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I'm sorry to hear that Varban, hope the workers hatch soon. I must say I'm rather lucky, i never had such a difficult queen like yours.
;) good posting Varban. ;)
I hope your queen dont eat again, fingers crossed she wont
Hi there,
This kind of behaviour doesn't necessarily have to do with being hungry. I'v had a Camponotus ligniperda queen once which regularly devoured her pupae, sometimes in close cooperation with the workers. The colony had a few workers already and they regularly foraged, with enough nutrients of all kinds provided, so hunger was not the reason.
Because some of the hatched workers died after only a few days I suspect that the reason for the brood-consumption had to be something else, either humidity conditions or something else. But unfortunately I never found out.
All the best of luck with your colony!
K kris what an interesting point you raised. yes HUMIDITY might be a reason. The test tube might be too try. I have a test tube like that in which I placed little water (for fear of flooding) and it started to dry out so too make up for it I always take a moist cotton swab and rub it on the inside of the testtube (without disturbing the queen and brood) almost daily. But yes if the test tube is too dry and I can totally imagine a queen eating her brood in order to sustain the moisture in her body. always remember folks....ants are made to thrive and rear their broods in moist conditions.
Hmm i just checked the water in the testtube is gone :S That explains a lot!
Now of course fiding a way to refill it will be a problem :S
EDIT1:I guess i will have to do the 2 tubes thing again
Edit2: Nope the water is half full. False alarm :( i did press the cotton with a small pointy stick toi squeze some water out and see if the cotton is dry but it's soaked.
Anyway hopefully the worker with hatch soon :)
You just could go to your local pharmacy or medic and get a 10ml syringe to fill it up. Okay, you'll ned a long needle, but our pharmacy got one which is 15+ cm ... that should be enough.
I don't think to dry is the answer. It is a Messor sp. if i remember right, they don't need it very moist. But if it drys out totally you better give them a new one. ;)
You just could go to your local pharmacy or medic and get a 10ml syringe to fill it up. Okay, you'll ned a long needle, but our pharmacy got one which is 15+ cm ... that should be enough.
Yeah i know :) I am just too lazy to do that. Anyway it has enough water.
@Jimmy: messor barbarus actually but they are pretty much the same. Now we all know where the barbarus comes from :P
I am happy to report that at 23:13GMT my worker's leg started moving :)
I am so relieved as at at about 2300 I saw the queen pick up the puppae and doing stuff to it just like the last one she ate.
It seems she just removed the outer packaging to help the worker emerge. She is cleaning the little worker atm. The worker still can't stand on its own but at least she has a chance to live not to be eaten by mommy :)
Can i hope that the worker will start collecting seeds to feed itself and the queen or i am still far from trouble? :)
The queen(s) and workers often help incipient callow (=newborn) workers out of their cocoon and skin.
A first hurdle seems to have been conquered. You're not totally out of trouble yet but the main thing is that the worker is there. She will start foraging soon and collecting food. Don't worry if you actually don't witness the foraging, she'll probably do it at night when everything's calm and quiet.
Congrats, by the way!