2 replies to this topic

[agold2009]

I have a Formica colony which is around 75 workers. I wanted to moved them into a new formicarium so I attached another formicarium to their old one and slightly flooded the old one. The workers immediately started to move to the new formicarium along with the brood. Once the majority moved out of the old I sealed up the old one and began to remove the last remaining workers with some featherlight tweezers. I then noticed to my surprise that the queen was still in the old setup even though I thought she moved. Instead of reopening up the tubes I used the tweezers and after a few tries lifted her and moved her into the new setup. Since then everything else has been fine but I don't see any new eggs or larvae, just about 5-6 pupa.

 

I am wondering, could the stress of this move have effected her to the point that she has stopped laying eggs? Can it be some sort of other reason she would just stop laying eggs?

 

Anyone with experience with something similar, has the queen restarted to lay eggs after something stressful?

 

I am in SoCal, so I don't know if it has to do with hibernation, but at this stage can it be she has stopping laying in anticipation of hibernation?

 

Thanks!

[Alabama Anter]

Oh Formica spp lay eggs in short amounts. They're main goal is to not have any brood in winter. So ur queen is ok.

[CallMeCraven]

The move may have stressed her out a little bit causing her to stop laying for a while. More likely is what Alabama anter said:

 

Oh Formica spp lay eggs in short amounts. They're main goal is to not have any brood in winter. So ur queen is ok.

She is probably just getting ready to hibernate, and the move to the new formicarium happened to correspond with this. Make sure the colony has everything it needs to hibernate and start getting them ready for the big sleep. Winter is coming (sorry had to ).