So a week or so ago I asked you all to help me identify 4 queens I had found. One of them was distinctly different and I called her Queen A. Well anyways, a few days later she laid a nice cluster of eggs and has been happily taking care of her babies and doing a fabulous job ever since. Until last night.... For some reason the tube started leaking and I found her drowned in the water trying to save her eggs. I was so bummed by this. I pulled her out and dried her off and tried to poke at her to see if I got any response out of her. Nothing. I kept hoping I would see her move but nothing happened. She was limp and soggy. So I put her in a dry paper towel in a small container and left her eggs in the tube. I'll admit I had given up hope but I didn't want to just throw her out. Was gone all day, got home, and needed the container for a new queen I caught, and low and behold, my little lasius queen was active and acting normal. I put her in a new test tube set up with some grape jelly (My camponotus loves it but idk if all my ants will or not....) and I put her eggs back in there. They were a little dry so I'm not sure the made it but she immediately started moving them around. I'm just glad she is alive. Hate it when ants die, especially after laying eggs and / or having their first workers. It's happened twice thus far. So I guess my take away from this is to not give up on what looks like a dead ant immediately. Do a little ant CPR and who knows...
Edited by Naturenut1233, September 10 2017 - 3:34 PM.