39 replies to this topic

[Tanks]

The young larvae are a great sign. As long as the queen continues to lay and some of the repletes survive the new generation should be able to replenish the colony. 

All of the repletes are already dead. Do you think they can still survive?

[UtahAnts]

Maybe, you might have to feed them sugars every chance you can. This, combined with plentiful protein should help encourage the larvae to become repletes, letting the queen focus solely on laying eggs and not being a replete herself. It's impossible to say right now, hope they pull through though.

[Tanks]

Maybe, you might have to feed them sugars every chance you can. This, combined with plentiful protein should help encourage the larvae to become repletes, letting the queen focus solely on laying eggs and not being a replete herself. It's impossible to say right now, hope they pull through though.

Ok, thanks

[Tanks]

I don't think their going to make it. They hven't been eating fruit flys or sugar water or honey. Or maybe just not when I look, but the main reason I think this is because their not caring for their larvae all of them have died except for one which will most likely be cared for the same as the other brood. I don't really no what to do. Maybe I should try getting a brood boost?

[kiedeerk]

honey pots are very picky about food. Most of my colonies stop taking in fruit flies after a while so I had to use other sources of protein like termites, roach, crickets… they are picky. My colonies were killing their own pupae to feed the larvae and this cycle would continue and the colony slowly dying off as no new workers were eclosing. If you have a mini hearth I think it should be fine in terms of size. They have to have water and sugar water and make sure they have a gradient in terms of heat. They actually don’t like too much heat especially the brood and queen.

[Tanks]

honey pots are very picky about food. Most of my colonies stop taking in fruit flies after a while so I had to use other sources of protein like termites, roach, crickets… they are picky. My colonies were killing their own pupae to feed the larvae and this cycle would continue and the colony slowly dying off as no new workers were eclosing. If you have a mini hearth I think it should be fine in terms of size. They have to have water and sugar water and make sure they have a gradient in terms of heat. They actually don’t like too much heat especially the brood and queen.

I don't think I can give them a heat gradient as where I am it's already super hot, and I don't want to burn them to death with a cable or mat.

[kiedeerk]

honey pots are very picky about food. Most of my colonies stop taking in fruit flies after a while so I had to use other sources of protein like termites, roach, crickets… they are picky. My colonies were killing their own pupae to feed the larvae and this cycle would continue and the colony slowly dying off as no new workers were eclosing. If you have a mini hearth I think it should be fine in terms of size. They have to have water and sugar water and make sure they have a gradient in terms of heat. They actually don’t like too much heat especially the brood and queen.

I don't think I can give them a heat gradient as where I am it's already super hot, and I don't want to burn them to death with a cable or mat.

You have to be able to provide a heat and humidity gradient for your ants. If you can’t provide that you won’t be successful in your ant keeping venture. In nature ants can move closer or away from heat but in captivity especially in smaller nests they can’t leading to problems and die offs and colony failure.

Heating cable and mats have been used forever and they are fine as long as you only heat small area of a corner of the nest and not the whole nest.

My honeypots have been thriving again and probably because they are in ideal conditions for them in terms of heat and humidity. Honey pots go into periods of diapause in the heat of summer and live off repletes when water and food are scarce. You don’t want them to go into that phase. You usually know when the queen is acting as a replete you know she is not laying eggs.

Attached Images

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Edited by kiedeerk, June 17 2024 - 9:00 AM.

[Tanks]

 

 

honey pots are very picky about food. Most of my colonies stop taking in fruit flies after a while so I had to use other sources of protein like termites, roach, crickets… they are picky. My colonies were killing their own pupae to feed the larvae and this cycle would continue and the colony slowly dying off as no new workers were eclosing. If you have a mini hearth I think it should be fine in terms of size. They have to have water and sugar water and make sure they have a gradient in terms of heat. They actually don’t like too much heat especially the brood and queen.

I don't think I can give them a heat gradient as where I am it's already super hot, and I don't want to burn them to death with a cable or mat.

You have to be able to provide a heat and humidity gradient for your ants. If you can’t provide that you won’t be successful in your ant keeping venture. In nature ants can move closer or away from heat but in captivity especially in smaller nests they can’t leading to problems and die offs and colony failure.

Heating cable and mats have been used forever and they are fine as long as you only heat small area of a corner of the nest and not the whole nest.

My honeypots have been thriving again and probably because they are in ideal conditions for them in terms of heat and humidity. Honey pots go into periods of diapause in the heat of summer and live off repletes when water and food are scarce. You don’t want them to go into that phase. You usually know when the queen is acting as a replete you know she is not laying eggs.

 

Ok, so I set up a corner of their mini hearth on some heat. Hopefully this works. Also, the queen laid eggs.

[Locness]

What temp do you have them at? I have to move all my ants out of my garage during the summer since it gets over 95 F in there.

[Tanks]

What temp do you have them at? I have to move all my ants out of my garage during the summer since it gets over 95 F in there.

I always keeo them under 90F and above 73F

[Mushu]

 

What temp do you have them at? I have to move all my ants out of my garage during the summer since it gets over 95 F in there.

I always keeo them under 90F and above 73F

 

I see you're in Los Angeles, which is where I'm from also, I still keep the heat on for mine. However it may be a bit hotter where you're at and if you don't use AC I think it's fine not to use a heatpad during the day. At night it can still sometimes drop to low 70's(not lately) so I prefer to keep the heatpad on as that's when I notice issues with workers eclosing, below 75. However I don't think that would be the cause of a massive die off of existing workers. 

