ANTSTORE World of Ants

[lyndsay]

Hello all, I have just received my new lasius niger queen and am a bit worried. She has come in the test tube as expected however there appears to be a comparatively large red blob attached to her, its just behind one of her front legs.

Can any body tell me what this is?

I had a colony with a queen before and she didnt have this. It seems too big and red to be eggs! But then I don't know how or where the eggs appear. Is it some kind of injury or a marker to identify her? Or just a random bit of stuff stuck to her?

I have opened the tube and rested it in the tank with a leaf over to keep it dark and dont really want to keep disturbing her now. But I am worried if she is ok.

Also there seemed to be a lot of condensation/blobs of water in the section of the tube she was in, could this have caused any problems?

Thanks alot

[miszt]

can you post a pic? as you said It culd be an injury, but may just be something stuck to her, definitly not eggs as they are (should be) white

[lyndsay]

here is a picture of the ant with red blob (sorry, should have done this in the first place)

[miszt]

hmm strange, it is the right shape for an egg, and the right size, but i dont think it is, looks like she has been injured

Give her a little while and see what happens it may just be somthing stuck to her

If she does die, dont fear! the mating flights for Lasius Niger will be happening any day now in the UK, so you will be able to find a few mated queens around, i'd recomend you get yourself a few test tubes (they sell them in antstore) and put some water and cotton wool in, then collect a few of the mated (wingless) queens when you seem them, then take it from there this is a good idea anyway, as any number of things can kill a new queen, and starting with only one queen can be hard, once you have a few colonys on the go you can choose the one(s) you want to keep and release the rest, just leave the test tube outside sumwhere dark

Keep a look out particuly on hot humid days, they often fly just before a storm, according to weather.com that may be on Thursday i've seen quiet a few colonys with queens and males hanging around the entrance to their nests, so its gonna happen soon....best time to look is about half an hour after you see the first queens flying about, and then onto the afternoon, once it starts raining/storming they will get to shelter quickly, however you can usuauly find them for upto 24 hours after the mating flight, if you have plenty of time to look around, under stones/pots etc

Even better, as soon as you see the mating flight, head down to your local common or park

[earlant]

This red blob has the size and color of a certain kind of mites that stick to and suck body fluids from the host organism.
In this picture you can see a little fly (genus Sepsis, the size of a Lasius worker) carrying several such mites:
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They belong to the group of Thrombidiidae mites that attack many different insect species.

(Since ants don't have red blood the blob cannot be due to an injury. There is nothing red inside an ant).

I suggest to keep the ant carefully with a soft forceps and try to remove the mite with a fine needle.

Regards,
Earlant

[miszt]

This red blob has the size and color of a certain kind of mites that stick to and suck body fluids from the host organism.
In this picture you can see a little fly (genus Sepsis, the size of a Lasius worker) carrying several such mites:
Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar
They belong to the group of Thrombidiidae mites that attack many different insect species.

(Since ants don't have red blood the blob cannot be due to an injury. There is nothing red inside an ant).

Regards,
Earlant

was wondering that myself, but i didnt think Antstore would be selling queen ants with mites....

[JimmyVe]

Hi lyndsay and welcome,

I this is not the size of a egg (eggs are much smaller). I think it is more like earlant said, mites. But miszt is wright, mating time is upon us now so it is easy to capture new queens. Look for tubes at you locale drugstore, here in Belgium they have them to, this way you don't need to wait until they arrive from antstore.

Good luck.

[JimmyVe]

was wondering that myself, but i didn't think Antstore would be selling queen ants with mites....

How can you tell this ant comes from Antstore miszt ? and if it actually comes from antstore it is always possible she did not have it (the queen i mean) when they sold it.
If the queen comes from antstore lyndsay you better wright a message to UTA.

[lyndsay]

Thank you everyone! I will have some words with antstore UTA as yes did come from the shop! Oh dear.

Is it the best idea to try and get the mite off? I'm a little hesitant as do not want to stress/hurt ant. However if this is best I will give it a go (I used to work with aquarium fish and was the shop's expert at getting off the nasties!)

[JimmyVe]

You could give it a try but i'm not sure it is going to work (never did it myself)
Sure do tell UTA.

[mikemeritus]

This red blob has the size and color of a certain kind of mites that stick to and suck body fluids from the host organism.
In this picture you can see a little fly (genus Sepsis, the size of a Lasius worker) carrying several such mites:
Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar
They belong to the group of Thrombidiidae mites that attack many different insect species.

(Since ants don't have red blood the blob cannot be due to an injury. There is nothing red inside an ant).

I suggest to keep the ant carefully with a soft forceps and try to remove the mite with a fine needle.

Regards,
Earlant

could he possibly put the ant in the fridge for a few minutes so it gets sleepy and then remove it?

[Bob]

Be careful you dont injure or remove one of the ant queen's legs in the process. I've known inexperienced people who try to remove things from the ant and end up injuring it. Their legs are very delicate. In any circumstance do what mikemeritus suggested. Cool the ant first so that she is in a semi sleepy state. Best of luck.

[nepenthes_ak]

I had a colony become infested as well a while back.

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I put them in the fridge (not the freezer) for 5 days, and their weren't any more signs of mites! In fact this even put the Tetramorium sp E complex into reproductive mode and worked harder to get food, and tore apart prey faster than usual, I even spuplied them with more than usual to see if the amount of protien they brought in affected the brood laid., and the queen laid a few reproductives, they sruvived up to pupae! Up until the fire. Oh well.

[MrILoveTheAnts]

Nepenthes: I didn't know they started making reproductives. That's not exactly good... hmm I wonder if one year old colonies are capable of making reproductives and winter is simply the trigger for this (for this species at least). Were they queens or males?
Also didn't you have an issue with a few of the larva dieing after that?

[sithmaster676]

a colony can create reproductives at any age if the queen feels that she is being given enough food to be able to produce the reproductives i have known people who have had very small colonies which create reproductives.
but these were only males as queens take a lot of energy to produce.
Sithmaster676