So I have a colony now…

[AntsLuxembourg]

I don’t understand what I did wrong. I successfully put the workers with the queen and some how got them all in the tube. I gave them a small drop of honey, so they wouldn’t drown in it, but none wanted to eat it. The workers touched antenna with the queen and no one attacked the queen. So all was well I went to sleep and came back to all the workers dead?! I’m not sure what happened the queen looked uninjured and none of them ate the honey.

This seems absolutely crazy. It could be that the workers got somehow injured and died or the queen was able to kill them one by one or with the help of some workers. Maybe it was actually a parasitic queen about to take over. Maybe mites. It's mostly guess work at this point. But never the less, keep us updated if you get another colony. And surely let us know if you have more questions.

[Antloverhuman]

Hmm. You stated that you found them while you were dumping soil from an old pot so the workers and queen might be injured. Other things could be that there were some ants that were from a different colony who managed to get in the mix of soil( that would explain different sized workers) They were probably too stressed to care about honey.

[LaniLyne0106]

I don’t understand what I did wrong. I successfully put the workers with the queen and some how got them all in the tube. I gave them a small drop of honey, so they wouldn’t drown in it, but none wanted to eat it. The workers touched antenna with the queen and no one attacked the queen. So all was well I went to sleep and came back to all the workers dead?! I’m not sure what happened the queen looked uninjured and none of them ate the honey.

This seems absolutely crazy. It could be that the workers got somehow injured and died or the queen was able to kill them one by one or with the help of some workers. Maybe it was actually a parasitic queen about to take over. Maybe mites. It's mostly guess work at this point. But never the less, keep us updated if you get another colony. And surely let us know if you have more questions.

I will be sure to give u updates and I will post pics of the queen on the I'd page to see what she really is. Thank you

[LaniLyne0106]

Hmm. You stated that you found them while you were dumping soil from an old pot so the workers and queen might be injured. Other things could be that there were some ants that were from a different colony who managed to get in the mix of soil( that would explain different sized workers) They were probably too stressed to care about honey.

That is a possibility I am too new to ant species to know if they are diffrent kinds of ants from the queen. I will be sure to post some pics for IDing the dead worker ant, I kept one minor and two major ants.

[AntsLuxembourg]

That is a possibility I am too new to ant species to know if they are diffrent kinds of ants from the queen. I will be sure to post some pics for IDing the dead worker ant, I kept one minor and two major ants.

That will be good to know. Btw I would also not be able to tell what ant is from what colony, except of course if I only keep 2-4 different species and they are visually easy to keep apart and identify. So unless I start to do IDing myself and get good at it, I will leave it at being able to make a rough guess and ask people for more help.

[LaniLyne0106]

I sadly report that my queen ant has died I have a feeling that she was just way to stressed as she wouldn’t eat anything I gave her and she was weak she’d fall over on her back a lot unable to get up so either I had caused injury to her or the worker ants I put with her. RIP. Can anyone tell me what I could have done wrong and what I could do differently next time, I would like to learn from this.

[SolenopsisKeeper]

I sadly report that my queen ant has died I have a feeling that she was just way to stressed as she wouldn’t eat anything I gave her and she was weak she’d fall over on her back a lot unable to get up so either I had caused injury to her or the worker ants I put with her. RIP. Can anyone tell me what I could have done wrong and what I could do differently next time, I would like to learn from this.

1) Stress
This could or could not have been prevented. To start, the colony may have not adapted to their new captive environment. How often would you check on her? Also, this may be from collecting them, you may have crushed an antenna. I would hope that would be completly accidental, but this would cause her to not smell pheromones.

2) Rebellion
I have heard that sometimes, under stress,(caused by their original pot nest being disturbed) will kill the queen.

3) Parasites
You couldn’t have prevented this unless you knew about it.
Sorry for your loss,

[AntsLuxembourg]

I sadly report that my queen ant has died I have a feeling that she was just way to stressed as she wouldn’t eat anything I gave her and she was weak she’d fall over on her back a lot unable to get up so either I had caused injury to her or the worker ants I put with her. RIP. Can anyone tell me what I could have done wrong and what I could do differently next time, I would like to learn from this.

1) Stress
This could or could not have been prevented. To start, the colony may have not adapted to their new captive environment. How often would you check on her? Also, this may be from collecting them, you may have crushed an antenna. I would hope that would be completly accidental, but this would cause her to not smell pheromones.

I would guess it's stress.
I don't know how often you checked on her and to be honest I kind of forgot about parts of the whole story that unfolded over time. ^^'
Sorry for that.

But I will give you my general advice on this. Only check 2 times per week and for the rest leave the colony undisturbed and in the dark as much as possible. If she doesn't have workers, wait with feeding, if she does, then offer just a little bit of food like honey or small insect parts. Try to clean it up the next time you check on them. Other than that I don't think there was too much different you could have done.

[LaniLyne0106]

Yes i suppose stress was a big factor, as I checked up on her a little to often. Thank you guys for your advice

[AntsLuxembourg]

Yes i suppose stress was a big factor, as I checked up on her a little to often. Thank you guys for your advice

Same happened to my Lasius Niger colony. So I wasn't surprised that my first queen didn't make it. :/
But I have learned a lot from that time.