4 replies to this topic

[Max_Connor]

I've been keeping a starting colony of Formica fusca-group species for about 11 months now.

And their growth rate is nothing like expected - many people say it's a simple species that grows pretty fast, but even after a proper hibernation (3 months) the queen is not laying larger piles of eggs. There are just 10 workers and 10 pupae with a little pile of eggs.

It's not that the queen is not laying at all, but is the rate of development supposed to be like this at first?

I feed them sugar water and fresh worms or egg yolk every 3 days. They're still kept inside a test tube and the temperature is 24-27 C.

 

[FloridaAnts]

I don’t keep Fusca, but subsericea. I got them in April with 10 workers, (founded in summer of 2021) and they are coming up on 20. Maybe try switching foods? What do you currently use?

Edited by FloridaAnts, June 27 2022 - 7:41 AM.

[Max_Connor]

I don’t keep Fusca, but subsericea. I got them in April with 10 workers, (founded in summer of 2021) and they are coming up on 20. Maybe try switching foods? What do you currently use?

 

I feed them worms, chicken eggs, sugar water and sometimes pieces of apple or walnuts

Well, I looked it up and saw that many people have this kind of slow rate during first year, so they usually make a polygynous founding colony with several queens that don't kill each other somehow, and then introduce more and more dealate queens to the colony.

 

Here is a 9 queen colony of Fusca:

Formica fusca - YouTube

 

I'll try switching their diet a little

[Ants_Dakota]

What about hydration? Do your formica have enough humidity? I have found this highly accelerates the growth of my F. Species

[Max_Connor]

What about hydration? Do your formica have enough humidity? I have found this highly accelerates the growth of my F. Species

 

Yes, they live in a test tube setup and there's highest humidity possible