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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2011 10:09:41 GMT 1
Hi all. I staretd a colony with a shop bought Queen a few months ago and all seemed well. The workers blocked the test tube off and I kept them supplied with sugar water and woodlice. All was well and eggs were laid and the colony grew. I went to look in on them today and thought they had all died. On closer inspection of the test tube they were all alive but moving very slowly. After a moment they woke up and some moved at 'full speed', others still seemed dozy. I then noticed the queen was gone, so I assumed they had eaten her and were now jobless and so were dying. A quick search of the tank and I found the queen, walking round slowly as if she were lost. She has never (ever) left the test tube, so this was very odd. I scooper her up and held her on my hand, she wandered about a bit then I put her back at the test tube opening and unblocked the tube so she could walk in. I then left them be. Ummm, what happened? No ants + a queen would mean she had eaten them, no queen + lots of ants means a revolution has happened and the queen is dead, but it's like she was banished! Lasius Niger btw. Are they dying of something?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2011 10:15:06 GMT 1
I suggest a proven method to help them:
Place entire colony in a small container with a wet napkin or cloth for a few hours, if not a day.
Your ants are likely dehydrated, or they were harassed by something while you were gone. Either way, give them fluids (ER? Haha) and some honey water. Keep them in the dark and don't disturb.
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Post by Myrm on Dec 21, 2011 10:37:30 GMT 1
What is the reaction of the workers to the queen now that you have put her back?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2011 11:25:35 GMT 1
Not sure how they reacted tbh, I was rushing out the door and... well, to be honest I thought if were attacked then better she is killed than wanders and starves...
I will check on her when I get home. I put the cotton wool sugar water right outside the tube in case they had forgot where it was.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2011 19:29:15 GMT 1
Right, home now.
Workers are mostly in the tube and moving, but not much (though why would they). Queen is back 6inch from where I put her and exactly where she was this morning. She is climbing the wall and if I nudge her down onto the wet paper I have added she walks off it and climbs again. I wonder what is going on...
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Post by Myrm on Dec 21, 2011 19:36:20 GMT 1
Right, home now. Workers are mostly in the tube and moving, but not much (though why would they). Queen is back 6inch from where I put her and exactly where she was this morning. She is climbing the wall and if I nudge her down onto the wet paper I have added she walks off it and climbs again. I wonder what is going on... Hi Spikie. It is good to see you here again. That is vary odd behaviour. Are the workers showing her in interest at all?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2011 19:43:11 GMT 1
Not that I've noticed. She is one end of the box, they are the other. It's like she wants to keep her distance.
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Post by Myrm on Dec 21, 2011 19:44:40 GMT 1
Not that I've noticed. She is one end of the box, they are the other. It's like she wants to keep her distance. Vary odd. I can't explain that. It will be vary interesting to see what happens.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2011 21:41:57 GMT 1
I will keep you posted. Maybe she will go back to the tube and all will be well, but I suspect something has happened and she is looking for a new place to go. If the nest was being moved, she wouldn't be walking there would she, they would set it up then bring her?
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Post by Myrm on Dec 21, 2011 21:42:50 GMT 1
Normally the workers would set it up first and then come back for her and the brood.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 22, 2011 9:35:34 GMT 1
Got up this morning and she is back in the tube. It looks like she is being attended to again, but I can't be sure as I don't want to disturb her.
I can only assume she needed a wander or got spooked for some reason.
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Post by Myrm on Dec 22, 2011 9:41:38 GMT 1
Got up this morning and she is back in the tube. It looks like she is being attended to again, but I can't be sure as I don't want to disturb her. I can only assume she needed a wander or got spooked for some reason. It is good to hear she is back there. I have never had my Ln queens do that but my Myrmica queens often went for a bimble outside the nest. Sometimes the workers were pick her up and carry her back to the nest. Other times they would let her wander about.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2012 21:43:01 GMT 1
Hi all.
Thought I'd ressurect this rather than start a new topic. My queen has been for 2 more wanders since then. I put her back the first time, then there was a gap, then she wandered again. I put her back, and she was out and about almost straight away.
I left her to wander, and she ended up in a corner and just sort of sat there. After a day I looked again and she is now covered in workers, at least a dozen. Some of them actually on her, some just next to her, but all of them around her. She isn't being carried, she doesn't seem to be being... eaten... I don't know what to do! When she was wandering yesterday I wondered if she was thirsty, so I wet some cotton wool and out it next to her. I also sprayed the sand around her.
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Post by Myrm on Feb 7, 2012 21:53:51 GMT 1
... I don't know what to do! Leave her! Let her and her workers decide what happens. If she's dying then there's nothing that can be done. If she's being looked after by her workers then they know best how to do so.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2012 23:13:56 GMT 1
Glad you said that, as that was what I was doing ('nature red in tooth and claw' and all that, if they are killing her then that's just how it is, otherwise they might know more about what's going on than I do!) but I admit I felt a little bad about it...
I'll see what happens!
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