ANTSTORE World of Ants

[sebastianlondon]

Hi everybody,
I am looking for any help you can give with a small Oecophyla colony I have. The colony has been doing fine since I received them around 2 months ago; they have been feeding well and guarding food sources. They moved out of the original nest of a few dead leaves and set up in a live Ficus pumila, they used this nest and also started another larger nest nearby soon after.
3 days ago I noticed the queen outside the nest surrounded by workers, I thought they may be on the move but they stayed put, the next day the same, then yesterday I saw the queen wandering around on her own.
I am expecting to find her dead today when the lights come on but would appreciate any ideas anyone may have.
Basic parameters are;
Colony size; approximately 100-150 when I received them.
Food; sugar water, mixed live and dead insects.
Temperature; 24-26oC (I raised this to 28OC last night).
Not measured but quite high as the nest is above a large fish tank.
The only thing that I do think possibly odd is her abdomen appears quite small to me, but saying that I haven’t seen many queen Oecophyla!
Any suggestions gratefully received, especially about how large her abdomen should be.
Sebastian

[adam james]

Hello Sebastian, Sounds weird to me , i have not got much experiance with these ants, did have a go keeping them a few years back but wasnt to succesfull. Are you sure there is just that one queen ?? Sounds to me like this queen is less dominant and been forced out the nest. If you are sure there is only one then maybe the workers have picked up she has somthing wrong with her and in the same way kicked her out. I think i recall my queens adoman was rather small when i kept them but without a deacent picture of your queen its very hard to comment on her apperance.

Regards

Adam

[sebastianlondon]

Thanks Adam,
that was my initial thought, being displaced by another queen but the person I received them from (Peter at, my ant shop who has always been very honest and helpful) had said it was a queen and workers so I don’t think this is the reason.
I have a photo, but its not that good I’m afraid so I will try and post a clip on my blog later.
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Having said all this, the lights are now on and I cant see the quenn only a few workers near the main nest. I dont want to try and move the plant as i'd rather not disturb them at present.

thanks again
Sebastian

[adam james]

Ok Sebastian. Well i know Peter from my ant shop too , he is very honest and i have had great dealings with him there also

Hopfully somone else may offer advice, im out of ideas ha ha.

Ps, the website looks great

Regards

Adam

[sebastianlondon]

Update;
Sunday, 4 days after original post.
I found the queen dead in the moat last night, no great surprise but what is a bit strange is the day before she’d been back surrounded by workers on top of the nest, and everything starting to look OK.
I had noticed they seemed to be taking less food into the nest over the last week or so, possibly the queen has not been laying and as the larvae emerged they stopped feeding, then, when no larval pheromones coming through the colony broke down? (I should really pull the nest apart to see if there are any pupae, otherwise this is just a stab in the dark).
Will probably never know, but I this species is one of my favorite and I’d hate not to give it another go, so any ideas anyone has please let me know, and a special thanks to Adam.

Sebastian

[adam james]

Hello Sebastian im sorry to hear your Queen died. I wouldent give up, if this is the species of ant you like then try again.

I was wondering, did you have them on a artificial tree or a real one. Im only guessing , maybe the humidity was too low , I know from growing plants that they lose moisture from the leaves so in a nest built of leaves all spun together with silk i would assume it would be pretty humid inside.

Other then that i dont have no other ideas. Keep us updated on what you find in the nest if you open it.

Regards

Adam