Componatus nanitics ate all the larvae!

[Therat]

Hello everyone!

I'm back after sourcing new ants after my Nylanderia ant colony died of Colony Collapse disorder as documented somewhere in these forums in 2018 I think?

So okay, I finally bought some Componatus Albicans from Australian ant dealer Ant Keeping Depot, hey they were listed as 'beginner ants' (heh)

[I also had Pheidole, but these arrived with some mites in it, I'm not sure, but this Queen would kill the eclosed workers when they were turning brown and just about to emerge from their pupal stage and eventually she died herself, I'm not sure if the mites actually attacked the pupae and the Queen resorted to this...or maybe the Queen was just insane... anyway it was terrible!]

Okay back to these nanitics, I'm not exactly sure the cause of this behaviour, losing their sanity, perhaps they were also stressed... this also happened to my previous Nylanderia btw, it was only when I moved them into an outworld when they (or one of them) stopped eating the pupae)...maybe they were starving....I had moved them into a dark cupboard...this happened to be in a cupboard over a stove top, so I'm not sure if the smell of cooking (maybe they thought it was burning) freaked them out.... they ate all 12 grubs and eggs, then wandered or ejected themselves out of the nest into the outworld and died within 24 hours. Anyway, hopefully they recycled the protein back to the Queen before they died!

There is a slightly larger nanitic / worker left, the third worker to eclose...seemed to be calmer than the others...geez, nanitics tend have an anxious disposition, when you observe them, they are so afraid when you place any sort of food infront of their nest :/ Its often the Queen who will end up investigating and taking the food.

Anyway, 1 Queen and worker left, and just now, 48 hours after the nanitics died, I just noted she laid a new egg! (back in their original open shelf (but darkened all around with a red light, but I can observe them)...

So its either stress or starvation. Any pointers greatly appreciated...so we'll start over with this long 2 month process from egg to worker...we'll see how these goes...definitely not for beginners!

[PTasker15]

Give them Honey and Clean water.Then leave them alone for awhile.They should rebuild.