6 replies to this topic

[MrUrrutia]

One of my queens tube is running really low on water, so I prepared a new one and put them together so she can move out to the clean one, but how I know that she has move all of the eggs?

I know she have some eggs and I think she pile them close to the cotton on the old tube but it's really hard to see the eggs because they are super small... Did I give her a couple of days, or just wait until the tube totally runs dry and she is forced to move them?

[AntsMaryland]

With really small species, it's best just to wait. Patience is key.

[MrUrrutia]

She is! I'm learning a lot from this queen, I saw her lay some eggs, then one day the eggs disappeared, then I see that she was really interested on keeping really close to the cotton what make me believe that she pushed the eggs closed to the cotton or at least I hope she is...

[ANTdrew]

Even if the water is really low, I would not advise trying to move any queen without workers. You can read my Crematogaster journal to see my experience with this. To summarize, I had three queens that were running low on water in their tubes. I moved two, and one I left undisturbed. Lo and behold, the undisturbed queen made the most progress and is probably hitting her 120th worker as we speak. They STILL inhabit the tube that was about to run out of water in February.

[MrUrrutia]

Well... I'm sad to report that she escaped today, I connected the old tube and a new one with some tape and today when I was back from work found the tube empty, I searched around and could not locate her, unfortunately she left behind a set of 6 or 7 eggs, this queen was my best specimen, I have a second queen that just started laying eggs and I collected a new one today.

[ANTdrew]

Well... I'm sad to report that she escaped today, I connected the old tube and a new one with some tape and today when I was back from work found the tube empty, I searched around and could not locate her, unfortunately she left behind a set of 6 or 7 eggs, this queen was my best specimen, I have a second queen that just started laying eggs and I collected a new one today.

Bro! I told you not to mess with them. Sorry this happened.

[FSTP]

That’s to bad she escaped. Perhaps you can give her left over eggs to the other queen. It is somewhat tricky but you can try moving the eggs carefully with the tip of a toothpick. Just gently touch the tip of the toothpick to the eggs cluster and spin it so the tip of the toothpick rolls and picks up the eggs in the process. Then to place the eggs with the new queen it’s the same procedure but in reverse. It’s delicate work and takes a steady hand. It’s worth a try at least it’s not like you were going to be able to do anything much with the eggs anyways so don’t feel bad if you smash the eggs in the process.