ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Alby]

I bought a lasius niger queen at semptember, when arrived there were some eggs, but one day she ate them..and now she doesn't make another eggs...I don't know what I can do to help her...

[miszt]

It will be hard for her to make new eggs after the first batch, has she got water in the test tube still?

Maybe feed her a few tiny flies, like fruit flys to boost her protien and fat levels

Did you hibernate her over winter?

What tempreture are you keeping her at? make sure that the tempreture is not changing to much and is not to high

[Alby]

Sometimes I spray some water in the arena, I didn't hibernate her, this winter the temperature was about 17° and now is about 20..Fruit flys are Drosophile?Have I to put the food at the enter of the tube?because she's always inside...

[tail__]

That explains all. Temperature is simply too low, the queens of most European species need at least 20-25C to lay eggs. If you want to give some food, yes, put it in the end of the tube. But maybe she will not want to eat, she should still have enough internal supplies to start a colony (if she ate eggs, she didn't lose anything) , but you need to warm her up a bit.

[miszt]

I wuld put a couple of fruit flies (yes drosphile) or other small flies like mosquitos inside the test tube for her, she may eat them

dont miss her hibernation this year! infact I would hibernate her early from around september at least

[JimmyVe]

Could be she is all tired out form not hibernating. If she is awake for about 6 months now she should have had workers already.

[Alby]

all the winter she was very lazy...she moved just a little bit...
maybe she has a pairs of eggs!!!I'm not too sure, I can't see very well to not stress her too much...I'll check in a few days!

[tail__]

L. niger queens are generally lazy at all, but with temperature below 20C ants are less active than normal. I don't think she is 'tired', the winter months were her rest time, she didn't lay eggs and did nothing, as Alby said (though real winter sleep in temp. 1-10C would be better) She should have eggs and be more active when you warm her to ca. 25C and she will feel spring.

[Alby]

the weather is not good today!this morning out was 2°C..a very cloudy day!in my home there's 19.8°C...I don't want discover the basin to see the temperature.
I have a heat mat, that I used two month ago and my other queen died, the temperature was around 16/17 with the mat was 25°C, was it too high???..so at the moment I prefer waiting and let the temperature increase naturally..someone use heat mat??

[SteveUK28]

i use heat mat for a few of my ants but i have it connected to a good thermostat otherwise a heatmat will just get hotter and hotter.. and cook ya ants. I keep my lasius niger at room temp tho. ATM that ranges from 19-26°C depending on if the heating is on or not.. and all my colonies are doin great

[JimmyVe]

My Lasius niger are at 18-22°c and are doing really great, lot of new brood and all, so i don't think the temperature is the case. I'm more thinking that the queen is just not fertilized ore strong enough to start a colony (sorry dude). But you could try to heat her up a bit with you heat mat. If the temp. is 25°c she will be more active. (normally)