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To Feed or Not To Feed


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11 replies to this topic

#1 Offline UberDuber - Posted July 18 2017 - 6:18 AM

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Hey I'm sure this has been asked many times, but does anyone have a link to a study on whether it's beneficial at all to feed fully claustral queens during the founding process? 
 
From all my research, it seems like more ant keepers feed them than don't, but I can't find a log of where someone took like 60 queens, fed 30 and fasted 30, and logged the results.
 
My immediate thought is the stress of disturbing the founding chamber all the time to feed would cause a longer founding process anyways, which would negate the benefit of prolonging queen life by providing energy sources.
 
Thoughts?

Keeping P. Barbatus, C. Penn., C. Discolor, and Atta Texana.

#2 Offline Kevin - Posted July 18 2017 - 6:30 AM

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I don't have a link to a study, however I'd imagine it could possibly boost the speed to fill up the queen on protein and what not for the brood. Also, my main reason for replying was to say that taking off the cotton to feed a queen does not inflict a great enough deal of stress to make that much of a difference. IMO, stress is very overrated with antkeeping, as if the queen can not be exposed the the very smallest ray of light, or a tiny vibration will complete eradicate her colony.


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#3 Offline ultraex2 - Posted July 18 2017 - 8:26 AM

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Granted I've only done this a couple times, but when I've tried to feed some Camponotus queens fruit flies within the first couple days of catching them they just ignore it or move it but don't eat any of it, so I don't think it actually helps.

 

Not too sure on other species - if I catch more queens by the end of the year I will definitely test it out, though.



#4 Offline UberDuber - Posted July 18 2017 - 9:35 AM

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I've tried honey and sugar water in the tube and they drink it, but it's a pain and so I'm considering joining the no-feeding-till-nanitics camp. Thanks for your input!


Keeping P. Barbatus, C. Penn., C. Discolor, and Atta Texana.

#5 Offline anttics - Posted April 2 2018 - 8:56 AM

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I've tried honey and sugar water in the tube and they drink it, but it's a pain and so I'm considering joining the no-feeding-till-nanitics camp. Thanks for your input!


I know it almost a year since this. I have caught my first fully c. queens. the way I feed then is simple. I have a syringe I take a drop of my protein shake. the needle passes the cotton and I can place a tiny drip on the sand. or maybe even put some tinfoil at the entrance and place does there. but I have not done that yet. I got the tin foil ideas after I seal the queens.

#6 Offline PwnerPie - Posted April 2 2018 - 9:05 AM

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Honey. Only honey for queens, then protien once they have larvae. You only need to feed them queens once every few weeks, so it does not disturb them much. And so far i have yet to have a queen eat an egg that i have fed. I plan to try the *half feed half not* deal this year once the season starts
Keeper of:
1x Formica Pacifica
2x Camponotus Modoc
1x Tetramorium Immigrans
2x Lasius Sp
 
Founding:
3x Lasius Sp
2x Formica Argentea
2x Myrmica Rubra
 
GAN Farmer: 4 Colonies sold
Goal: Supply school science classes with colonies for learning.

#7 Offline UberDuber - Posted April 3 2018 - 7:01 AM

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So I ended up trying it both ways last year and didn't really notice any difference.

 

My main way I ended up feeding queens was by making a point with the end of the cotton plug at the test tube entrance and dipping it in a sugar/honey/water mixture, just a drop or two, then plugging the test tube back up. This was a much quicker way to feed them and wasn't very disturbing to the queen. I would switch it out every couple weeks until the first workers were ready to start foraging.

 

This year if I add queens I will probably just leave them alone for at least the first solid month.


Keeping P. Barbatus, C. Penn., C. Discolor, and Atta Texana.

#8 Offline CoolColJ - Posted April 3 2018 - 2:04 PM

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I don't feed any of my claustal queens once they lay eggs, or if they are freshly mated - the colony will fill them up before they fly

They turned out fine. Queens can live for a very long time without food and water.

