ANTSTORE World of Ants

[ralphdrake]

Hey people i am back from my holiday to queensland, i saw some very interesting ants but unfortunately no camera at the time.

For those that want to know more about my queen ant please go to my post in identify ants called she finally has eggs.

First thing i did when i got back was check my queen and bad news unfortunately, i think she has eaten most of her large Larvae for most are missing she had about 7-8 but now only has 2 and a few more eggs and the mold has gotten so bad on the other end of the tube it is thick and black and i feel i must act now!

will my queen live for she does not have any workers, will she starve?, i am considering cooling her down so i may remove her and the eggs and clean out her tube please give me a opinion on how to do this she is my first queen to do this well i dont want to hurt her.

[JimmyVe]

Hi Ralphdrake, and welcome back.

Wasn't your queen in hibernation already ?
She can survive a few moths without workers. Maybe she did eat the larva because she didn't had anny reserv left. It can happen don't worry about it, you only have a problem if she keeps doing it.
It is normal that the cotton in black after a while. Do you already have a new tube, so you can place it next to the old one ?

Greets

[ralphdrake]

nah i believe she has already been through hibernation during the cold months over here.

i have found 40! tubes on ebay so i have decided to get them but i may not get them for awhile.

so do you reckon i should wait for the new tubes then let her move into one is that the best thing?

good to be back jimmy

I just checked her today and it appears she has eaten the eggs that were their last night so she must be getting hungry, i fed her a cricket about 4 weeks ago which had caused the mold and i just made a white sugar+honey+water mix and put that at the front of tube so i can remove after today with out any hassle, she appears to be loving it often drinking then cleaning herself she is just laying down and sucking it so i hope it may fill her up and she doesnt have to eat any more of her larvae or eggs, was it the right thing to do? should she stop eating her young now?

[JimmyVe]

Hi,
If she don't experiences any embarrassment of it i would leave here in the tube for now, until you have your new tubes.

I always give my new queens a little honey. Normally they don't need it until the first workers come out but i experience that they eat from it, most ones.
I'm not sure that she will stop eating here eggs, there are plenty of reasons why they do that, but i think hunger is the number 1 case.
Keep a good look at her the next days to see how she will respond to the sugar+honey+water mix.

[ralphdrake]

today she has not eaten any of her brood goody, 3 larvae and about 6 eggs, her abdomen is bigger and more white than usual so i think she is full.

when i peeked in it appeared she was feeding one of the larvae so hopefully it was just hunger and i can keep her satisfied.

i will wait for the tubes and see how she goes.

thankyou

[JimmyVe]

That is good news, looks like she is not going to eat more larva. Hope the problem is solved.

[ralphdrake]

hey just thought i would update her progress, i have been giving her the sugar+honey+water for the second time, she has stopped eating her larvae so looks like hunger was the problem i will keep giving her this until she has workers then i will give them a new tube with a feeding area, all is good thankyou jimmy

[JimmyVe]

your welcome.

[ralphdrake]

Hello, i am jsut updateing the process with my queen.

well today i thought i might make my queen her water+honey+sugar mix and give it to her this would be the 3 rd time since ive started feeding her and to my surprise some white but not a larvae, this was indeed a young ant obviously just come out of its pupae, i am so excited!

just a couple of questions, how long i meen average would it take for the ant to be up and running? and i often checked her ounce a week and never noticed any pupae how could this be?

[earlant]

Hi ralphdrake,

If I remember correctly your queen is a Camponotus sp., or at least a formicine.

Their larvae just prior to pupation usually weave a cocoon (light brown, the length of an adult ant). After that, inside the cocoon, the larva stripes off its larval skin and a pupa appears, with legs and antennae etc., firmly appressed to the body. This pupa first is white, then slowly darkens, the cuticle hardens, and after a final moult the adult ant opens the cocoon and hatches. The ant then can immediately move and walk around, but its color is somewhat lighter than in older ants.

The ant larvae, for spinning the cocoon, need a couple of fine particles, sand grains etc., to fix their first silk threads. If such particles are lacking, the larvae often cannot spin a cocoon, and then pupate without it, becoming "naked pupae".

I guess the "white ant" you are seeing in fact is such a naked pupa. It then depends a lot upon the species whether such a pupa can finish its development (may need 2-4 weeks!), or whether it eventually dies.

So, not knowing which species you have, I can only wish you "good luck".

Earlant

[mpir]

Hi ralphdrake!!

It's nice to see that your persitence and patience finally paid off. Congratulations. New ants are always very pale but they get normal color in a matter of a day. And they are up and running the moment they hatche. However, first ants are very timid and they hardly ever leave the nest and queen. Continue to offer them sweet liquids and soon you will have many more workers. They will become more corageous when their numbers grow. But majority of the colony will always be in the nest. When they get big enough move the test tube in a bigger formikarium.

I'm sure there was a pupae, maybe it was hidden and you didn't noticed it.

[JimmyVe]

Looks like everything is going fine now.
Do you have some pictures of you queen and young workers ? That would be great.

Happy ant keeping.

[ralphdrake]

hey guys thankyou for your replies.

This morning i checked on her, by looks of it she was asleep, she had moved the ''naked ant'' back with the eggsand larvae it is still white and does not move.

I cant really put any pictures up for i have no camera to do this with and i cant take any detailed enough photos and it is a bit hard to borrow a camera for they are expensive and wouldnt wanna break it.

trust me if i do get the chance i will take photos, i guess i will have to just wait to see what happens to the ''naked ant'', you mentioned something about something missing for the ant thats why it couldnt make a pupae, would this be bad for my colony?

[JimmyVe]

That would be great.

I'm not sure i understand the question,
Naked pupae don't hurt the colony, it is not a bad thing.

[ralphdrake]

o ok, have any of you guys had them before?