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Queen ant

Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 1:35 am
by ethergear
So last weekend I captured a pair of queen ants. They're about a centimeter in length and they were captured last weekend in Oracle Arizona, a few days after the remains of Hurricane bud passed over.

I recognize the species as I have seen them around and they have super majors that look just like the queen. These two I caught had different gasters and what I thought were flight muscles, but no wings. Supermajors would make them Camponotus, right? And hopefully fully claustral?

The good news is, I think they've already laid eggs.

The bad news is, I have no test tubes yet! I captured them in transparent plastic disposable portion child cups which they hated.

I ordered the test tubes and they're coming Monday, but I transferred them to the only thing I could find that I thought they'd like, translucent toothbrush holders with cotton blocking the holes from inside. I store them at a slight angle and moisten the lower cotton ball.

These are the best pictures I can take until I have them on clear test tubes.

How will I transfer them and their eggs safely to the new home?

Re: Queen ant

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 8:39 am
by AntsLuxembourg
I would sugguest that you force them carefully into their new homes. Perhaps shake them with care into the testtubes and make sure that you don't miss out with on any eggs. For the rest I would say everyone get's quite creative when it comes to store the queens when there are no testtubes. :D
I myself would have just taken a transparent tube and placed them in there. This way you can just connect them straight to a setup or a testtube. :D

Perhaps get a variety of tubes with perhaps 10mm inside, 12mm inside and 8mm inside so you can connect most things with your testtube straight away. Usually those tubes got a thickness of 1mm so they are 8mm on the inside and 10mm on the outside. had to get myself even a 14mm on the inside to plug in my ttesttube. I think 1m of each should do. So you can use most of the cables as adapters in case you buy something with a smaller opening.

Btw I can't see any piucture of the queen so far. :C

Re: Queen ant

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 11:30 am
by ethergear
Maybe the files were too large? Let me try again.

Re: Queen ant

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 11:48 am
by ethergear
https://photos.app.goo.gl/qJ3PVKnHiz6r8hFh7

Re: Queen ant

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 12:42 pm
by AntsLuxembourg
Quite blurry ^^
But it did work at least with the picture

Re: Queen ant

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 12:49 pm
by Batspiderfish
A delicate paintbrush can be helpful for moving eggs and brood.

Re: Queen ant

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 2:08 pm
by ethergear
AntsLuxembourg wrote:
Sun Jun 24, 2018 12:42 pm
Quite blurry ^^
But it did work at least with the picture
You're certainly right! But you can see her size and why I think there are eggs.

Thank you so much for reading and responding from Luxembourg!
Batspiderfish wrote:
Sun Jun 24, 2018 12:49 pm
A delicate paintbrush can be helpful for moving eggs and brood.
This is perfect! I even have a paintbrush like that.

I'll start by tapping out the queen and loose eggs into the test tube and use the brush to move any stray eggs.

Can't wait till Monday - I'll be able to get a better picture then!

Re: Queen ant

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 3:44 pm
by AntsLuxembourg
Perhaps you should try to get some tubes anyway so you can give the queen some space for at least some time. :D
This also makes it easier to give them food because the workers still need some time to get to the opening. Also have a nice pack of cotton ready. ;D
I also is way easier to connect the tubes later. I mean it helped me quite a bit in the past. :D

Re: Queen ant

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2018 12:31 am
by ethergear
Done!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/EAyQaMzQxCXjiSxR6

https://photos.app.goo.gl/dK76DhbPTLggHM5a8

Re: Queen ant

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2018 6:58 am
by AntsLuxembourg
Wow D:
You are making me really jealous right now. :D

She looks so beautiful. Would love to know the exact name of this kind to look it up in case it's also available over here in Europe. :D