9 replies to this topic

[Formiga]

My queen is dead and the colony seems to be in havoc, and they're chewing on the queen!

 

I went checking on them and I've noticed there were a lot of ants outside the nesting tube, surrounding something.

They were all gathered in the area where they deposit the corpses of the dead flies and were all surrounding what I thought it would be a fly, in a night excursion for food.

I threw them a mosquito I've just caught and they ignored it, and I thought it was strange they were refusing fresh warm food and instead going for what I thought to be a fly dead for 2 or 3 days, but I thought they would know better what they needed to eat.

 

When I looked better at the nesting tube, I couldn't seen the queen. And yes, my suspicious are true, the queen is dead and they were in havoc around them, eating her.

 

There's also a lot of brood outside at the tube's entrance and some left in its place inside the tube.

 

I don't know if the queen died of some other cause or if she was murdered by her own and well, free protein anyways...

 

Is it possible there has been some sort of riot and the queen was killed?

 

I still have 5 other queens that have never had their first brood yet, so I can give the colony a new queen.

But at this moment they seem to be in a riot and I don't think this is the best moment to introduce them a new queen.

So what do you recommend, guys?

And what would be the best procedure to calm down the colony to increase their chances of accepting their new queen?

I've read something about placing the colony in the fridge for 5 or 10 minutes.

 

Thanks guys!

 

 

PS - I'm trying to upload an .mp4 video file from my phone but I'm getting an Error: You aren't permitted to upload this kind of file.

What kind of files are allowed here? Formats, extensions, etc...

[Formiga]

Here's a video of what's happening. I've uploaded it as private on YouTube.

 

https://youtu.be/JJTBN4sCPTc

[Manitobant]

This is normal. For some unexplained reason, when a queen dies of natural causes, the workers will sometimes tear her dead body to pieces. This is especially common in formica in my experience.

[Formiga]

Thanks for your reply, dude!

 

Can you please advise me on how can I introduce a new spare queen I have here to the colony, and minimize the chances of her getting killed and maximize success?

 

When should I do it, they're still munching in the queen - should I wait for them to finish, should I place the colony in a fridge and for how long, should I just drop the new queen in there and let them take care of it, should I introduce her in her test tube, ...?

 

There also seems to be some brood scattered around the outworld. Are those unreliable now? Should I capture them to attempt brood boost or just feed protein to the other queens I have that still have no ants?

 

 

Many many thanks!

[Manitobant]

Thanks for your reply, dude!
 
Can you please advise me on how can I introduce a new spare queen I have here to the colony, and minimize the chances of her getting killed and maximize success?
 
When should I do it, they're still munching in the queen - should I wait for them to finish, should I place the colony in a fridge and for how long, should I just drop the new queen in there and let them take care of it, should I introduce her in her test tube, ...?
 
There also seems to be some brood scattered around the outworld. Are those unreliable now? Should I capture them to attempt brood boost or just feed protein to the other queens I have that still have no ants?
 
 
Many many thanks!

i wouldn't introduce the workers to the other queens, as they will probably fight. However, i would give the new queens all of the leftover brood in the dead colony, especially the pupae.


Also, assuming the other queens don't have any brood, they are probably waiting until after hibernation to lay their own eggs.

[Formiga]

Also, assuming the other queens don't have any brood, they are probably waiting until after hibernation to lay their own eggs.

 

Let me be more explicit here, sorry for not transmitting the information correctly the 1st time.

Those queens have eggs and they are hatching, it's not a question about hibernation.

The problem is that I, as a noob, was peeking at them too often (around once a week) and I have stressed them to the point they would eat their brood and restart again, losing precious time and energy. That's why they haven't managed to produce ants until now. My fault!

 

 

So regarding my colony with the dead queen, if I don't give them a new queen that colony will get extinct.

If I give them a new queen and they kill her, again, they will get extinct. And another queen dies.

 

I might give them a formicarium just for observation, exposed to light and not caring about stressing the queen since there's none.

 

 

Now regarding the other queens without ants so far, and hibernation (by the local climate I should have a couple of months to go, we're ending summer here).

