ANTSTORE World of Ants

[JimmyVe]

Hi badman and welcome.

Queens are strong animals they can survive a few days in a closed tube, so I'm guessing she will be okay. Let us now.

[badman]

Hi parcel now received. The queen seemed pretty active when I opened the box up. But after I dropped the tube in the tanks she has just sat by the cotton wool and not moved. There's a few eggs in there and the queen is definitely still alive. But she might be sick or very weak as she doesn't want to move anywhere.

[JimmyVe]

Wait a day ore two, maybe she is a little stressed from the trip. If she still not moves in two days they is a change something is wrong.

[jon2thefish]

Badman, i am very inexperienced with ants, but what i have done is read almost very single post in the English forum, plus i have a M. rubra colony where the female has live almost a week now in the test tube, hardly moving, but has laid eggs i believe, Her tube has been covered up around the outside and shes been left alone, often u will read people saying in this forum be patient. Mind you i could be wrong. I hope your female improves

[Dr.House]

@Jimmy: From reading in the german section it is normal if she doesn't move much. She's safeing Energy ... she wouldn't eat anything for about a month so she has to do that.
mine for example has already a bunch of eggs and is sitting there for about 3 to 4 hours not changing position at all. Then she takes some eggs and changes their position ... after that she doesen't move again etc. ...
But if I take my Flashlight for a sec she trys to escape into the wool quite fast etc. ...

So, I think she's quite fine.

In the first days I gave her some Honey Water which made her bottom quite huge ... as long it remains like that I think she's fine. I think you should try that too. It helps not to think about illness and such anymore ^^ And never the less ... "I like big butts and I can not lie ..."

[badman]

Ok, thanks for the advice, she has plenty of water and i placed some honey and a dead fly outside the tube. still no movement, but she is definitely alive. What is it that triggers the brood to hatch? Time? Or does the queen hatch them at will somehow ? Do they normally hatch then build then nest or will the queen emerge to make thenest then move lall the eggs in?

I'm going to take the advice and read all the topics!

[Varban]

Ok, thanks for the advice, she has plenty of water and i placed some honey and a dead fly outside the tube. still no movement, but she is definitely alive. What is it that triggers the brood to hatch? Time? Or does the queen hatch them at will somehow ? Do they normally hatch then build then nest or will the queen emerge to make thenest then move lall the eggs in?

I'm going to take the advice and read all the topics!

Well care, time, temperature and humidity. The eggs with turn into larvae that will grow and shed their skin a few times. The larve with turn into a puppae which will turn into an ant. The queen will help the 1st few ants shed their puppae skin after which workers will care for the brood.

Unless you force the queen to come out she will be happy in the test tube, provided it's dark, there is water and food. You might leave food and water outside and she will come out at night if need arises.

When your 1st workers hatch the colony will still live in the test tube until they find it too small or you decide to evict them. They will forage mostly at night at first since they are a small colony. They will also look after the queen and brood.

It is highly recomended you don't force the queen or the ants out of the test tube. Leave them be. They are smart and will move out when they decide.

Hope this helps. This topic drifting away from its intended purpose so maybe lock or move it in general discussion?

[badman]

so is humidity better? My tank's walls are a little steamed up and the tube has a little condensation on it, so it must be quite humid.

is it normal for her to not eat?, she's been sitting on the eggs for about 4-5 days, she does move but never out of the tube, she has been moving about some strands of cotton wool.

[JimmyVe]

Yes that is rather normal, in nature they don't eat until the first workers come out to feed her. She has enough body fat to live (and feed the larva) so long.

[badman]

Queen = dead.

Checking in on her today and noticed no movement. Also she was uspide down and curled up. I took out the tube and removed the ant. Her feelers are twitching but no movement from the legs at all. She is still twitching now on my desk but no other signs of life.

Not sure exactly why this queen died. I've had her for about 3 weeks now and she has never eaten anything I attempted to feed her, and only once venture outside the tube (when I shined a strong lamp on her to dry out the tank). Fortunately there were no wokers, although it looks like some of the eggs were at larval stage (I'm not sure exactly how you tell the difference)

Possibly the small amount of mould (which I did my best to remove) in the tank could have affected her health, or maybe she was sick already since she didnt move or eat at all.

I'm thinking of buying a new colony, with workers this time, I was originally going to get a full colony but antstore was sold out. whats the best thing to do regarding my mould problem? Dry the tank out completely? Or just get new loam and start from scracth?

[Dark]

Not sure exactly why this queen died. I've had her for about 3 weeks now and she has never eaten anything I attempted to feed her, and only once venture outside the tube (when I shined a strong lamp on her to dry out the tank). Fortunately there were no wokers, although it looks like some of the eggs were at larval stage (I'm not sure exactly how you tell the difference)

You shined with a strong lamp on her and dont know why she died?

[badman]

yeah for about 2 minutes... i turned it off when it seemed to disturb her. anyway that was about 10 days ago and she was fine since then. I've seen topics on this board where people have their tubes constantly under lamp-light to try and force the colony to leave the test-tubes so I don't see how being under a desk lamp for a short time can be that bad.

[JimmyVe]

That is probably not the reason she is dead, you need to understand that in nature only 1 of 4 queens are able to start a successful colony. So it is always possible the queen was just to weak.

I'm not saying it is a good thing to keep them underneath a lamp/light, you give the ants stress, but sometimes you need to do this to help them move.

[badman]

yes i can appreciate that not all queens survive. That's why I think it's safer to buy a colony, that way you're definitely getting a queen ant which has passed the most risky part of it's life

[JimmyVe]

That is true. But starting from zero is fun to. Maybe you can catch some local species.