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heeksy: My new Myrmica rubra colony (11. Jun 2007 21:37)

I got my coloney of Myrmica rubra through the psot on saturday, they are sort of doing well but bad at the same time. I got 4 queens with about 150 workers.

on sunday there was about 20 ants dead in the basin, could that be from delvery stress? i coverd most of the tube with card to keep it dark until the queens and eggs go to the main farm. load of ants are sitting around inside the tube not moving near the entrance, while loads are running around feeding and digging. are they just defending the queens? i havent moved the card so i dont know whats happening in the other half of the tube.

Any advice would be great
cheers

Sced: (11. Jun 2007 22:10)

Hi, dont worry if the ants just sit there, they are probably jsut resting, as ants dont sleep :)

heeksy: (11. Jun 2007 22:20)

good stuff i though they might be on there way out as well. do ants eat there own dead? iv removed most of the dead but left a few to see.

i put some honey in the basin, i looked again about 10 minutes later and there was a dead ant on the side of it. it was only a small drop so i dont think it drowned, not that quick anyway. so i thought they might have put one of there dead on it?

hypervelocity: (12. Jun 2007 12:17)

Hi all,

First off i am so glad you got so many ants :-)
Ok then, i think that some ants do eat there own dead, and the ants must have put there dead one there , because ants breath on the side of there bodys so i cant see it drowning.

JimmyVe: (12. Jun 2007 22:30)

Most of the species put there dead far away from the nest, so there is no change of sicknesses. It is best to remove the dead ants from you farm.
The probably put in there, most of my species put all there garbage in the honey dish ;) easy to clean, but they eat the honey first.

Ants can drown but if they get in the dish with there hole body. (in water or honey)