one of the workers(Pogonomyrmex c.) became totally obsessed with cleaning? her gaster.

She stays bent in half and is endlessly fussing with herself like she's cleaning her gaster or something.

She blocked  up the tube and wouldn't move or notice the other ants trying to get around her. Like full OCD here there is nothing else in the world but her gaster.

Even if she starts moving around she stays a bit folder over with her gaster folded under her. But mostly just can't stop doing anything but cleaning  herself with a focus on her gaster.

 

 

I isolated her to the test tube in case she was sick with something that could spread.

 

Anyone got any clues on this?

Is this just normal "old dying" ant behavior to know about or is she being weird-o on me here?

 

She's been doing this now as I post for about 20+ min no stop. Even the process of moving her from the walk way tube into the test tube, she didn't stop doing this and behaved totally oblivious to my actions.

 

Thanks for any time and attention to this,

FFY

Is this still happening?

 

Is this still happening?

This went on all night. Sometimes she would stop fussing for a while and just sit still but she still kept her gaster tucked up under her always. And if she moved around she would never just walking around like the other ants but always had her gaster tucked up under.

I've not had a chance to check on her this morning so i'll not know how things went overnight until late this afternoon.
Her general behavior remained odd the whole time. She seems somewhat disoriented or unable to properly control parts of herself. When she is moving she will often do a turn in place with her gaster twisted downward like she was spinning on it.

I'll update later today when i get home and can check up on what's been happening. But the behavior was observed for hours.

Edited by Full_Frontal_Yeti, February 16 2023 - 8:11 AM.

yes she was dead when i checked on her. And I'd say sometime in the midden of the night almost certainly is when.

 

 

 

too noob to know if anything in the images is odd or if that's just a typical dead ant that likely died from old age.

 

Which i can't really guess on as i would not know the age of this colony, only that from my reading on Pogonomyrmex c. i understand typical workers to live about year or more. But as a 20+ colony from THA i have no idea what sort of time line that is to guess at worker age.

But i would not know what if any indications to look for to understand if the behavior was just an old dying ant vs. a sick ant that had some kind of issue that might relate the rest of the colony or the environment I've provided.

 

The one thing i notice is that the petiole and post-petiole(visible in the 1st image) appear larger/swollen compared to the a more typical example of Pogonomyrmex c.

 

As far as i can tell the rest of the colony is fine no other weird behaviors going on that i notice.

 

Thanks again for sparing any time and attenuation to this,

FFY.

Edited by Full_Frontal_Yeti, February 16 2023 - 2:39 PM.

An ant colony’s first generation of workers (nanitics) do not live as long as subsequent generations. This worker was probably a nanitic completing her lifespan.