34 replies to this topic

[jabasson]

Do you have a microwave? Just dig up some substrate outside and nuke it 15 seconds when the other dudes aren’t around.

That is actually smart, thanks for the advice. Do you know if they need a specific type of sand, like fine or coarse, or should just any dirt around me do?

[Mushu]

Reptile quartz sand, like Zoo Med Reptisand works well. 

Edited by Mushu, September 22 2024 - 2:15 AM.

[kiedeerk]

I always recommend buying colonies with workers especially for more expensive ants such as honeypots. Even if it cost more you know at least it’s fertile.

You can only wait but usually eggs doesn’t take 3 weeks to hatch unless she is continuously eating them and relaying

[jabasson]

I always recommend buying colonies with workers especially for more expensive ants such as honeypots. Even if it cost more you know at least it’s fertile.

You can only wait but usually eggs doesn’t take 3 weeks to hatch unless she is continuously eating them and relaying

Yeah I think you are right, too late now though. If she is infertile I might just spend some extra for a colony with workers and just budget really well to make up for it because I'm invested now

 

Edit: Also I'm unsure when she laid eggs as she arrived with none, it could have been towards the end of the first week

Edited by jabasson, September 22 2024 - 9:03 AM.

[Mushu]

 

I always recommend buying colonies with workers especially for more expensive ants such as honeypots. Even if it cost more you know at least it’s fertile.

You can only wait but usually eggs doesn’t take 3 weeks to hatch unless she is continuously eating them and relaying

Yeah I think you are right, too late now though. If she is infertile I might just spend some extra for a colony with workers and just budget really well to make up for it because I'm invested now

 

Edit: Also I'm unsure when she laid eggs as she arrived with none, it could have been towards the end of the first week

 

I believe you mentioned Sep 14 is when you checked and noticed eggs but may have been laid before that. If the eggs are together and not spread around that's a good sign. Hopefully you see larvae soon. You should see some light reddish/brown dot(which is what the founding queen would've fed) spot on the larvae.

 

I should mention, me and my buddies bought Myrmecocystus placodops 01 together. They had 3 founding queens, I myself had 1.  I used tubs and tubes, while they just used a test tube with heating cable on the entrance.  We both had eggs,but my nanitics hatched 1 week earlier the theirs and one of them actually had some trouble(failed egg development, queens eating eggs) and for the struggling founding queen, the first nanitics were probably a good 2 weeks behind mines.

 

I don't think he covered the test tube completely, and may have rolled his queen around one time by accident and with his other colonies on the same desk, he may have most likely caused vibrations, or simply my queen was just concentrating on a few workers, although my first batch was about 7. He brood boosted from one of his established colony for him and his friend's founding queens. I had an existing colony too but I didn't brood boost and still got workers first than them. What was interesting is, all the boosted workers he provided, they pretty much all died. He had to brood boost a second time and those survived. We had theories but no one really knows why the boosted brood died(they eclosed as workers and died about 2-3 days later), about 5 each(total of 15 was boosted) and perhaps 12 of them died. Only a few of the later ones and the second boost survived after.

 

What I'm trying to say is there's many variables that can increase/delay development and you're doing things right. Good luck.

Edited by Mushu, September 23 2024 - 4:37 AM.

[jabasson]

 

 

I always recommend buying colonies with workers especially for more expensive ants such as honeypots. Even if it cost more you know at least it’s fertile.

You can only wait but usually eggs doesn’t take 3 weeks to hatch unless she is continuously eating them and relaying

Yeah I think you are right, too late now though. If she is infertile I might just spend some extra for a colony with workers and just budget really well to make up for it because I'm invested now

 

Edit: Also I'm unsure when she laid eggs as she arrived with none, it could have been towards the end of the first week

 

I believe you mentioned Sep 14 is when you checked and noticed eggs but may have been laid before that. If the eggs are together and not spread around that's a good sign. Hopefully you see larvae soon. You should see some light reddish/brown dot(which is what the founding queen would've fed) spot on the larvae.

 

I should mention, me and my buddies bought Myrmecocystus placodops 01 together. They had 3 founding queens, I myself had 1.  I used tubs and tubes, while they just used a test tube with heating cable on the entrance.  We both had eggs,but my nanitics hatched 1 week earlier the theirs and one of them actually had some trouble(failed egg development, queens eating eggs) and for the struggling founding queen, the first nanitics were probably a good 2 weeks behind mines.

 

I don't think he covered the test tube completely, and may have rolled his queen around one time by accident and with his other colonies on the same desk, he may have most likely caused vibrations, or simply my queen was just concentrating on a few workers, although my first batch was about 7. He brood boosted from one of his established colony for him and his friend's founding queens. I had an existing colony too but I didn't brood boost and still got workers first than them. What was interesting is, all the boosted workers he provided, they pretty much all died. He had to brood boost a second time and those survived. We had theories but no one really knows why the boosted brood died(they eclosed as workers and died about 2-3 days later), about 5 each(total of 15 was boosted) and perhaps 12 of them died. Only a few of the later ones and the second boost survived after.

