The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

Hello to all ant keepers here!
I am Dina, and today I am going to tell you about my ant colonies. A while ago, I have caught three Messor sp. queens. These were my first ants ever. Here is the topic: http://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=4396
While I was trying to buy test tubes the ants spent like two months in uncomfortable setups. If they were people, they'd be angry at me THAT much! In the beginning of december, I moved these queens in brand new test tubes. By now it's four months and a half.
There are queens numbered one, two and three. Somebody asked me: why wouldn't you name them? I won't name them until the colonies' life establishes well. N. one is expecting her first workers!


N. three falls behind her, but she is also doing well.


The issue is with n. two. She has a very few eggs, none of them developed to larvae. Last time I took a look on her, she was running back and forward holding some eggs in her mandibles. Let's hope she will make through it.

Few weeks ago I saw winged ants at the opening of tne nest, but the flight didn't take place until yesterday. And, welcome the new queen ant! Camponotus sp. which I caught today! She is beautiful! But, there is a greenish dot on her abdomen, it worries me. Can it be a parasite?






Also, I dream to keep Tapinoma israele http://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Tapinoma_israele cause it'll be fun to keep a species unique to my country. But, I didn't find much data on them. I have no clue when to catch them and how to care.


My favourite of all local ants are Cataglyphis spp. There are so many in Israel, some of them aren't known well. I would like to become a myrmecology specialist and research them.
Have a nice day!

I checked on the new queen today, when she was busy pulling the cotton out. There was a piece of her front leg stuck in between plastic and cotton ball and It's so sad. It seems she got bothered and broke her own leg in panic. What should I do now? Maybe I should seek for a bigger room for her. How big are the chances she'll be okay with one front leg left? She definitely needs these for raising her workers

on formiculture their is a queen that laid eggs with only two legs and one attena. she would have raised a colony if she did not drown in honey. she will be fine just give her some space but not much

antnest8 wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 19, 2018 4:19 pm

on formiculture their is a queen that laid eggs with only two legs and one attena. she would have raised a colony if she did not drown in honey. she will be fine just give her some space but not much

Two legs?! Are you kidding me?
I am going to buy a beaker for her, cause the seller have no bigger test tubes.

just keep her away from honey and if you do feed her try something very watery

antnest8 wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 19, 2018 4:38 pm

just keep her away from honey and if you do feed her try something very watery

If she is claustral I don't need to feed her, right?
She was very uncomfortable in the test tube recently, and I moved her to a box with test tube connected to the wall. Also she won't dig into cotton cause now the only opening is in the lid.
Thanks

I would not feed her my post last time was only for emergencys

It seems to me that Camponotus queen has just laid eggs! So she must have been comfortable in the box.
Also I moved n. 1 messor queen into a new test tube. I was bothered because of water level. She must be okay. But it looks like she left an egg behind. I was not patient enough and disconnected the tubes one from other.

Messor queen n. 1 now has got a worker! It is very small and weak. The queen picked the worker up in panic. So I was scared too and quickly put the test tube back in the dark wardrobe.

the nantics are usually small