Camponotus workers steadily dying

[HaydenP]

Hello everyone,

Lately my Camponotus pennsylvanicus workers keep dying. I am unsure why, but there was a period where I never saw ants die and now I feel like I’m noticing at least one dead about every week or so. Total I would say around 7-10 workers have died since I’ve had them, with it becoming more common in the past month.

For some background: I caught the Queen in May of 2022 with the first workers coming out in August of 2022. I have a very hard time counting now, but there are currently around 30-40 workers with what looks to be like one major. The ants that appear to be dying look much different from the ants near the queen, for example, all of the dying ones appear smaller and have much smaller abdomens. The ants that hang out near the Queen and even some that go to the out world have abdomens that are noticeably full especially compared to the ants that are dying. I feed them mealworms that they happily eat about every three days, and they always have fresh honey and water.

My thoughts initially are the dying ones are the nanitics since they are just shy of being a year old. I don’t think I’m really doing anything wrong, but I am new to any keeping. I have put pictures of the setup as well as two ants that seem to be about to die as well as the graveyard where some ants were just discarded this week. The honey in the picture was placed yesterday but they have already put a ton of stuff in it so that’s why it’s dirty. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

https://imgur.com/gallery/QqKJGuA

[Nate515]

My thoughts initially are the dying ones are the nanitics since they are just shy of being a year old. I don’t think I’m really doing anything wrong, but I am new to any keeping.

Hello, I'm a new ant keeper myself, but based on what I've read, your assessment right there seems correct.

Nanitics are the original worker ants. They're the smallest, weakest, but most adorable of all the workers. We owe them so much for getting the colony to that stage. Unfortunately, they also have the shortest lifespan. From what I read, they live for several months (carpenters have one of the longer lifespans), the good side is, since you cared for them so well, they've ended up living a significantly longer and more peaceful life than usual. Due to their efforts, the later generations of workers will be larger, healthier and stronger.

Nice work getting your first Major!
That's definitely a milestone in the colony's growth and is proof of your success as an up and coming ant keeper.


P.S. Nice choice in the Formicarium, I also just pulled the trigger and did the same.

[Antloverhuman]

Yeah they're just the nanitics dying off. Camponotus workers die in batches. Meaning suddenly a lot of the workers will start doing and then none will die for a good while, thus creating a sudden increase and decrease in their population

[HaydenP]

Thank you both! Y’all have definitely eased my mind with the ants so much. I didn’t know how to @ you both so I just quoted each of the comments.

@Nate515 I think you’ll enjoy the formicarium, it is really convenient, just don’t fill the water towers too high unless you want a small flood

[Antloverhuman]

There isn't really an @ function. We usually quote (like you did) or put the names in bold