Wondering if I should move my Queen

Discussions about the care and keeping of ants

Moderator: ooper01

Post Reply
Whispatchet
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2018 5:16 pm
Location: Queanbeyan

Wondering if I should move my Queen

Post: # 52459Post Whispatchet
Mon Oct 15, 2018 6:31 am

I have a presumed Iridomyrmex queen that I caught in my shower about a month ago, and she was identified as a claustral queen. I had her in a jar, and I had to move her to another one because of mould, losing some of her eggs. She has had a small pile of eggs since moving her to the new jar but they haven't emerged. I put the jar sideways into the take away container we are going to use as an outworld, but she hasn't left the jar at all, not even to look at the water test tube we put in place.

Should I continue to leave her alone in the jar, or should I try and coax her out? Also should I feed her now? She doesn't seem to have laid any more eggs, either. :/
Iridomyrmex

Australia~

JoeHostile1
Posts: 409
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2018 6:51 am
Location: Canada
Contact:

Re: Wondering if I should move my Queen

Post: # 52467Post JoeHostile1
Mon Oct 15, 2018 10:02 am

You should pretty much never move a queen without workers under any circumstances because queens are usually very bad about moving their brood to a new location. This is something they would basically never do in the wild on their own. If they are forced out of their nest they may grab a mouthful of larvae on their way out, but they never come back to get the rest of the brood, they leave that work to the workers and if there is no workers they abandon their brood. So I certainly wouldn’t move her again.
Keeping:
Tetramorium immigrans * Lasius Neoniger * Lasius Claviger * Messor Aciculatus * Myrmica Rubra * Camponotus Novaeboracensis * Camponotus Turkastanus * Pheidole Pallidula

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSfFtn6RegZ3F1NdS1g08NA

AntsDakota
Posts: 1283
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2018 4:22 pm
Location: South Dakota

Re: Wondering if I should move my Queen

Post: # 52481Post AntsDakota
Mon Oct 15, 2018 4:31 pm

Whispatchet wrote:
Mon Oct 15, 2018 6:31 am
I have a presumed Iridomyrmex queen that I caught in my shower about a month ago, and she was identified as a claustral queen. I had her in a jar, and I had to move her to another one because of mould, losing some of her eggs. She has had a small pile of eggs since moving her to the new jar but they haven't emerged. I put the jar sideways into the take away container we are going to use as an outworld, but she hasn't left the jar at all, not even to look at the water test tube we put in place.

Should I continue to leave her alone in the jar, or should I try and coax her out? Also should I feed her now? She doesn't seem to have laid any more eggs, either. :/
Here's my advice- wait until she has workers. Then create a test tube setup. Attach the test tube to the jar and don't water it. The ants will deem the jar too dry to live in and move into the test tube. Test tubes also are much better for viewing.
"God made every kind of wild beasts and every kind of livestock and every kind of creeping things;" (including ants) "and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:25

Whispatchet
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2018 5:16 pm
Location: Queanbeyan

Re: Wondering if I should move my Queen

Post: # 53337Post Whispatchet
Sat Nov 03, 2018 3:28 am

My impatient husband moved her into a tube when I wasn't home. :| She took what we suppose is a mouthful of eggs with her but they haven't hatched or anything.

It's been two months since we caught her, and we don't have any workers. Am I doing something wrong?
Iridomyrmex

Australia~

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 15 guests