle
Wed Aug 07, 2019 12:46 am

Hey guys I'm really hoping you can help me. I brought my son a formacaria and Queen with 5-10 workers. I got it for him last December and since then, the Queen is the sole surviver. Water is topped up every day, seeds have been added but never touched.
I gave them meal worms but they where never touched either. I have put honey in the nest, they showed an interest but not as much as I expected.
The Queen has laid eggs in the past but they just seem to disappear after a while never to be seen again. I'm not sure what I'm doing good wrong. It's not in direct sunlight and I have a sheet of red plastic over it as well. please help me out.
We brought Messor barbarus if that makes a difference.
(Sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes)

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CabboAntsGuy
Posts: 506
Joined: Fri Aug 09, 2019 3:32 pm
Location: Wisconsin, U.S.

Re: NEWBIE

Post: # 62358Post CabboAntsGuy
Mon Aug 12, 2019 1:45 pm

Hello Frazzle, sorry to hear about your son's colony. It is a very strange situation.

First of all, where do you live?(just used to see if the ant is native.) If it is not native, that might be the problem.

The best thing to do right now would be to put the queen in a test tube. Here is a video that might help.[youtube]<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/k4o6qbWKLng" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyrosc[/youtube]

If she had workers but the died, she will need to be fed by you. Every week or so try placing a small drop of honey or just mealworm guts. The reason the eggs kept disappearing was probably because she was eating them. If you see eggs start to appear and stay there it is probably the reason.

Right now the other thing she needs is privacy. Put the test tube in a box or drawer. Then you can check up on her and feed her every week or so.

I hope it works out for you. If the queen dies anyway, you could just catch a new one in the wild during a nuptial flight. :)
Keep:
3 camponotus pennsylvanicus
2 formica subsericea
The Camponotus Crew! https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=15267
Need help or want to help? https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=18153#p70566

Hawkeye
Posts: 1557
Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2019 4:38 pm
Location: Almelo

Re: NEWBIE

Post: # 63014Post Hawkeye
Fri Aug 23, 2019 3:07 pm

Frazzlle wrote:
Wed Aug 07, 2019 12:46 am
Hey guys I'm really hoping you can help me. I brought my son a formacaria and Queen with 5-10 workers. I got it for him last December and since then, the Queen is the sole surviver. Water is topped up every day, seeds have been added but never touched.
I gave them meal worms but they where never touched either. I have put honey in the nest, they showed an interest but not as much as I expected.
The Queen has laid eggs in the past but they just seem to disappear after a while never to be seen again. I'm not sure what I'm doing good wrong. It's not in direct sunlight and I have a sheet of red plastic over it as well. please help me out.
We brought Messor barbarus if that makes a difference.
(Sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes)
Sorry to hear about that. It sounds like you unwittingly have created unfavourable conditions for the colony. Refilling the water daily also means disturbing the nest and increasing stress levels. The red plastic might not have been enough to keep the ants from feeling exposed (to light) and thus further increased their stress.

The queen will eat her eggs if she is uncomfortable or deems her environment to be unsuitable to raise a colony in. At which temperature did you keep her?

Also, not all ants take a liking to mealworms, and they simply might have been too big for your fledgeling colony. Have you tried offering other insects? You might want to try offering your queen some wet dog food as well. It sounds odd I know, but some really like it. Particularly the jelly in which the chunks of meat are offered. It is full of protein and easy for the ants to consume.

Like Cabbo said, the best thing to do right now, is to get her into a test tube with some water and access to some food. Then put her in the dark and don't check on her for at least a week, so she can settle down. If she does and she starts to produce eggs again, keep your distance, as in don't feed or check up on her more than once a week. Instead of honey, you could offer some sugar water or syrup (the kind you put on pancakes.) A fruitfly or 2 a week (keep an eye on how much she eats) is probably more than enough to satisfy her needs at this point too.

Once she gets some new nanitics or workers, change your routine to like every 4 days. Keep offering sugars and protein, and keep an eye on how much they consume. Cover a fruit fly with a drop of syrup one week, then the next offer a small insect (cut up) covered with a bit of honey, just to keep things interesting. If you want to offer seeds, you might want to soak them in water for about a day or 2 before you offer them. The small workers actually miss the jaw strength to open them up.

Don't even think about giving her access to the formicarium again, until she has at least 20-30 workers, and that's probably still too early. You're better off improvising a small outworld, or using the tube connector thingy from the AC store to give them some room to stretch their legs. An ice cream container or Tupperware box with a couple of tiny holes punctured in the top lid will do fine.

Hope that helps?

LasiusSapien
Posts: 274
Joined: Tue Jul 16, 2019 2:37 pm
Location: Bristol

Re: NEWBIE

Post: # 63074Post LasiusSapien
Sat Aug 24, 2019 12:39 pm

3 things i have learnt in the week i've had a messor colony is 1, they hate water and can drown really easy 2, they are super sensitive to vibrations and 3 they are super sensitive to light as well

mine has about 12 workers 3 of them are media's and i just leave them alone got them wrapped in deep red plastic and the water cotton is packed a bit tighter than normal as the prefer dry-er condition's
1x Lasius Niger - early forging stage - 60-100 workers
1x Messor Barbarus - founding stage - <20 workers
1x Camponotus Turkestanus - claustral stage - 1 nanitic + brood
1x Odontoponera Transversa - semi-claustral stage - no eggs

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