ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Jamcom]

i thought she was doing fine, i was feeding them bits of crisps, honey water thing + because theres no flys etc at the moment theres another ant colony living in the house so i killed alot of there workers feding mine (sorry if anyone thinks thats cruel but there was nothing else) ( i might have stressed her i really dont no)

does anyone have any idea why she died? i am getting a new one soon but id like to able to find out why so i can change it with my new colony

[SteveUK28]

Perhaps ordering some crickets online and feeding her them would be a better idea..

[Jamcom]

the problem is i tryed crickets and they just left them eve nwhen i cut them into small bits

[SteveUK28]

and how big was the colony?? as if it was small.. you wouldnt notice any gone at all... its only when the colony are big that they will eat most of it.. or move it..

[Jamcom]

oh there was only around 20+ and lots of brood etc left, so im gunna let the mlive there lifes out by pouring them into the sand ant farm so when they die off there willl be tunnels ready for my next one

[gabranth]

keep the brood and give it to the next colony and give your ants honey water as well so if they don't eat any insects atleast there getting some food also try feeding them fruit flies you can get them online.

[SteveUK28]

well with only 20+ you really wouldnt have seen them eating at all.. in fact i doubt you ever saw them out at all. I have a colony now with around the same numbers and i never see them in the daytime.. but if i check late at night there will always be a few out so i give them a freshly killed cricket at night, alone with a fresh bit of honey and water.

Hope you have better luck next time, and i advise doing what gabranth says... least then its not a complete waste. Im sure there is prob a few ppl around in the forums thats still have a Lasius niger colony for sale from this summer.. just ask about.

[McK]

This is strange, I've raised more than 50 Lasius niger colonies the past two years and I've never had a dead queen, you must have done something wrong because killing a Lasius niger queen is a hard thing to do.

Things you could have done wrong.
1. Not keeping her in the dark
2. Constantly stressing her out by moving the nest
3. You fed the colony infected ants

Remember, the first year(s) are crucial and the queen stresses out really really easy.
When you have +500 workers you can easily keep them in the light because then they will be too busy with raising the brood.

[gabranth]

4. drowned her like i did

[McK]

4. drowned her like i did

At least you only drowned a Lasius niger queen, I accidentally drowned my Pogonomyrmex barbatus colony once...
Well, I didn't drown them, one of the workers was stupid enough to dig a hole right through the cotton holding back the water reservoir.

[gabranth]

harvester ants have a habit of doing that

[Jamcom]

i think i moved the nest to much and that. so this time im gunna put them in a small container in there test tube up in my wardrobe and drop, shame though she was a massive queen almost 13mm ;( (i guessed her to be 11ish but when i measured she was 13mm dead

i was thinking of maybe going for red ants? do they grow to quick for starter sets though?

[gabranth]

Myrmica rubra, Formica fusca are easy to keep if they only have one queen they don't grow as fast as multi queened colony's. Pheidole pallidula are also easy to keep but you need to make your setup escape proof

[McK]

I can also suggest Lasius flavus, but only if you have a lot of patience

[gabranth]

you need way more than alot of patience