5 replies to this topic

[Dethundrel]

I have a Camponotus Pennsylvanicus that was caught a week ago and she just will not settle down.

 

I have her in a 25x150MM tube to give her plenty of room but she will not stop pulling at her cotton and has really been tearing it up.  They are supposed to be fully claustral but can sometimes show signs of hunger by doing the pulling she's doing.  I fed her a good drop of honey water and she drank it all in 1 day.  The next day, she was still pulling so I gave her another one, and again she cleaned the whole thing up but just will not stop tearing her cotton up.

 

She was caught in a log with another queen and had already shed her wings, so being infertile is not a concern for me.  I just want her to settle down so she can get to doin'' the egg thing. She is being kept in the dark with my Tetras and Pogonomyrmex.

 

Keep shoving more honey water at her, try to feed her some protein, or just leave her be and hope she figures it out?

[MrWeather]

Just leave her be for a week and check?

[Bracchymyrmex]

I have a Camponotus Pennsylvanicus that was caught a week ago and she just will not settle down.

 

I have her in a 25x150MM tube to give her plenty of room but she will not stop pulling at her cotton and has really been tearing it up.  They are supposed to be fully claustral but can sometimes show signs of hunger by doing the pulling she's doing.  I fed her a good drop of honey water and she drank it all in 1 day.  The next day, she was still pulling so I gave her another one, and again she cleaned the whole thing up but just will not stop tearing her cotton up.

 

She was caught in a log with another queen and had already shed her wings, so being infertile is not a concern for me.  I just want her to settle down so she can get to doin''' the egg thing. She is being kept in the dark with my Tetras and Pogonomyrmex.

 

Keep shoving more honey water at her, try to feed her some protein, or just leave her be and hope she figures it out?

 

This is common behavior for Camponotus. Make sure the cotton ball won't come loose and leave her in a fully undisturbed place (perhaps a different place than your other ants so the commotion of you constantly checking them won't contribute to her stress) for about two weeks. She should settle in by then.

 

Good luck, Camponotus can be somewhat difficult to raise in captivity.

[BMM]

There is a possibility that she could be infertile, even if she shed her wings. I had this happen with one of my Camponotus queens. She lived for two months and then died without ever laying an egg. However, most of my Camponotus queens exhibited this behavior for some amount of time and many of them have nanitics at this point. As suggested, make sure the cotton is packed tight and is thick enough that she can't chew through it. Two of my queens managed to unravel quite a bit of cotton. If they do this, I'd recommend replacing it and pulling out any loose cotton. I've found several dead nanitics in the loose cotton, so it might be a danger to them if they get caught it in. Beyond that, just let the queen be and she she'll probably calm down after a little bit. Hopefully eggs should follow that.

[Ants Galore]

That's what happened to one of my infertile queen but luckily I have two colonies so one has 11 workers. PM me if you'd like to ask me some questions.

Edited by Ants Galore, July 20 2017 - 4:57 AM.

[ultraex2]

I had a queen that was doing this and I just ended up removing the cotton and attaching another test tube setup to make a double test tube setup.  She almost immediately calmed down and actually just had nanitics eclose in only 5.5 weeks.

 

I had 2 other C. Pennsylvanicus that were tearing at the cotton in single test-tube setups, but they both died.