6 replies to this topic

[leejonnymr]

I have a colony of ants in a test tube. Currently has 1 queen and 4 workers. All larvae are in the test tube but 1. This 1 is the second biggest larvae. Why did they move 1 larvae outside of the test tube?

[StayLoki]

Because they wanted to 😛



...no seriously tho, is there food outside the tt? An outworld or something?
Maybe they're attempting to move it closer towards a protein source?
Or they just have special plans for it

[leejonnymr]

Yes, i have the test tube in an outworld.

 

Now that you mentioned it, they actually moved it pretty close to where a cricket was. Now it's just left over cricket parts there. I gave them this cricket last night. It was just a small cricket i bought at the pet shop.

 

They then moved the larvae back inside the nest but one ant seems to be guarding it. As of this very moment the larvae is now back outside the nest and two ants are fighting over it...

 

This larvae is not the biggest but it looks different. The head still looks like a pointy larvae but the body is very round. It is not a cocoon yet which i believe the larvae of this species will spin.

 

Honestly it looks like they're attacking the larvae... Saw the queen doing it too yesterday after i fed them the cricket.

Edited by leejonnymr, May 18 2018 - 6:55 PM.

[StayLoki]

What do you mean by attacking the larvae?

They could just be feeding it or tending to it. They grab them rather aggressively to move them around..

If they were attacking it with malicious intentions I don't think it'd still be around. They're probably just trying to get to the next stage..

Did u find her with 4 workers then? And pupae? Or did your queen found these? -if you found them and put them in a setup (queen, workers, and the larvae) it could truely just be deceased and they're
removing it..
..and fighting over whether they should keep it or not lol

Edited by StayLoki, May 18 2018 - 7:35 PM.

[leejonnymr]

I found this colony inside of a log. There was a queen and about 10 ants. I managed to catch the queen, 4 workers, and a lot of brood.

 

Hmm, it looks like that one is turning into a pupae. The biggest larvae i mentioned above is turning into a pupae now too... They are both outside now for some reason.

 

The nesting area in the test tube is kind of small (about twice the length of the queen) because i made the water reservoir 2/3 of the tube. Brood is all over the ground of the nest. The queen sits on top of all of them. It looks like they need more room. Could this be why they are moving the pupae out?

[StayLoki]

I really think they're just moving them to feed them. They move them in and out?

They're probably just adjusting conditions and taking turns to feed and move closer and away 'for protection'

I'm not sure at what point camponotous needs more room, but I would think 5 can all fit in there if they needed to for warmth and must be moving them for some reason..

Are you heating them?

Perhaps it's too humid in the tt and they stay outside and are trying to move the brood to turn and move them to optimal conditions.

[leejonnymr]

Yeah, i shouldn't worry too much. Thanks!