11 replies to this topic

[Amazant]

My small colony of 12 Formica pallidefulva moved into a mini hearth 3 days ago and since then one worker has had all the eggs in her mandibles, not once have I seen that once worker drop the eggs. The good thing is that the pile is getting larger every day. What might cause this worker to continually carry the eggs around, stress?
Also on the most humid part of the nest is a pile of round things that look like eggs, not sure what they are because they are so much larger.

Edited by Amazant, April 1 2020 - 9:15 AM.

[RushmoreAnts]

I believe workers carry brood around constantly to protect them, as they were exposed to light.

[FeedTheAnts]

Those larger objects could be larvae, or else the sand and gristle that is in the Mini Hearth. You shouldn't worry about the worker carrying the eggs all the time, this is completely normal.

[RushmoreAnts]

Ants will carry any stage of brood around when in danger.

[Amazant]

That makes sense. When they were in a test tube setup exposed to bright lights from the window and fish tank they never did that but I think it may be because there is so much more space in the mini hearth compared to the test tube. Also I’ll try to get some pictures of the egg looking things. I don’t think they are larvae because the larvae of this species is usually quite long and have a black spot in the middle. Which the egg looking things don’t have.

[RushmoreAnts]

Larvae of all species have a meconium.

[Amazant]

It might be sand but it looks somewhat like eggs.

[RushmoreAnts]

I don't know, it looks like sand to me..........

[ANTdrew]

You should have seen the meconium that came out when my son was born! It wasn’t pretty.

[RushmoreAnts]

Oh my...........

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

that's a little tmi...just a little

[Amazant]

Larvae of all species have a meconium.

Yes I know, once they pupate it excretes the meconium. I was just saying that since the spherical egg looking stuff doesn’t have the dark spot it is probably not a larvae.