178 replies to this topic

[Antkeeper01]

Google has spoke from now until her death she will be called Queen Persephone. Does anyone like it? like if you do.

Edited by Antkeeper01, September 9 2020 - 3:13 PM.

[Antkeeper01]

Long live the queen!!!, long story short a harvester ant queen escaped found her and put her back in the test-tube thankfully she hadn't taken her eggs with her.

[Ants_Dakota]

That was a close one! 

[Antkeeper01]

It gets worse so I wok up this morning, wanting to go check on the queen that escaped and that's exactly what she had done over night but its worse the test tube was on the back of my bed. either she escaped or I forgot I put her in a different container. What should I do?!    

I'm not joking.

[Kaelwizard]

Maybe the cotton is too small. And also no one said or would think that you are joking. I once lost a C. nearcticus queen and found her 2 days later in my bathroom. She'll probably turn up eventually, but I would check any small crevices around where her test tube was.

[Antkeeper01]

its so cold my other queen Queen Persephone looks on the verge of hibernation. any suggestions on how to lure her, also she had a few hours head-start, I've lost pavement queens and didn't find them until a few weeks later(dead)

[Kaelwizard]

Maybe leave out some sugar near a heat source or something. I don't know as I have never lured a queen before as I have only lost one and didn't lure them.

[Antkeeper01]

ok not sure what I will do for the heat source but I will do honey for the sugar source.

[Antkeeper01]

Sad update on my other pets which I havent told you about yet: My cat Kassandra died two days ago she was 14     .

Foods I have fed my T. Caispitum colony that they have eaten: Dandelion seeds, popcorn, began to eat cricket leg but just gave up on it after a few seconds, honey but same thing as the cricket leg.

Foods I have tried but haven't eaten: Grasshopper leg, fish food, tomato, and apple.

Foods I will try to feed them: Dog food, dry cat food, vegatables, and try to get some aphids with some of the leaves of a plant I have found them on with ants.

I have noticed they forage mostly at night.

[Kaelwizard]

How often are you feeding them?

Also can you post a picture of them?

Edited by Kaelwizard, September 16 2020 - 2:23 PM.

[Antkeeper01]

I might be able to post a picture of them but I have connected them to a small container lined with Vaseline It will be very hard to get a picture but I might be able to make it happen

[Antkeeper01]

Queen Persephone has about 10 eggs as an estimate and zero larvae. I hope she isn't preparing for diapause like some of my tetremorium. Would she survive hibernation without workers? Or will she ever get workers? I doubt it. I want to brood boost her with pupae but I'm not going to anger a large harvester ant colony for three pupae.

Edited by Antkeeper01, September 18 2020 - 1:26 PM.

[Spazmops]

Queen Persephone has about 10 eggs as an estimate and zero larvae. I hope she isn't preparing for diapause like some of my tetremorium. Would she survive hibernation without workers? Or will she ever get workers? I doubt it. I want to brood boost her with pupae but I'm not going to anger a large harvester ant colony for three pupae.

She might hibernate with brood, but she also might eat said brood. From what I’ve seen, she’ll probably eat it. It’s a wise choice not to try to find brood from a P. occidentalis nest, you probably couldn’t get any. You would get plenty of painful stings however.

[Antkeeper01]

She has more eggs now around 15 maybe or maybe I over estimated before. Is that a good sign?

[Antkeeper01]

Also The Pheidole Queen has been identified by me as Pheidole Bicarnata and I suspect she did not have a nuptial flight as she was caught on the fourth of last month and has no larvae but I have removed some eggs and will see if they eclose as male alates of eclose at all. If she didn't undergo a nuptial flight that's the worst part I don't have another pheidole.    

Edited by Antkeeper01, September 19 2020 - 1:32 PM.

[DDD101DDD]

Also The Pheidole Queen has been identified by me as Pheidole Bicarnata and I suspect she did not have a nuptial flight as she was caught on the fourth of last month and has no larvae but I have removed some eggs and will see if they eclose as male alates of eclose at all. If she didn't undergo a nuptial flight that's the worst part I don't have another pheidole.    

Why did you remove eggs? Eggs will turn into larvae which need to be fed. How will you feed the larvae?

[Kaelwizard]

Also The Pheidole Queen has been identified by me as Pheidole Bicarnata and I suspect she did not have a nuptial flight as she was caught on the fourth of last month and has no larvae but I have removed some eggs and will see if they eclose as male alates of eclose at all. If she didn't undergo a nuptial flight that's the worst part I don't have another pheidole.

Why did you remove eggs? Eggs will turn into larvae which need to be fed. How will you feed the larvae?

The eggs also need to be constantly cleaned otherwise they will die.

[Antkeeper01]

I have no idea. But Queen Persephone has more eggs than yesterday is that a good sign?

Edited by Antkeeper01, September 19 2020 - 3:14 PM.

[Antkeeper01]

So bad news, last night I was going to bed and I decided to check on my 7 worker used to be 8 now 6 worker colony, Its down to 6 workers and 0 queens I have no idea how she died, so then I got my 2 queen colony took out the introduced queen put her in there and then in the fridge this morning she was down to 3 limbs, but I think she might be dead now. should I introduce the workers and brood to another colony?

[Antkeeper01]

So I was wrong she wasn't dead it was a successful introduction though she is down to 3 limbs they are acting like she was their mother. Though she hadn't developed any workers yet she had lots of tiny larvae I am pretty sure it was the lack of moisture as she wasn't in a test-tube only and container with paper towel at the bottom. Queen Persephone is doing good the entire nest is covered with seeds so I take it that that's a good sign.          

Edited by Antkeeper01, September 21 2020 - 7:12 AM.