4 replies to this topic

[Cogitari]

I am hoping to receive some advice about what I believe to be a Lasius Niger Queen.
My niece came across the Queen while in the garden, I had just explained to her what the winged creatures coming out of the pavement were so when a couple of days later she spotted a queen that had dropped her wings she had become interested enough that she decided to collect it in the hope that she could set up her own 'ant farm'.

She has had her queen set up in a test tube for around two months now, I do have an interest in ants myself and have done a little research so I kept asking her how her Queen was going. She has laid quite a number of eggs but none of them seem to be turning into larva, though the Queen is still alert and tending to the eggs. My niece has decided that I should take care of the Queen and see if I can find some more information. While I do have a fascination with them I have never kept ants before and don't really know that much aside from the basics such as their life cycle.
From what I have read it could be that this Queen is infertile? As I said she appears to be laying more and more eggs but none of them are maturing. Is there anything that we can do? Perhaps my niece has been keeping them in the wrong conditions, I don't really know.

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

[GeorgeK]

She (the queen) should be fine in test tube. It might be that she is infertile if eggs are not developing at all, do you maybe have some picture to show us? Also if i remember correctly, if infertile queen lays eggs, its the males that hatch from those eggs and not workers

[Batspiderfish]

Infertile means that there is something wrong with the queen's reproductive system and/or her eggs.

 

Unfertilized means she has not mated and her haploid eggs will only develop into worthless males.

 

There's really no way to tell until her first pupae.

[Cogitari]

Thank you for your responses, I have a couple of images, but they are not great quality, I apologize.

 

 

 

 

 

I read that for Lasius Niger (if I am right in thinking that is what she is) the eggs should mature into larvae between 7 and 14 days after being laid, I don't know how correct that is but it has now been approximately 9 weeks since the Queen laid her first eggs.

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Would being unfertilized male eggs mean they would take longer to mature? Or is more likely that she is infertile? Thank you for explaining the difference.

Again, thank you, I very much appreciate your advice and I am sorry to be bothersome.

[MegaMyrmex]

Either that or she might be getfing ready to bunker down for hibernation