i'd just say nanitics are so spindly, that they die easily. or the queen could have been brood boosted early on, and that worker is now finally dying.
I think Pogomyrmex workers, being rather tough in ant terms. Would probably not die for no reason.
Yeah I thought it was pretty odd. They are in a fortress III formicarium from Tarheel Ants. The colony is about 2 1/2 months old.
I did totally see a little insect walking around in the formicarium. Very small, able to walk between the glass and the nest material. I don't think it was any kind of mite. I don't think it was small enough but dunno.
Although I did notice that in the nanitics' last few days it was just very inactive. Hovering around in a couple spots, hanging on different parts of the nest etc. Not really contributing at all.
I am not in a cold climate. The room is temperature controlled to the right temp.
I've heard many different opinions on this so I'm not sure what to think. I had a very strange thing happen about a year ago with all my colonies. They appeared to die off by poison, my guess was exposure to pesticides outside. My colonies a year ago were kept in a room with the window completely open, exposed to a very urban-city environment.
Although this current harvester colony's nanitic didn't die at all the same way. The last time when the colonies died they all died in a weeks length period and was easily noticeable. They had all died *struggling* for life, getting back on their legs and stumbling back over on their backs. This ant seems to be dying like I've seen ants normally die. The bottom line of what I'm saying now is, this colony's first feeder protein, a red runner roach, was given to them 2 days ago. I keep this colony of roaches outside, possibly exposed to a pesticide. Feeding a roach from outside may have been what lead the nanitic to die. I don't think it was a parasite from the roach, I freeze all my feeders before I feed my animals. Just an idea. What do you guys think?
