7 replies to this topic

[LieutenAnt_Dan]

Hi all,

 

I have a Odontomachus Clarus queen who recently decided to eat her brood. I appreciate this is typical stress related behavior so I'm looking at ways I can reduce her stress levels. Nest temp is currently 26c (78f) and humidity is 65%.

 

One thing I'm curious about is the size of her outworld that I use for offering food; it's 108mm x108mm square (approx. 4.25 inches) - is this too big for a semi claustral queen? She does enter the outworld to collect fruit flies but acts very skittish when there, as if threatened. I added some desert substrate to the outworld in the hope to calm things down; she has taken a number of sand grains into her nest but not a significant amount...

 

Thanks in advance,

Dan

[RushmoreAnts]

How often do you check on her? The best way of reducing stress levels is simply leaving her alone.

[LieutenAnt_Dan]

Thanks for the reply Adak. 

 

Currently, she is set up alongside my other species so although I avoid disturbing her directly, no doubt I do when tending to my established colonies on a daily basis. I plan to relocate my colonies to a quieter room in the house this evening - I'm thinking of creating a cover for her nest + outworld from cardboard or something...

[RushmoreAnts]

I'm thinking of creating a cover for her nest + outworld from cardboard or something...

So she is currently exposed to light? That and checking your established colonies is likely the cause of her stress. She should be in a dark space with as little vibrations as possible.

[mbullock42086]

Have you painted one side of the test tube with some sort of substrate?

  the queen needs to stick them to the wall of her burrow- they need this to molt out of the second instar.  the third instar no longer requires this as its about to pupate and will rest on the floor.
  She's probably eating them as they get trapped during the molt to i3 to recycle them.  the spines don't stick well to cotton, so you'll need to mix sand with eco earth and make a paste to paint the tube.


  if they're getting to I3 just fine, it could be underfeeding rather than stress, IMO.  these need looooots of protein, you can rear them entirely on smashed insects, or even egg yolk.  they do not require sugar at all, but it's still wise to offer something like a bottlecap of raw honey.


  one thing about this species- they often co-found with a sister or neighboring queen, and you'll often see them travelling in groups of 2-3 searching for a good rock to found under, so the queen will generally always have someone foraging for her, essentially.

Edited by mbullock42086, October 1 2024 - 3:01 PM.

[LieutenAnt_Dan]

Thanks for the replies guys.

 

She is in a 3D printed foundation nest with small outworld, the nest has a red Perspex cover whilst the outworld receives natural daylight. I'm now tempted to move her back into a test tube setup so I can do the sand paste trick. There is sand within her outworld which she has been moving into the nest but we're talking a few grains at best.

 

I feed her dead fruit flies every couple of days. Tried chopped mealworms but she tends to ignore those. Any other insects you'd recommend?

[mbullock42086]

Thanks for the replies guys.

 

She is in a 3D printed foundation nest with small outworld, the nest has a red Perspex cover whilst the outworld receives natural daylight. I'm now tempted to move her back into a test tube setup so I can do the sand paste trick. There is sand within her outworld which she has been moving into the nest but we're talking a few grains at best.

 

I feed her dead fruit flies every couple of days. Tried chopped mealworms but she tends to ignore those. Any other insects you'd recommend?

 they prefer whole small insects- fruitflies are just fine. pinhead crickets and tiny roaches are good. large mealworms chunks are no bueno because the larva actually needs to hold a chunk of food on its belly to feed properly

    With the fruitflies, the queen will just give each larva a whole fruitfly.  mealworms are only good if they're tiny mini mealworms 1cm or less in length- those can be quartered and larvae can eat them.

[kiedeerk]

I have raised multiple odontomachus queens and other semi claustral queens. They really don’t need an outworld. I usually use a longer or larger test tube with substrate like sand or cocofiber. I hand feed them inside their test tube like I would a regular claustral queen. I remove the trash when it accumulates. You can check my journal on O clarus. I got them to about 100 workers before queen randomly died. I raised O haematodus to close to 1000 workers.