26 replies to this topic

[Aquaexploder]

So I originally kept them in my basement which never went above 70 and never below 60. However I moved and they are now on the second floor in my bedroom which is usually in the 70s. Since I have kept them in this warmer climate I have also noticed my one queen colony stop laying new eggs. Also I have noticed that my P. imparis colonies took much longer then everyone else's I saw on forums. I feel like keeping them in this cooler temperature made them more at ease and less in a rush for their eggs to develop. Since they were also more at ease the could continue laying their eggs.

Edited by Aquaexploder, August 16 2017 - 4:20 AM.

[RhodyAnts]

Pretty much the same except my room into the 90's because of no AC. I have the mini fridge set at about 65 right now and plan on giving them a few day peace before I check on them again.

I'm baffled that the temp such a big deal. These ants have been so forgiving of mkstakes to date. During the spring my room dropped into the low 40's. They never even noticed. I suppose even winter ants have to drw the line somewhere, and apparently it's at 70 degrees or less, or we won't lay eggs.

[RhodyAnts]

Checked on them today and noticed the hardest hit colony has new eggs! T minus 75 days to new workers. October seems a long way off. :-(.

[RhodyAnts]

Each colony still has around 5 workers. One colony has some full repletes. The cotton in both colonies is getting very moldy with some mildew froming in the water of one colony, and the water of the other colony becoming discolored. I've been keeping a fresh test tube attatched to the test rube portal for months now, in the event they decided to voluntarily move in, to no avail. Given their dire situation, and the terrible condition of their set ups, I have reluctantly decided to force them to move. I drained the water out of their home set up by melting holes in the plastic testubes. I've also provided fresh test tube setups for them to move into. I'll have to keep a close eye on them.

In other news. I noticed eggs in the mouth of one of the workers shortly after they were disturbed. This is good I hope. Also I've been providing the meal works for them around once a week. I do hope they can be salvaged.

[RhodyAnts]

I checked on my two colonies today. I found larvae in both colonies! I'm very excited. I might just make it.

As for getting the colonies to take up residence in a more suitable test tube set up, I might just need to call the sheriff to evict them. Man these are stubborn ants. Their cotton Is drying up a bit, and they certainly seem ready to move, but just won't do it. I might just try taping the new set up together with the old.

An interesting observation. One colony appears to have tired of the whole feeding larvae thing, so they just placed them on top of a meal worm I left for them, to eat their fill. Lazy, lazy ants.

[Aquaexploder]

I had to manually move two of my colony's because of mold and a dry water supply (One Myrmica the other P. imparis). This doesn't stress out your queen as much as you might think it does and both of the colonies I have done this to seem to be healthy currently. The most important part of doing this is patience. A little trick I use is I agitate them a little so they pick up some of the brood. Then I try to get them to climb on to a q-tip while they are holding the brood. This way you can kill to birds with one stone. If their are any brood remaining you can pick them up with a moist q-tip.

Edited by Aquaexploder, September 25 2017 - 4:01 PM.

[RhodyAnts]

It may come to this. Right now i'm trying to persuade them with a greener pasture, while simultaneously browning the pasture they're in. The old cotton is starting to dry, and hopefully as things become less hospitable and with a more ideal spot right there, they'll get the hint and move.