thebullet: My Queen!! (3. Sep 2007 10:43)

I found a queen a about 1 month ago. I was going to place her in one of thos Nasa gel farm when i read all the bad info about them. I then had an idea of scraping all of the gel out of the ant works and filling it with sand. After i had done that i placed her in, she seemed to just hid behind the two stones i had placed in. I then went on holiday after about a week of putting her in she still had no sign of tunneling. Just before i left i placed a started hole into the sand. A week later after my holiday i came back to find she had started a tunnel but not against the glass. She had continued the starter tunnel i gave her but turned into the middle instead of against the glass. A acouple of days later i noticed half way down the hole she has sealed it up meaning she is going to lay her eggs. The one thing that annoys me is that i canot see her and 8-10 weeks is quite along time before the worker ant will come out. And i hope she it not dead. There is one problem though we are in the middle of moving house and i am going to have to move her somehow without disturbing her.

Can anyone give me any advise on how i can check if she is ok or reasurance she will be ok and she is not dead.

Thanks for the help.

cheers.

kashmir79: (3. Sep 2007 10:50)

Well have you fed her anything ,Queens need protein to lay eggs, and 8 weeks seems to be too long, its usualy 4 weeks i think

thebullet: (3. Sep 2007 11:02)

Well have you fed her anything ,Queens need protein to lay eggs, and 8 weeks seems to be too long, its usualy 4 weeks i think

Well i read that she feeds of her old wing muscles so she dosen't need feeding for quite a while untill the first workers hatch.

Kiam: (3. Sep 2007 12:26)

Yes she does feed off her own body fat till the first workers come but if you feed her aswell it will have a higher percent off her having a good colony and i think you should wait or try to move her to a test tube...

thebullet: (4. Sep 2007 21:29)

well i thnk i will leave her in the farm with her new workers when they emerge. And hopefully fingers crossed everything will turn out ok.

cheers.

JimmyVe: (5. Sep 2007 08:01)

Hello thebullet and welcome,

nice that you first read a bit before you ask questions. ;)

(first of all, which species are we talking about ?)
It is not necessary to feed her, normally she will be fine without feeding, but you have more change she will start a successful colony if you feed her, but if she dig herself in she is not going to come out if you feed her. (this only works if they are in a tube)

8 weeks could be, depends on the species and how long it takes until the first workers hatch.

Good luck

Flan: (5. Sep 2007 11:25)

Was the sand dry (while you were on holiday)? If yes, she may be dead now.

Sorry for my English

thebullet: (6. Sep 2007 20:25)

Ok, the species we are talking about is Lasius niger . And i did soak the sand so it is really wet. She sealed her self in around the 26th last month.

Thanks for the help.

thebullet: A Week Tommorow (18. Sep 2007 16:09)

A week tommorow it will be 4 weeks that my queen has sealed herself in, it cant be much longer now or is it?.

Cheers

JimmyVe: (18. Sep 2007 16:20)

;) Be patient thebullet. lol it could be she already has workers but if the colony is small they probably stay underground for a while.

Ant keeping is a hobby which you need to be patient. ;)

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