Crematogaster queen no longer laying large numbers of eggs.

[Chamety]

I have a single wild caught queen of crematogaster cersei with 1 queen. I've had she for 3 years. Each year they have come in-and-out of hibernation just fine in all years the Queen has immediately started laying eggs as soon as she has access to sufficient amounts of protein has been given to start laying. In fact one year she layed so many eggs. I had to add another of the Brown AC ant habitats- large 1 foot by 1 foot(approx size) ones just houses the eggs and it was completely full there were literally thousands and thousands of eggs. the colony grew to be absolutely enormous I had to add yet another large ant habitat and another outworld just to contain them and feed them to give them enough room.

This year... barely anything. She will occasionally lay small amounts of eggs which are cared for by workers but I'm not sure if they actually eclose (they may, im not sure.) The Queen seems healthy she reacts to light , looks fine, I can see her eating via trophilaxis. from other years and from other ants everything seems to be fine. she behaves the same way as she did the years before it's just that.. very limited eggs I don't know why. By this time last year they were simply RAVINOUS with desire for protein. They have multiple access to different types of proteins as well as multiple access to different types of sugar and water. Any help would be appreciated. They don't seem interested in the protein.


-cham
Northern illinois.

[AM1C39]

It sounds odd the way you say it but queens have good years and bad years. It could be because the queen is getting old, or they still have not completely come out of hibernation, or they are preparing to produce alates. Whatever it is you should not worry.

[Chamety]

Alates are possible. I saw 3 alates, all male, in the ant habitat as well as several larger than normal pupae

Very much appreciate the information . Have a good day.

[AntsLuxembourg]

Could it be that the nest is already pretty full? Can you attache another antnest to the colony to see if they would lay more eggs? It could also just be that this year your queen feels different. Maybe the queen doesn't feel like laying as many eggs. I don't know much about Crematogaster ants but I could also imagine that the queen did this to expand the colony rapidly and that they do this in nature to secure the colony's fight force to fight off enemy colonies. That's at least my idea or explanation for this behaviour. Rapid expansion and then make sure of what you have to stabalize the colony more.