ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Varban]

What i dont undestand is why when she has a pile of eggs she still prefers to eat a puppae instead of an egg that's totally hampering the colony. I couldnt see 2 puppaes today so i assume to were turned into a snack.
I shall post a pic of my current upgaded setup in a few.


Edit: Added pictures.

PS: how long for puppae to emerge as workers i am getting concerned she might eat them all lol!

[JimmyVe]

So she eats her own brood. Did you try to feed her some little insects ? like fruit flies or give her some honey (sugar/water mix). Maybe this will help.

[Varban]

well its a bit weird, she only eats puppaes not larvaes or eggs so its more like she doesnt want to found a colony. I will have to find some bug and try that, she doesnt seem to like the grass seeds.

[JimmyVe]

i'm not sure queens will eat the seeds, most of the time workers will eat it and than feed it to the queen. (if you understand what i'm saying)

Could it be that she is not fertilized, queens that have not mated have this behavior to. It is worth a try with a insect and she if she than still eat them.

[Varban]

That said how long does it take for a puppae to come alive as an ant? Maybe i should just take them away from her for a few days.

EDIT: She is fertile no worries, as I said the eggs have hatched, turned into larvaes and puppaes and i already had 2 workers so she is fertile, prob is the 1st worker died the next day after i put the tube in the antfarm and the second worker drowned

Anoying part is I am at work during the day doing an itnernship and there are no bugs around so I can't go find anything I just hope at least one of the remaining 3 puppaes survives until friday and hopefully it will come alive by then. She already has a small clump of eggs, thats the 3rd batch so far.

[JimmyVe]

Okay, that is true, she already had workers, sorry i forgot.

I'm not sure how long it takes, depends on a lot of things, normally about 2-4 weeks.
You could try to take them away but i'm afraid they need to be taking care buy the queen. I'm not sure they would survive on there own.

[Varban]

2-4 weeks for the puppae wow I thought it was a 5-10 days
I am not talking from egg to worker but puppae to worker

[Bob]

strange behavior for a queen. From her behavior she seems like a very carnivorous queen. :p

[mpir]

@Verban

I´m really sorry to hear that you have so much problem with M. barbarus queen. I also keep this ant specie and I can say that from day one it is one of the less problematic ant specie I´ve had.
I´ve just put some seeds into the tube and the queen was ok. From begining of March (she had no brood when I got her) untill now there are more than 20 workers and lots of brood. First workers were very small indeed but now they are getting bigger and bigger every day. I think one of the pupae that is about to hactch will be a solder as it has quite a big and square head. I´m still keeping them in test tube which is conected to plastic ice cream box. I will probably keep them there till next year when I will move them to ytong nest.

[Bob]

mpir if you keep them in the test tube for a year, wont the test tube's water supply dry up by then? How do you keep up the test tube's water supply? Also is there a way for you to post a pic of your entire set up? (test tube connected to ice cream box).

[mpir]

@Bob

The test tube is quite big (1 cm diameter) and I´ve put quite a lot of cotton between water and the ants as this ant don´t like lots of moist so the water is evaporating slowly. I think until now not even 10% of the water evaporated, so I think I should be ok till next year.

I will post some photos later today as I have photos at home and right now I´m at work.

[Varban]

Bob: Yeah if only she ate the eggs instead. Another puppae is gone today :'( this is ridiculous!

Mpir: Did you put in just seeds? And what type did you use?

[Bob]

varban if you can get your hands on some brood, the key is to put in a bit of pupae that way even if she consumes some of the pupae enough will make it to turning into workers. Also, if she is that carnivorous, try suspending in some a piece of dead insect. Maybe if her appetite is satisfied she will refrain from consuming pupae.

[mpir]

@Bob

As I promised the photo of the set up. Only this set up on the photo is not mine. The batteries of my camera are dead and it would take hours to recharge so this is the photo I took at my friend's place. Mine set up is almost identical.

@Verban

Yes, I've thrown in some seed. It is a mix of seed that I bought in pet store for small birds. I've also put in some seeds that they especially like. I don't know how is this flower called in English so I will attach picture of it. They indeed go crazy for this seeds.

[JimmyVe]

They in deed would like these seeds. I must say my Messor barbarus queen did not accept seeds until the first workers came, i give her a fruit fly are two and did not disturb her to much (one time a week max.)
but Varban you need to try it out, if she will not accept seeds try some small insects. Not al queens are the same. (some like seeds some not)