ANTSTORE World of Ants

[EGoody05]

I am so sad tonight. I took my daily peek at my Queen and 4 workers and all the eggs have gone
Has she eaten them or moved them. Its difficult to see as I moved her into the ant farm and it is layered with soil / sand.
She laid the eggs after the move.
If she had moved them surely she would be with them in the new location.
I am so upset

Emilia

[mvannunen]

It could be the eggs were not fertilized, so they never become workers. And that the queen has eaten them for the proteine, this happens more.

So don't worry soon you will have allot of eggs!!!

[EGoody05]

Thank you for that - I needed some positive help
I have to say that they were about 15 days old and were still eggs.

[mvannunen]

cool is it youre first colonie??

I still have 2 begin my first one

but my stuf and ants will arive soon.

i will keep Formica fusca

[miszt]

dont worry, sumtimes this happens

Some things u might like to check on tho...(sorry if sum of them seem obvious)

Moisture level - is the sand nice and damp? Lasius niger need a damp nest
Water - have they got fresh water to drink
Tempreture - if ur farm is inside, make sure its not getting to hot, we dont tend to notice much as humans, but the tempreture in a house can fluctuate allot, anywhere from 10C - 30C in places
Food - have they got insects and honey water?

[EGoody05]

I take any advice / suggestions gratefully !

The sand / soil is moist, they have cotton wool balls to suck, I gave them strawberry jam instead of honey water and they had a caterpillar and a tiny bit of pear last week
Is that ok ?

[EGoody05]

Oh my god !!!! I've found them.
I suddenly saw a movement in the sand and got out my magnifying glass and saw the 4 workers all fussing round a heap of eggs. They have moved them away from the queen for some reason ??
I feel so relieved that they are still ok.
I wonder why they did that ? The queen is about 6 cm away.
They are all in the wild science ant farm and I bumped it up with the antworks starter kit (farm and foraging tank) - so its all ready for a HUGE colony. Even though I only have 16 eggs,4 workers and a Queen !
I was just so excited by the prospect of it all.

[miszt]

its normal for workers to seperate the brood, usually into 3 piles, eggs/larva/coccons they should have entered larva stage by now, so they have to be kept seperate, so they can be fed properly, theres probly some eggs near the queen

[EGoody05]

Oh God I love this - I must have stepped on so many ants in my lifetime

[SteveUK28]

lol Goody i imagine we all have.. and you prob will step on a few more too.. noone is going to walk around looking face down at the ground all the time.. Thus one of the reasons we give our ants a loving human free stamping zone

[bensingleton92]

when i was younger i woud kill all the ants in my house for fun

[ashhad1]

hehe your not the first one, i used to catch one ant and throw it in a spider web, then the spider comes out and eats it lol was great fun and now i think its cruel but hey i was 7 or 8 lol.
Back to topic:
I also keep L.Niger and their eggs also disapeared but i think thats cuz they were in hibernation...

[JimmyVe]

Glad to hear they are okay EGoody05.

@ bensingleton: yes we all did weird stuff when we were young. Now we take care of these lovely animals.

[ducatiman]

EGoody05 how long were your Lasius niger in hibernation and when did you wake them up

[EGoody05]

well I got them from a lady on ebay and she has not replied to me regarding their hibernation so I am definately hibernating them in my shed this winter 2008