Eggs not hatching...

Help to the newbie

Eggs not hatching...

Beitragvon nckchua » 18. Mär 2007 08:58

Hi everyone,

I pretty new to the ant scene. Last year I found a queen ant (inside my apartment of all places :). I bought one of those ant farms and placed the queen inside.

The first few weeks she started laying eggs and 2 of these hatched into larvae. Unfortunately, it seemed like she at them.

I've now had the queen for almost a year and she has laid many batches of eggs. However, to my frustration, not of the eggs seem to hatch. They tend to become yellow and shrivel/dry up. Is this possible? Has this happened to anyone with ant farms containing little moisture?

Recently I've tried adding water to the ant farm. But I would appreciate if anyone could give me some pointers on how to get these eggs to actually hatch and not dry up.

Many thanks, :)
Nick
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Beitragvon NuEM » 18. Mär 2007 13:38

I see two possible explanations. The queen may not have mated. If this is true all eggs will not be fertilized, which may cause the queen to eat them. There's basically nothing you can do, if this is the case.

The second explanation is you're not keeping her right. Temperature, humidity and so on. To help you, we need to know the exact species of the ant, and how you are keeping it.
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Beitragvon earlant » 18. Mär 2007 15:51

Hi nckchua,

"I bought one of those ant farms" - Unfortunately you don't tell us which kind of ant farm you have bought.

There is a lot of types, and if by chance you took one of those "gel farms", "Antworks", "space ant farms" or so which are filled with a transparent gel, this would explain everything: This stuff is not appropriate for keeping ants for more than a couple of weeks. No queen has ever founded a colony in such a farm, no larva has been reared in it.

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Beitragvon nckchua » 19. Mär 2007 05:15

Thanks NuEM and Earlant, I appreciate your response.

Well I'm no expert on ants, but I believe my queen and is of the "field ant" species just by looking on the internet. She seems to have all the qualities listed in the following links. Of course I'm in Toronto, Canada, but hopefully that helps. :)

Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar

It's possible she may not have mated, but the thing is that, there was one early batch that did have 2 eggs hatch into larvae. In fact one of them went to all the way to pupae and then dissappeared. I assume it may have been eaten by her. Is this normal for queens to eat pupae?

Currently, the ant farm that I have her in is one similar to Uncle Milton's ant farm, but much bigger. No, it's not the GEL Ant Farm... I've heard the horror stories with those :( But I keep the farm in my bedroom where we sleep. We live in an apartment so it's about 23 degrees celcius. It does get a little dry since it's the winter down here. Do you think this is too hot or too dry?

I have included as attachments 3 pictures. One is a picture of the ant farm, and the others are pictures of the queen ant with her latest batch of eggs to the left. Am I correct in saying this is a field ant?

Anyways, I really appreciate your help.

Best regards,
Nick
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queen_eggs2.JPG
Enlarged Queen with eggs to the left
AntFarm.JPG
My ant farm
queen_with_eggs.JPG
Queen with eggs to the left
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Beitragvon mpir » 19. Mär 2007 08:38

Hi,

It sure looks like an ant from Formicidiae subfamily, but I can´t say if it is Formica or not (you call it field ant).

The questions I have:

- when did you catch the ant and did it had proper hibernation? You say it was in your room where it was warm. Ants need hibernation period. If this is disrupted you can expect problems.
and

- Why is the queen on the antfarm and not INSIDE it? It should be in the "send part" and not on the plastic.
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Beitragvon earlant » 19. Mär 2007 09:16

Hi nckchua,

The ant is clearly a "carpenter ant", genus Camponotus. "Field ant" is a fantasy name that doesn't mean anything, perhaps even created by this pest control company. They don't know better. Search the internet for "carpenter ant" and you will find lots of information and pictures.

With the new informations you provided I guess that low humidity is the most important reason for the failure. Lack of hibernation (ca 6 months in low temperature, between 0 and plus 10 deg. Celsius would be appropriate) is another important factor.

And, as mpir says: The queen should have dug a small hole into the sand where she could have built a completely closed "cell" for rearing her brood. - It looks to me a bit as if the entrance to the sand, just in front of the queen, is somewhat too narrow for her?

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Beitragvon JimmyVe » 19. Mär 2007 10:16

Hi nckchua, and welcome to this forum.

like already be sad, i also think the entrance is to small for the queen (like i can see on the picture) didn't she dig herself in ? if she was always on the top of the sand that could be a reason we she is doing so bad.
Also the humidity and the fact she normally hibernate. What i think she didn't do if you have her for almost a year in your bedroom.

Hope we could help and that she is going to be fine.
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Beitragvon nckchua » 20. Mär 2007 06:16

I found the ant in my apartment about May of 2006 during our spring. She has been kept in our bedroom since then, so no she has not had any chance to hibernate. However, there was about a 3 month period when she was NOT laying any eggs. She's only started laying eggs in the last 2 month. Is it possible for her to hibernate with out cold temperatures?

Thanks Earlant for the identification of her as being a carpenter ant.

As for the hole, I have included a picture to show the size of it in comparison to her body. It doesn't seem like the hole is too small since I have seen her, when I first found her, go in and remove sand from it. However, it seems that she just prefers to stay outside of the hole, which is quite odd.

Well, I will take your points of low humidty and lack of hibernation into major consideration. We don't really have a cold place to leave the ant farm except in the fridge, is this something feasable to encourage hibernation?

In addition, lately I have been adding water to her environment periodically to keep the humidity up. She is currently tending to a batch of eggs, however, it already seems that they may be drying up. If these eggs don't succeed do you think I should try to promote hibernation? Also, what do you think about putting her in a test tube instead?

Thanks again,
Nick
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queen_entrance.jpg
queen entrance
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Beitragvon JimmyVe » 20. Mär 2007 08:25

Also, what do you think about putting her in a test tube instead?


That is not a bad idea, i would do that if i was you. ;)
If you put here in the test tube you don't have to worry about humidity.
About the hibernation, i think is rater late to put here in hibernation now.
It is not so good that she didn't hibernate but I'm not sure what the consequents are if you put here in hibernation now for a few weeks (moths). Try putting here in a tube first and keep an eye on here. If everything goes well leave here out of hibernation. (until end of the year, then let here hibernate).

Greetings
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Re: Eggs not hatching...

Beitragvon Karrahahu1 » 9. Feb 2016 10:42

However, to my frustration, not of the eggs seem to hatch. They tend to become yellow and shrivel/dry up. Is this possible????



Ali
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Re: Eggs not hatching...

Beitragvon delete-55885 » 9. Feb 2016 11:37

Hi Ali,
this is possible.
This could have many different reasons, the most common being too high temperature for your species or a nest which is too dry.
Are you sure they are eggs? They might be larvae and if your colony is in hibernation or a diapause, depending on the species, the larvae tend to shrink as they lose water and can become a little yellowish. This is a natural process and as soon as the colony comes out of hibernation, the larvae quickly grow back to their normal size and start developing again.
Which species are you keeping and how big is the colony? Which nest do they live in and what is the temperature?
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