ANTSTORE World of Ants (F)  >> English forum (F)  >> Experience with european ants (F)  >> Myrmica (F)
 [1]   [2] 

Click to view full story of "Advice about laying more eggs"

Vijxik: Advice about laying more eggs (27. Jul 2014 22:13)

Hello, everyone!:) Recently i bought two Myrmica rubra queens, along with a worker, 4 larvae and some eggs. However, after 2 weeks, i found no more eggs, only 4 larvae left.:( I'm wondering if the queens are so hungry that they ate the eggs?(but i did feed them with some insects and honey water), and does anyone know how to improve the efficiency of the queens? (coz my queens didn't lay any eggs so far)..
I will really appreciate if you can give some suggestions.:) wish everyone a pretty day!

Greetings,
Vijxik

Catman1976: Re: Advice about laying more eggs (28. Jul 2014 06:39)

can you post a pic of the setup. How long have you had them? What insects have you been feeding them? I feed my 2 colonies with separate containers of sugar-water and honey. M. rubras like moisture.

Vijxik: Re: Advice about laying more eggs (28. Jul 2014 10:28)

Thanks for you reply. i just put them into a common setup - a test tube with cotton and water. my queens just arrived 2 weeks ago, maybe they need some time to rest.:P and i feed them with some fruit flies (twice a week) and honey water/fruit juice( three times a week). could you give me some nice suggestions about it? thanks .:)

joshjw: Re: Advice about laying more eggs (28. Jul 2014 19:38)

I'm not entirely sure but you could raise the temperature a bit as long as its not above the safe range or feed them more protein.

Vijxik: Re: Advice about laying more eggs (28. Jul 2014 20:51)

Hey Josh, i did feed them with protein like bugs, and it seems that they prefer some honey water; what's more, the current weather in the Netherlands is appropriate for them... strange thing.....anyway thanks for your idea.:)

Sojave: Re: Advice about laying more eggs (28. Jul 2014 23:01)

In the last months, we have to read a lot of food problems.

The mainproblem was most of the time missing proteins. Nearly all species need it in great amounts. Users with strange foodtests or people who give them only sugar water is quite often lately...

Flies are the best, insects with hard protection are often uninteresting. A lot of bugs arent so good. Small colonies arent capable to open them.

Sugar water, mixed sugar water with honey (try different sorts) and insects.

We can read a lot uncommon food, but dont try that. It could kill your ants. The best example are apples from the supermarket, often sprayed with a lot of chemicals.
Also in a lot of posts we can read, that a variation of testfood was accepted and transported into the nest. That doesnt mean they eat it and would be in the nest until it learn to walk :D

So, insects (flies) and sugar water (honey) are all they need as food.

Vijxik: Re: Advice about laying more eggs (29. Jul 2014 10:28)

Hey Sojave, thanks for your reply, that's absolutely useful! =D> also that's what i have been doing these weeks, hope they will have some reactions as i did the right things for them.:P

Vijxik: Re: Advice about laying more eggs (30. Jul 2014 15:21)

What a surprise, today i saw two eggs on one of the larvae!!! thanks for all your helps guys!:) xxx

Sojave: Re: Advice about laying more eggs (30. Jul 2014 17:10)

One thing came to my mind. But i cant remember how it was: The larvae of Myrmica rubra, do they eat alone from parts of the insect on themself, are they transported onto/next to the insect and eat themself or are they feeded by the workers directly?

I am not sure and cant find it. But its not so important, as long as you give them normal flies ect, they could handle it.

Vijxik: Re: Advice about laying more eggs (31. Jul 2014 09:42)

Hey, Sojave, thanks for your remind. yesterday i fed them with a fruit fly, and the queens and the worker ate together, i saw the queens put the food in front of the larvae, so they might be eating.:)


 [1]   [2]