11 replies to this topic

[Nathant2131]

I will be going on vaction for almost an entire month (July 7- August 10) and I am getting increasingly concerned about how I will keep my ants alive for that time period. My current ants are-

 

-6x Prenolepis imparis- All queens with several very mature eggs- most have from 15-40 eggs.The eggs are roughly 20 days old. There may be larvae.

-5x Lasius niger-group sp.- all are queens with big balls of eggs, very soon to turn into larvae if not already. The eggs are roughly 15 days old.

 

All of them are in test tube setups. What concerns me the most is not knowing how many queens will have workers by July 7, and how many workers there will be. If I were to supply food before vacation, I would think it would get moldy too quickly, right? Will I need to supply protein for the brood so they can survive? How long can workers and larvae go without food before dying? I know the queen will use her wing muscles as food for larvae, but does she discontinue this action when her colony starts?

 

I also will for sure be catching other queens before my vacation starts, but I just want a general idea of how I should maintain queens/small colonies during a very long vacation. Thanks. 

Edited by Nathant2131, May 10 2017 - 7:58 AM.

[T.C.]

Hello, typically people in this predicament put their ants into hibernation. But with these colonies in their earliest of founding stages, I wouldn't recommend doing so. I ran into a similar situation when I was on a two week vacation. For you with so many colonies, this may not be ideal but here is what I did.

I took and put the test tube setup in a enclosed out world. I put live crickets and these small bugs ( idk the species) in the out world which ate off of a type of food that would not go bad. Then when the ants got their workers they were able to go out and find something to eat. Make sure the crickets are small because with such a small work force it will be difficult for them. When I came back two of the little bugs were gone with legs scattered about.

This however may not work for some species like your p. Imparis. Mine were formica and she had 7 cocoons which was a decent starting work force. Also formica are very quick aggressive little guys.

[Serafine]

If your outworlds are dry fish food might work. And large tanks of sugar water.

Edited by Serafine, May 10 2017 - 9:04 AM.

[Nathant2131]

Hello, typically people in this predicament put their ants into hibernation. But with these colonies in their earliest of founding stages, I wouldn't recommend doing so. I ran into a similar situation when I was on a two week vacation. For you with so many colonies, this may not be ideal but here is what I did.

I took and put the test tube setup in a enclosed out world. I put live crickets and these small bugs ( idk the species) in the out world which ate off of a type of food that would not go bad. Then when the ants got their workers they were able to go out and find something to eat. Make sure the crickets are small because with such a small work force it will be difficult for them. When I came back two of the little bugs were gone with legs scattered about.

This however may not work for some species like your p. Imparis. Mine were formica and she had 7 cocoons which was a decent starting work force. Also formica are very quick aggressive little guys.

So, you are saying the crickets will eat the small insects and the ants will find the leftovers?

[Nathant2131]

If your outworlds are dry fish food might work. And large tanks of sugar water.

I have been thinking about fish food since it is dry, thus preventing mold growth. Wouldn't my ants have trouble eating the flakes since they are dry?

[T.C.]

Hello, typically people in this predicament put their ants into hibernation. But with these colonies in their earliest of founding stages, I wouldn't recommend doing so. I ran into a similar situation when I was on a two week vacation. For you with so many colonies, this may not be ideal but here is what I did.
I took and put the test tube setup in a enclosed out world. I put live crickets and these small bugs ( idk the species) in the out world which ate off of a type of food that would not go bad. Then when the ants got their workers they were able to go out and find something to eat. Make sure the crickets are small because with such a small work force it will be difficult for them. When I came back two of the little bugs were gone with legs scattered about.
This however may not work for some species like your p. Imparis. Mine were formica and she had 7 cocoons which was a decent starting work force. Also formica are very quick aggressive little guys.

So, you are saying the crickets will eat the small insects and the ants will find the leftovers?

Oh, no! The crickets might have been to large for the ants. However the ants did catch and eat these little bugs. The crickets didn't really play any part in it.

