115 replies to this topic

[ANTdrew]

Formica 100%.

[Lillyrose]

So her highness doesn't seem to mind the odds against her.

I was unable to find brood to help her along and went to check on her and she has eggs!

I am going to slip her a fruit fly for protein since she won't have her wing muscles to feed them with ..but I don't want her to freak out.

I'm so happy! I know she wasn't on her flight and she shouldn't have the energy to start a new colony but she's doing it! Woo-hoo ... I guess she'll need her own journal soon .. I love love love this

[ANTdrew]

That's a good sign. DON'T feed her though. Formica are super sensitive to disturbances during founding stage.

[Lillyrose]

[quote name="ANTdrew" post="186033" timestamp="1620488384"]

That's a good sign. DON'T feed her though. Formica are super sensitive to disturbances during founding ]

Ok ... are you sure? She's so skinny... I won't but will she be able to feed her larvae?


I hope I didn't upset her taking the picture :-(

Edited by Lillyrose, May 8 2021 - 7:43 AM.

[Antkeeper01]

[quote name="ANTdrew" post="186033" timestamp="1620488384"]

That's a good sign. DON'T feed her though. Formica are super sensitive to disturbances during founding ]

Ok ... are you sure? She's so skinny... I won't but will she be able to feed her larvae?


I hope I didn't upset her taking the picture :-(

Yes she will she will turn her wing muscles into protein to feed the brood 

[Lillyrose]

[quote name="Antkeeper01" post="186036" timestamp="1620490024"]

[quote name="Lillyrose" post="186035" timestamp="1620488592"]

[quote name="ANTdrew" post="186033" timestamp="1620488384"]

That's a good sign. DON'T feed her though. Formica are super sensitive to disturbances during founding ]

Ok ... are you sure? She's so skinny... I won't but will she be able to feed her larvae?


I hope I didn't upset her taking the picture :-([/quote]
Yes she will she will turn her wing muscles into protein to feed the brood [/quote]

But she doesn't have any.... she was part of a colony before ... she didn't fly this time ... this is her second start...

She was displaced I thinj ... when the garden was tilled .. so she may not have any reserves in her

Edited by Lillyrose, May 8 2021 - 8:20 AM.

[Antkeeper01]

 

 

[quote name="ANTdrew" post="186033" timestamp="1620488384"]

That's a good sign. DON'T feed her though. Formica are super sensitive to disturbances during founding ]

Ok ... are you sure? She's so skinny... I won't but will she be able to feed her larvae?


I hope I didn't upset her taking the picture :-(

Yes she will she will turn her wing muscles into protein to feed the brood

But she doesn't have any.... she was part of a colony before ... she didn't fly this time ... this is her second start...

She was displaced I thinj ... when the garden was tilled .. so she may not have any reserves in her

wait you didn't collect any workers? you shold collect some pupae from a mature colony and give them to her

Edited by Antkeeper01, May 8 2021 - 8:33 AM.

[Lillyrose]

[quote name="Antkeeper01" post="186044" timestamp="1620491543"]

[quote name="Lillyrose" post="186042" timestamp="1620490778"]
[quote name="Antkeeper01" post="186036" timestamp="1620490024"]

[quote name="Lillyrose" post="186035" timestamp="1620488592"]

[quote name="ANTdrew" post="186033" timestamp="1620488384"]

That's a good sign. DON'T feed her though. Formica are super sensitive to disturbances during founding ]

Ok ... are you sure? She's so skinny... I won't but will she be able to feed her larvae?


I hope I didn't upset her taking the picture :-([/quote]
Yes she will she will turn her wing muscles into protein to feed the brood [/quote]
But she doesn't have any.... she was part of a colony before ... she didn't fly this time ... this is her second start...

She was displaced I thinj ... when the garden was tilled .. so she may not have any reserves in her[/quote]
wait you didn't collect any workers?[/quote]

No she was alone...that's why I didn't think she was lay any

How did I break the quotes?

Edited by Lillyrose, May 8 2021 - 8:33 AM.

[Lillyrose]

I've been trying but I can't find any .... that's why I was going to feed her lol ...

But I don't want her to freak out and eat her eggs

[Antkeeper01]

find a sp that is relatively similar to this sp

I've been trying but I can't find any .... that's why I was going to feed her lol ...

But I don't want her to freak out and eat her eggs

if you find one colony there's probably one near by

[Lillyrose]

Why would she eat her eggs if I give her a snack but not if I give her brood?

[ANTdrew]

That’s a tough case. Just because she doesn’t have wings doesn’t mean she has no wing muscles. If you open the tube to feed her, it’s almost certain she will eat her eggs. You could try it with extreme care, but in the future you should feed queens right when you set up the tube. If she is an old queen separated from her colony, then chances are low she’ll it make on her own anyway, so I guess you don’t have much to lose.

[Lillyrose]

That’s a tough case. Just because she doesn’t have wings doesn’t mean she has no wing muscles. If you open the tube to feed her, it’s almost certain she will eat her eggs. You could try it with extreme care, but in the future you should feed queens right when you set up the tube. If she is an old queen separated from her colony, then chances are low she’ll it make on her own anyway, so I guess you don’t have much to lose.

Well poop ... I guess I'll have to make a choice and stick with jt ..

Spent 3 hours today looking for formica in the woods and another hour at my yard and have had zero luck. I don't think that is an option right now.

I may just go for it and give her some flies and sunburst ... maybe... ugh ... if she eats the eggs at least she'll have the reserves to lay more...

[Lillyrose]

I found the tiniest ant ever! I can't believe I even saw her. It blows my mind that people can see that and tell if it's a worker or a queen. This was a worker and I let her go .. but it really showed me that I'm very ignorant when it comes to ants.



Found some beautiful workers today... but no queens or formica brood.


Amazing the amount of brood here.


I put the log down too fast to take a picture of the other side. . But these tiny girls had massive brood. I mean massive! They had maybe 40 of them in the other pile. It was crazy.

I also discovered that milipedes get a lot bigger than I knew.

[ANTdrew]

Give it a shot.

[Lillyrose]

Ok ... I messed everything up lol

Edited by Lillyrose, May 8 2021 - 11:22 AM.

[ANTdrew]

How?

[Lillyrose]

The bit of paper towel I put the sunburst on was too big. It ended up pushing her and the eggs directly into the cotton. She freaked out (as one does when a giant goes into your nest).

I wanted to just leave it but I know that stuff can get sticky and it took up almost the entire spot she had ... when I made her tube I didn't leave a lot of space for her, mostly water. I didn't want to take it out and try again so I made a choice to give her a tub.

I stuck her in a box with a feeder and the flies and put her in the darkest, quietest closet. I'm going to forget about her for a while and see if she can thrive despite my clumsy self.

[Lillyrose]

I'm at the stage where if I keep trying to fix my mistakes I'm making them worse.

Ants are pretty amazing and do some amazing things in the wild .. so I'm going to stay optimistic and hope her desire to live outweighs my stupidity.

[ANTdrew]

Dang