5 replies to this topic

[Hiromilovesmealworms]

Hello, my Formica Incerta queen's back legs are paralyzed, and for some reason she is having trouble moving around. She has one nanitic, and around 7 larvae.

This morning I found her on her back, and helped her get up by tilting the tube. Later that day, I took her out of the test tube and realized that her two back legs are paralyzed, 

and only uses her front four legs. I am so scared. Can someone please help? She was normal before. I recently moved them to a new test tube. 

 

Also, I noticed that when she is spooked because of sudden vibrations, she pees a yellow liquid. Could this be related to her legs?

[bmb1bee]

It's possible that she might be sick/poisoned. The best you can do right now is to provide them good care and hope they recover. Checking on her less often may help, especially if she's being stressed out.

[Hiromilovesmealworms]

Thank you for responding, I have a question. Do you think she might have poisoned herself by spraying formic acid or something? If so, what should I do? 

[bmb1bee]

It might be, but I'm not sure why that would happen now that she has workers.

[Manitobant]

Sometimes I've found if you have a queen with only one paralyzed leg and she is otherwise perfectly healthy you can perform an “amputation” and remove the dead limb. I wouldn’t do that in your case since you said both her back legs are paralyzed, but its something to think about and I've saved queens who were having trouble walking/moving around this way.

[Hiromilovesmealworms]

Thank you guys, I know she probably won't make it, but you guys make me feel better. I hope I can catch some queens at Yosemite because I'm going there for my school trip in two weeks. Pretty late in the year, but are there any species that fly in early October?(Yosemite area California)