 

What I'm trying to say is there's many variables that can increase/delay development and you're doing things right. Good luck.

 

Thanks. Hopefully she is just taking longer to raise her nanitics than normal and she is fertile. She still looks fat enough to last a few more weeks. 

[jabasson]

UPDATE

 

Ok I might need some help on a few things. First off, when I checked her today, she had one large larvae as shown below. It is only 1 larvae and the queen looks really skinny. I was wondering if you guys think this is a normal larvae size for a nanitic, as it is quite large. Second issue is water. It is gone. If you guys have good ideas for moving her without making her eat her brood I am all ears. I was thinking of moving the test tube to a tubberware with moist dirt and just removing the cotton, and including some sugar water for the queen.

 

Edited by jabasson, September 28 2024 - 12:51 PM.

[Mushu]

The larvae size seems fine.

 

She won't really venture out to get the sugar water. If the test tube is completely out of water, I'd move her asap and just dump her into a new test tube. I had to move the queen to a fresh test tube when I first got my M. placodops as the test tube they came with was just a wet cotton. antopiaUSA  was trying out a new method to reduce flooding during shipping. She'll most likely grab her larvae and just shake her into the new test tube gently by tapping. Use a bbq skewer and wet the tip and grab the rest of the eggs. 

 

I believe you have her in a tubs and tubes setup, so you can move her, then put her in the tubs and push dry sand into the test tube and cover the entrance, don't need the cotton to plug up the test tube entrance anymore. Then I'd personally wait until the other eggs hatch into larvae first and then you can offer a qtip with sugar water on a tinfoil if you feel she's a bit skinny.  

 

I should also clarify my buddies honeypot ate their eggs most likely due to failed egg development. I think egg eating is a bit overblown in for fully claustral species. 

Edited by Mushu, September 29 2024 - 2:42 AM.

[Mushu]

You may also want to try refilling the water in the current test tube with this method if you have the tools available.

[jabasson]

That's kind of smart but I don't have a syringe. I had to buy test tubes because I haven't kept ants for a while and I didn't have any. The fastest I could get was 2 day shipping so I bought them Saturday and they arrived today. During this time I gave the queen a wet qtip tip to keep her alive. I made a test tube for her today and tapped the tubes together so she could bring her eggs over, but I saw that she brought the end of the qtip all the way into the nest and had pulled it apart and it was dry. I might have messed up there. When I uncovered her she immediately started pulling on the qtip cotton, and I didn't see her eggs and brood but easily could have been hidden in the qtip. I hope she is able to move her brood over and they didn't get tangled in the cotton. She is still alive and well so we will see what happens. If her brood gets stuck in the cotton, though, or if they dried out, then she will probably die. 

[Mushu]

I'd just force dump her and the qtip over to the test tube with the water. The brood may have desiccated if it's dry, they need humidity. 

 

Suffice to say you should also invest in a syringe, preferably a blunt tip. Good luck and hopefully she can still recover, since it's still early in the process. 

[jabasson]

You guys may have guessed this considering no recent updates, but she died. She never moved test tubes and died within days, lesson learned I will definitely dump next time. I did not think she would just die and never move tubes. I refuse to give up but don't have much money so I am looking for cheap Mexicanus colonies to buy, but it will be at least $100 for a colony of 1-5 workers. I only will be able to afford one more attempt so I'm hoping this time I will be successful. I have a UtahAnts formicarium lined up already and am making preparations while I wait for antopia's or buckeye's queens to get workers. 

[kiedeerk]

You guys may have guessed this considering no recent updates, but she died. She never moved test tubes and died within days, lesson learned I will definitely dump next time. I did not think she would just die and never move tubes. I refuse to give up but don't have much money so I am looking for cheap Mexicanus colonies to buy, but it will be at least $100 for a colony of 1-5 workers. I only will be able to afford one more attempt so I'm hoping this time I will be successful. I have a UtahAnts formicarium lined up already and am making preparations while I wait for antopia's or buckeye's queens to get workers.

I don’t think it would have mattered. This was just a bad queen or infertile. But lesson learned, always buy colonies and not solo queens as the only sure way to determine fertility is getting workers

[ANTdrew]

Also, if your time and resources are limited at college, I’d advise an easier and less expensive species.

[jabasson]

Also, if your time and resources are limited at college, I’d advise an easier and less expensive species.

I would but any other colony I buy right now would have to be hibernated almost immediately. If I waited then the colonies would probably sell out, and then I'd have to wait for anting season again. I did have my eye on C. vicinus for a bit though. I want to keep them at some point but not in my fridge. I am close to graduating so although money is tight now due to being jobless I will have more when anting season comes around again (should have a job by then), which is why although cheaper, for me its not worth it. If I could get my hands on one of the P. bicarinata I might've went for it but sadly I'm in one of the few states that can't buy it. I have kept ants in the past as a kid so I'm not a complete noob, and feel I can be up to the challenge, and if not gain some experience for next season. I've also had my eye on Myrmecocystus for a long time now.