[Nathant2131]

 

 

Hello, typically people in this predicament put their ants into hibernation. But with these colonies in their earliest of founding stages, I wouldn't recommend doing so. I ran into a similar situation when I was on a two week vacation. For you with so many colonies, this may not be ideal but here is what I did.
I took and put the test tube setup in a enclosed out world. I put live crickets and these small bugs ( idk the species) in the out world which ate off of a type of food that would not go bad. Then when the ants got their workers they were able to go out and find something to eat. Make sure the crickets are small because with such a small work force it will be difficult for them. When I came back two of the little bugs were gone with legs scattered about.
This however may not work for some species like your p. Imparis. Mine were formica and she had 7 cocoons which was a decent starting work force. Also formica are very quick aggressive little guys.

So, you are saying the crickets will eat the small insects and the ants will find the leftovers?

Oh, no! The crickets might have been to large for the ants. However the ants did catch and eat these little bugs. The crickets didn't really play any part in it.

 

Oh, haha I see now. The crickets were throwing me off a bit. This might work if I use some really tiny mealworms, but like you said, the ants I have are generally opportunistic scavengers.

 

What I could also do is feed my ants before vacation, and put live mealworms in outworlds, but the outworld would have nothing to let the mealworms live off of, so they would die sometime during vacation, letting the ants eat the body. Just a thought. They might not get to the goodies though, as they would need an acceptably large force to break open the exoskeleton.

 

Another bad thing is that by the time it's vacation, my queens will either still be by themselves or with only a few workers, so I won't have a good enough idea of what foods they accept. This is quite the predicament. 

Edited by Nathant2131, May 10 2017 - 9:21 AM.

[Nathant2131]

I'm going to do a test to see how long a few baby mealworms will live in an empty container with a test tube setup of a few sample P. imparis workers. (of course, the test tube will be inaccsesable to the mealworms) If it is not within about a week or two that the mealworms die, I will need a new plan. Then again, the workers might not be able to get to the goodies. Thankfully, both the species I am keeping are quite common, so I'll find some sample workers in no time!

[Serafine]

I have been thinking about fish food since it is dry, thus preventing mold growth. Wouldn't my ants have trouble eating the flakes since they are dry?

The workers can't eat solid foods but they don't need it anyway. It's the larvae that require protein to grow, if your ants wouldn't have larvae they could live off sugar water for the entire month.

[Nathant2131]

 

I have been thinking about fish food since it is dry, thus preventing mold growth. Wouldn't my ants have trouble eating the flakes since they are dry?

The workers can't eat solid foods but they don't need it anyway. It's the larvae that require protein to grow, if your ants wouldn't have larvae they could live off sugar water for the entire month.

 

Oh yeah, that's right. It will be the larvae eating the protein. I wonder when the sugar water will start going bad. I also have sunburst and honey.

[Serafine]

You can use Sunburst, it doesn't mold. But you should use a big feeder (with a small opening) because it does evaporate over time. You could put your ants to a colder place (not hibernation temperatures but about 20°C) - that won't slow down the winter ants but it will slow the Lasius.

I'd recommend to also place big water tubes. If your ants are anything like mine they will not move that much when they're well-fed but pretty much sit in their tubes waiting for more workers to emerge. They need water though, it's the most important thing - also if their nesting tube runs dry they can move into the water tube.

Edited by Serafine, May 10 2017 - 10:21 AM.

[Nathant2131]

You can use Sunburst, it doesn't mold. But you should use a big feeder (with a small opening) because it does evaporate over time. You could put your ants to a colder place (not hibernation temperatures but about 20°C) - that won't slow down the winter ants but it will slow the Lasius.

I'd recommend to also place big water tubes. If your ants are anything like mine they will not move that much when they're well-fed but pretty much sit in their tubes waiting for more workers to emerge. They need water though, it's the most important thing - also if their nesting tube runs dry they can move into the water tube.

Will do! Thanks for the tips.

 

I think I can manage this-experiment cancelled.