[Tanks]

 

 

What temp do you have them at? I have to move all my ants out of my garage during the summer since it gets over 95 F in there.

I always keeo them under 90F and above 73F

 

I see you're in Los Angeles, which is where I'm from also, I still keep the heat on for mine. However it may be a bit hotter where you're at and if you don't use AC I think it's fine not to use a heatpad during the day. At night it can still sometimes drop to low 70's(not lately) so I prefer to keep the heatpad on as that's when I notice issues with workers eclosing, below 75. However I don't think that would be the cause of a massive die off of existing workers. 

 

Okay, thank you.

[Tanks]

In need of a brood boost for my pots, made a post in market place with details.

Edited by Tanks, June 24 2024 - 3:17 PM.

[mbullock42086]

What temp do you have them at? I have to move all my ants out of my garage during the summer since it gets over 95 F in there.

put some cfls in there and move the Pogonomyrmex into the hot room

[Mushu]

I don't think their going to make it. They hven't been eating fruit flys or sugar water or honey. Or maybe just not when I look, but the main reason I think this is because their not caring for their larvae all of them have died except for one which will most likely be cared for the same as the other brood. I don't really no what to do. Maybe I should try getting a brood boost?

Can you elaborate on how they are dying. Are they not developing(not spinning cocoon) and the workers recycle them(eat them) for nutrients. What instar or size were they? My Myrmecocystus placodops does that occasionally. They will cut open a cocoon and pull out the still white pupae and I saw them munch on it and feed it to the larvae. Also if a larvae didn't fully develop they will know and can do it also. I had a period where on the new setup I was still trying to get my temp/humidity dialed.

 

I also ran into an issue with my M. placodops 01. The queen is a egg laying monster and I also noticed eggs, but one cycle I noticed the eggs/first instar larvae turning yellow and my brood cycle stopped, but there was always eggs. I looked more closely and the worker taking care of the egg was actually deformed(from when I moved them to the new setup and had temp/humidity issues) and I think not able to lick and care for the eggs properly causing them to dry out. I had to pull her out and ever since I'm back to a great brood cycle and the eggs are white again. 

 

When my colony was smaller(10-15) I didn't catch them drinking much nectar/water and was worried also but if you see a worker in the outworld occasionally that means they are foraging. However if it's too hot/cold you may see less activity. 

 

 

Questions:

1. How is the nest setup and heated? I realized my humidity/temp issues had alot to do with having a open false floor where the bottom of the mini hearth not being painted can leak air and with low humidity in Los Angeles, I was getting deformed workers. I've since resolved that issue. 

 

2. How are you checking the temperature? I use a infrared digital thermometer and checking the inside walls and floors of a mini hearth, if it's 80, the air temp inside the formicarium is probably a couple degrees higher being in an enclosed environment. 

 

I personally think 90 is a bit too high, 85 air temp is what I would aim for tops. I use a Inkbird ITC-308  temperature controller and I set my preferred temp to 82 with a +-1 for a high of 83 and a low of 81 before it it heats/cools. This is to prevent condensation without too drastic of a temperature drop as much as possible. Just set the probe at a spot that matches as close as possible your formicarium wall temps.  I've definitely noticed alot more activity as opposed to when I had them at 86 formicarium wall temperature which means it was probably 88+ or so air temp.

 

3. What's your current worker,brood,egg count?

 

I believe someone answered your request in the General Marketplace asking about what species you have.

Edited by Mushu, July 5 2024 - 12:09 AM.

[The_Gaming-gate]

My own ants had an issue of murdering pupae. Separating pupae from the colony and allowing them to grow independently, before handing the newly eclosed worker to the colony. I did see that you are out of cocoons, you may be able to save some older larvae by giving them to workers of another colony, or wait for them to spin a cocoon.

[ANTdrew]

This thread is highly wearisome by now.

[kiedeerk]

My colony was killing pupae to feed to larva for a while as well it was mostly due to their picky nature for protein. Their hungry larva needed protein and they didn’t like the numerous offering I was giving them. Somehow they went through that phase and began accepting protein again and therefore started to grow

[Mushu]

My colony was killing pupae to feed to larva for a while as well it was mostly due to their picky nature for protein. Their hungry larva needed protein and they didn’t like the numerous offering I was giving them. Somehow they went through that phase and began accepting protein again and therefore started to grow

Indeed it's not uncommon. I'm more concerned the larvae didn't develop properly and they recycled the nutrient, although they were up to 40 workers at one point, in the THA(now current) nest, so less likely humidity/temp with a change in seasonal weather in mind(hotter now). There was concern the brood was not being taken care of properly. 

 

If you have 12 workers you can definitely bounce back. When my placodops 01 had the deformed worker taking care of the eggs and brood cycle stopped due to eggs drying out, I was stuck at 15 workers for a while.  They didn't forage as much(less larvae) but once that issue was taken care of, they're exploding again, as long as the queen is still laying eggs.

Edited by Mushu, July 6 2024 - 1:19 AM.

[The_Gaming-gate]

My own ants had an issue of murdering pupae. Try Separating pupae from the colony and allowing them to grow independently, before handing the newly eclosed worker to the colony. I did see that you are out of cocoons, you may be able to save some older larvae by giving them to workers of another colony, or wait for them to spin a cocoon.