I'm concerned about their protein reserves after all these months. I've given them honey but not protein.

I'm unaware of how long can a queen live without producing ants and eat no protein. I don't believe they would survive hibernation. That's why I was thinking about introducing them to this colony. I was even considering introducing the 5 queens I still have and create some sort of super polygynous colony. But I ask, can that end in an horrible way?

 

Any comments regarding these subjects, regarding hibernation when tired and alone, and a polygynous colony? (if this is going off topic I can open a new one regarding this. It's just... Me noob. Me questions!)

 

Thanks!

[Kaelwizard]

You could give them some protein and carbs as a little boost. As far as I know, queens only need protein in order to lay eggs, as adult ants only really need carbohydrates. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

[Formiga]

You could give them some protein and carbs as a little boost. As far as I know, queens only need protein in order to lay eggs, as adult ants only really need carbohydrates. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

I also have this general idea about ants only need carbohydrates. But I also find it strange since protein is useful in creating muscle tissue. I know adult ants don't grow up anymore, so they don't need new muscles. But from all the hard work they do, those muscles sure need regeneration. And there I just don't know if protein plays a role on that.

 

Once I gave my ants a mix of crushed cat food (wild ants love it, they started raiding my home for my cat's food!) with honey, water and some gelatin. The ants ignored it. So I don't think the queens will go for it.

So how can I feed protein to the queens, and at the same time minimize their stress and disturbance inside their test tubes?

 

Thanks!

[ANTdrew]

Worker ants probably ingest all the protein they need while feeding on insects and gathering food for the queen and larvae. They probably ingest a bit as they forage.

[Formiga]

Thanks for all your replies, guys.

 

This has been quite an intense weekend around my ants.

 

 

Just went to check on my other 5 queens that had not yet had her 1st ants:

 

- 2 had died.

 

- 1 had finally her first ants, two in number. They seemed to be normal size, not nanitics.

A couple of weeks ago I dug a bit of a colony in nature, they seemed to be Messors.

I've collected some brood for a test, and gave my queens some. Either for boosting or free protein.

Some queens rejected, this one might have accepted it. But these new couple of ants, although not nanitics they don't seem to be Messors. Just normal size for Formicas.

Gave them a new formicarium with a little outworld, they had some honey and a little dead fruit fly that was carried inside. I was happy to see the queen attacking it very fiercely!

I know this is too early to give them a new home but they were really running out of water in the syringe and there is a lot of mold there.

I left them in their original home and placed a new one next to it, having both been covered with red acetate sheet pieces.

I'll let them decide when it's better to move.

 

- The other queen was very week, and it seems she ate all her brood.

Her gaster was very flat and dried, I don't think she could make it producing a new posture of eggs and feeding the larvae until the ants were born. I don't think she would even survive long enough if I gave her some pupae from a brood boost. All she wanted was to be on the wet cotton.

So I took a "least worse" decision and placed her in the colony replacing their dead queen.

I took the dead queen away, they were still munching on her but I wanted the place to be rid of "her dead smell" (there's some pheromone ants stop producing when dead, that's their way to recognize dead ants).

Removed some brood and gave them to the other queen with her 1st new two ants. Lets see how that helps.

Then I removed the water syringe and the nesting tube and placed the colony on the fridge for 10 minutes. Meanwhile I placed the new queen inside the nesting tube, and she went inside to the bottom where there was some brood, and stayed by the wet cotton.

After taking the colony from the fridge I placed the tube with the queen inside and they all started moving again, more calmed down and not stressed, and immediately started bringing brood they found around in the outworld inside the nesting tube as if all was just normal.

In a few minutes there were only a couple of ants outside.

Since the new queen is on the bottom of the nesting chamber near the brood, the ants might be fooled and accept her. I can't see much inside because of the red sheet of plastic. She is too week and needs to be fed. I don't have much hope on a happy ending but lets see how they make it...

 

 

(sorry again guys if there's too many info and too many subjects here, but there's been a lot happening here in since yesterday)