My queen ant won't lay eggs?

[EerieEcho]

I hope it's nothing like that!

But yeah I went to one of three State Parks today and no luck, there were two ant species there but no queens were out in the open, so maybe it was just too wet today since it rained this morning. I'm going to try my luck again in another State Park and see just how that goes, but my search for a male alate will not fail! (hopefully)

[EerieEcho]

OH MY GOD I'M SO EXCITED I LOOKED IN THERE TODAY AS I HAVE BEEN EVERY DAY AND SHE LAID HER FIRST EGG I AM SO HAPPY I GOT TO SEE IT I AM SO EXCITED I COULD CRY ;W;

[AntsLuxembourg]

You have been checking on her every day? Haha well I guess no one can stop the real excitement of the first queen ants. I've also caught seven queen ants and also could identify them as Lasius Niger since I have one of those before. I will offer them via the GAN-Project as soon as they got some workers. Will only keep one of the queens for myself. But I have no Idea on how I am going to stream both colonies at the same time. XD

Perhaps I just keep her without a stream or something like that.
I also had the unfortune to see a diffrent species of queens but she flew away before I could catch her. It looked a bit like a campanotus species.
But I got 7 beautiful and healthy looking queens. Will offer them some honey so they don't go hungry through their first kinda critical and important days. I could have actually caught like 100 queen ants but that would have over done my supplies to put them in. Had got get creative by using tubings which have one end closed with my glue gun. I've immediatly ordered a pack of 100 testtubes for only 30€ so that should do for any future stuff.

So about that egg. Are you sure that it is only one egg or is it perhaps a small bundle of several eggs? Usually queens don't just lay a single egg. So if it really is a single egg it might not be a worker. :/
Someone wrote before that an unfertile queen can still lay eggs but those are just male alates then.

[EerieEcho]

I believe it is just the one egg. But now I have a bigger issue as she appears to have abandoned the egg! As far as I have read, Pennsylvania Carpenters (because I am not using the species name) only lay 10 eggs over the course of 4 weeks, and they don't lay all of the time from what I've read as they lay in batches, so one egg means another will hopefully be coming soon! I just hope this means she has a chance, because yes even though I would love to have a single ant named Victoria, her having a family sounds nicer to me than her being alone, ya know?

[JustCliff]

Mine settled down after the honey, she ended up laying a 2 eggs. She ate one the first night but has been protecting the other for the past week.

Turns out sugar is what mine needed

[JustCliff]

I just noticed you're in Ohio as well, not only that but you're also only about 40 minutes away. Have you noticed any other species flying?

I actively go out searching and haven't seen anything besides Carpenters & a few stray/early Formica Sp. that either obviously weren't fertilized so I didn't capture them or didn't make it through founding. I was hoping to find some Tetramorium sometime soon, I'm surprised I haven't seen any yet. The Ohio nuptial sightings hasn't had any updates either.

[FolloweroftheWay]

For future reference, if they are pulling at the Cotton they are unhappy. I found that moving them from a test tube to a founding formicarium was extremely useful if this is the case. I have attached a link to a drive folder that has four pictures in it to show you what my setup is. I have eight worked now so far. I'm glad the sugar worked for you. However it is typically not a good idea to feed fully claustral queens as it stresses them. Many people have mixed opinions on this subject but that is my two cents. Good luck!

M.


https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=1fbB6gzZ7OiyaJFoByCmCrNYaHAp_ce0a

[EerieEcho]

JustCliff, I caught two queens, Victoria who I have now and another queen of a species I didn't recognize, in Geneva. I would suggest the state park as the new queen whom I didn't end up keeping was just last week! I wish you luck!

As for the sugar, protein worked too but when she started laying I removed both to give her some peace and quiet. Thanks again for all of the help!

[Nickz6]

Hi my camponotus albosparus queen ant has layed eggs but after 3 weeks , the eggs hsve not grown at all. They are orange so is this normal?

[PwnerPie]

Orange eggs are fine, make sure the queen is warm.
Also, its getting close to hibernation time. I wouldnt expect any queens to start a new colony until next spring. ~March
I have 7 new queens, only 1 has laid eggs, the rest are chillin.

Also, wings mean nothing. I have had 4 querns with wings successfully start a colony. I think i have had an even number of infirtle winged and wingless queens. The thing to look out for is if there are other queens nearby that are winged. If there are, ignore them. As it most likey means they just started their nuptial flight and havent mated yet