Dead Pheidole workers everyday

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Araldo
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Sep 20, 2020 5:33 am

Dead Pheidole workers everyday

Post: # 73951Post Araldo
Sun Sep 20, 2020 6:02 am

Hello everyone.
I'm new to antkeeping and I started keeping a few ant species this summer after a watching a lot of youtube videos about the subject.
The ones that are giving me a hard time right now are my Pheidole palidulla colony, as everyday I keep finding dead workers on their outworld.
I bought the colony from a local store (I'm european) in late august and it had about 15 workers. As it was really difficult to feed them in the test tube I soon placed them in an improvised outworld made out of a plastic container and they were fine for a while. Two weeks ago I had to move back to the city I work (a 4 hours drive) and I brought them along, plugging the tube back with cotton. After I got here I put them back in the setup and connected a homemade nest made out of cork and a plastic CD case. They moved in after two days, but because the nest was too big for them they started leaving their trash in the other chambers and it got moldy quickly. After a while they started putting sand on the mold and that controlled it a bit, but there's still mold in the nest. Since last week I have been finding dead workers in the outworld everyday, just as of today I found three. Meanwhile the queen looks fine in her chamber, a lot of new workers have been born and she has a decent pile of brood. They have moved a lot of sand in and made it very homey.
I don't know why they are dying, if it is because of the moving, from the mold, from something else entirely, but I'm getting worried the colony will die out if the workers keep dying at this rate. I would really appreciate your inputs on what I should do to help keeping them healthy. Thank you.

TheAntVoyeur
Posts: 11
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2020 10:24 pm
Location: In bed

Re: Dead Pheidole workers everyday

Post: # 74010Post TheAntVoyeur
Fri Sep 25, 2020 2:07 am

Hello Araldo.

Try a slice of lemon in the outworld. Apparently it helps them fight off pathogens and fungi.

Something else to consider is diet. Research has shown ants on a high protein, low sugar diet are very unhealthy and can die from the imbalance.

Access to a microscope can also help you work out what's happening.
2x Myrmica Rubra - r.i.p
3x Lasius Niger

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