My slowest queen from eggs to nanitics was the Strobe ant one, Opisthopsis Rufithorax, at near 2 months.
She didn't die and laid quite a few eggs and brood.
But when I did feed her some raw honey, after the second nanitic eclosed, on the end of a cotton bud, she sucked it fully dry and then some for 2x30 min stints where she didn't move at all, and an hour on the second cotton bud...
Now she has a huge gaster with bands in it :)



Edited by CoolColJ, April 3 2018 - 2:09 PM.

Current ant colonies -
1) Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant), Melophorus sp2. black and orange, Pheidole species, Pheidole antipodum
Journal = http://www.formicult...ra-iridomyrmex/

Heterotermes cf brevicatena termite pet/feeder journal = http://www.formicult...feeder-journal/


#9 Offline CoolColJ - Posted April 3 2018 - 2:12 PM

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Also raw honey lasts a long time, without going off.

So you could put some on a foil, and it will last for a few months, as long as it doesn't get wet.
That way if the queen wants some she could sip on it as needed. I did that with one of my test tube queens I found recently alone in her hole, but she was not a freshly mated one.

Edited by CoolColJ, April 3 2018 - 2:14 PM.

Current ant colonies -
1) Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant), Melophorus sp2. black and orange, Pheidole species, Pheidole antipodum
Journal = http://www.formicult...ra-iridomyrmex/

Heterotermes cf brevicatena termite pet/feeder journal = http://www.formicult...feeder-journal/


#10 Offline piratechef - Posted April 7 2018 - 4:44 PM

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I have 2 Lasius flavus queens that wernt laying, when i fed them both honey and fruit flies (that they both attacked right away) the one who I'm sure was fertile started laying the next day. I don't have much experience with founding, as this was only my fifth, but that is my two cents. I'm sure she would of started laying eventually but I think the food helped speed up the process.



#11 Offline CoolColJ - Posted April 7 2018 - 4:58 PM

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Well my Iridomyrmex queen laid 14 eggs after I captured her a week ago!

By far the highest I've had, but it could be just a species thing

And she was not a freshly mated one, I found her under a half submerged brick, with a hole on the side. When I pulled the brick out, she was there with a bunch of Pheidole workers and 2 majors... :thinking: :blink:
Who knows how long she was in there...

Sealed her in a test tube with a foil of raw honey, which she loves. She makes constant trips to it. With one honey encased Pheidole larvae which I think she ate yesterday.

 

tip - fold/twist the end of the foil tray into a vertical "handle", makes it easier to place inside the test tube and makes it more stable. I butt the end of it against the cotton wool

 



Edited by CoolColJ, April 7 2018 - 5:01 PM.

Current ant colonies -
1) Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant), Melophorus sp2. black and orange, Pheidole species, Pheidole antipodum
Journal = http://www.formicult...ra-iridomyrmex/

Heterotermes cf brevicatena termite pet/feeder journal = http://www.formicult...feeder-journal/


#12 Offline CoolColJ - Posted April 14 2018 - 10:04 PM

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Into second week and she's still going strong, over 30 eggs now! %)

 

She's also the most active of the 6 queens I have in test tubes right now, constantly on the move, cleaning minding her eggs and going to the raw honey I left in the front part of the test tube, I just put in a fresh one this morning and she went straight to it and sucked it for a while.

 

Over 30 nanitics is crazy.... this is one fertile queen...I predict a huge and fast growing colony soon!

 

click for larger

 

even if her gaster appears to be damaged....

 


Edited by CoolColJ, April 14 2018 - 10:06 PM.

Current ant colonies -
1) Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant), Melophorus sp2. black and orange, Pheidole species, Pheidole antipodum
Journal = http://www.formicult...ra-iridomyrmex/

Heterotermes cf brevicatena termite pet/feeder journal = http://www.formicult...feeder-journal/





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