32 replies to this topic

[Kaelwizard]

 

Thinking of ordering a ten worker colony but I don't want them to die again. 

Was it a DOA or did they die when you had them?  Who did you buy them from?

 

I bought them off THA shortly after they appeared in his store. I think about a week or 2 the a worker lost function of some of its legs. It became increasingly weak over the next couple days it died. Then the next worker, and the next, and so on. I think the queen died before the final worker. It was the most horrifying thing I have seen happen to an ant colony.

[Devi]

 

 

Thinking of ordering a ten worker colony but I don't want them to die again. 

Was it a DOA or did they die when you had them?  Who did you buy them from?

 

I bought them off THA shortly after they appeared in his store. I think about a week or 2 the a worker lost function of some of its legs. It became increasingly weak over the next couple days it died. Then the next worker, and the next, and so on. I think the queen died before the final worker. It was the most horrifying thing I have seen happen to an ant colony.

 

Wow.  That's not good...  I've never heard of that happening.  I hope you can get some healthy Pogonomyrmex at some point.

[Devi]

Back with some Pogonomyrmex news!  was really worried about this colony for a bit, as they seemed to not adjust to their new labyrinth very well.  They had lost about 15 workers, which was a substantial amount comparing that to their overall 50 workers or so.  I lucked out in receiving a bigger colony from THA, because it it was too much smaller they might've not made it.  Anyway, after a few months of close monitoring and the realizing I was monitoring too closely, I refilled all water supply areas and gave them plenty of heat and seeds, and just let them be for a few weeks.  I came back to a brood pile that wasn't looking too good with some shriveled up brood.  The next day though, the queen had laid some new egg batches, which seemed to kick-start the production.  In the last month or so, brood production has been going like crazy, and I have seen one worker enclose so far, with about 8 pupae, 10 larvae, and dozens of eggs, all being carefully handled by the workers.  I am so glad this colony is finally doing well, and really glad that they seem to have finally gotten comfortable with their formicarium.  Don't want to type too much, just want to update on the progress.  As always, thanks for reading!

 

-Devi

 

Thought this would be a good pic, as it captures Queen Maphys, the brood, and some seeds. 

Edited by Devi, April 24 2021 - 7:17 PM.

[ANTdrew]

Excellent!

[NoveltyAntsYT]

update???

[Kaelwizard]

update???

It was updated 4 days ago...

[Devi]

Haven't been active for a while, but I thought I'd update this in my free time.  Over the winter the health of the colony deteriorated pretty quickly.  I didn't put them in hibernation, but took off their heat for the winter.  A few months ago I added the heat again and since then have really been trying to get their health back up.  They had about 50 workers at one point but are down to about 15 or so.  They've got water, heat, and plenty of seeds, but at this point the colony is much to small for the formicarium they are in.  I'm hoping they'll make a recovery, I've been keeping a close eye on them for the last few weeks and they seem to be stabilizing somewhat.  I'll update this in the future, hopefully with good news.  It's been a while, but I hope everyone is doing well!  

[ANTdrew]

Hey, man! Welcome back! Hope they recover.

[Devi]

I think I figured it out.

 

Recently, I've been keeping the Pogonomyrmex under very close observation while trying to disturb them as little as possible.  For the longest time, I couldn't figure out why they were dying off.  I think I did today, however.  For some background, about two weeks ago I saw a worker in the outworld seeming to be struggling in a test tube with water.  I wasn't sure why, so I pulled the tube out to do a closer inspection.  I realized that a tiny strand of cotton had gotten entangled in one of the worker's legs.  A couple hours later, I came back to find her dead.  I didn't think too much of it at the time, just thinking it was a freak coincidence.  I noticed it again today, and it got me thinking.  What if the cotton is what's causing the deaths?  I surveyed 15 dead ants from the outworld and closely inspected them for cotton strands.  It is incredibly hard to see, which is why I haven't ever seen it before, but an astounding 12 out of 15 dead workers had small bits of cotton entangled in their limbs.  

 

I promptly pulled out all of the remaining cotton from the outworld, and I'm going to finish cleaning it out after I finish posting this.  Another peculiar thing is that a lot of the dead workers seemed to have a few eggs stuck in the cotton, which is wild to me.  Not entirely sure what's going on, but hopefully after cleaning everything up, and removing cotton, it might help...  

 

I'll keep this updated because I am intrigued to see if this is the problem.  The one thing that makes me doubt it is that for the past month or so, there hasn't been much brood at all, just some rogue eggs at times.  Any advice would be appreciated.  Thanks!

[ANTdrew]

Definitely get some byFormica liquid feeders ASAP. You’ll be able to see if things improve in that case.

[Devi]

I'm making sure to keep the byFormica feeder topped off in hopes that the colony stays hydrated.  Beyond that, they haven't been laying eggs and there is no brood, which is the most concerning to me.  They have heat, seeds and water.  

 

Any ideas or tips?  All suggestions would be appreciated as I am kind of considering them doomed. 

[Devi]

EDIT:  

 

I finally got footage of a worker spazzing out, in which death follows soon after. I'm not sure what's causing it but please give advice.  Has anyone ever seen this before?

 

https://imgur.com/gallery/qPgq8IO

 

 

30 minutes later:

 

The plot thickens.  I was scouring the outworld for anything that looked out of place when I saw this brown thing that somewhat resembled a tiny mealworm.  I removed it and observed it for a bit, while being moderately panicked.  Cheeto kindly identified it as a dermestid beetle larva, which are commonly included in crickets to clean up after reptiles.  Apparently, they aren't inherently harmful on their own, but I have no clue how it got there.  All I've been feeding the colony are seeds and water, so I'm moderately concerned with how that got in there...  

 

I've honestly kind of given up on this colony, it's just one problem after another, but I'm hopeful they'll pull through.  Please let me know if you've every experienced this/what happened.  Thanks for reading.

Edited by Devi, May 2 2022 - 7:20 PM.

[AntsDakota]

EDIT:  

 

I finally got footage of a worker spazzing out, in which death follows soon after. I'm not sure what's causing it but please give advice.  Has anyone ever seen this before?

 

https://imgur.com/gallery/qPgq8IO

 

 

30 minutes later:

 

The plot thickens.  I was scouring the outworld for anything that looked out of place when I saw this brown thing that somewhat resembled a tiny mealworm.  I removed it and observed it for a bit, while being moderately panicked.  Cheeto kindly identified it as a dermestid beetle larva, which are commonly included in crickets to clean up after reptiles.  Apparently, they aren't inherently harmful on their own, but I have no clue how it got there.  All I've been feeding the colony are seeds and water, so I'm moderately concerned with how that got in there...  

 

I've honestly kind of given up on this colony, it's just one problem after another, but I'm hopeful they'll pull through.  Please let me know if you've every experienced this/what happened.  Thanks for reading.

She looks... black. Quite unusual for an occidentalis worker. It could possibly be a sign of a nematoid parasitic infection.

 

*Never mind, it was the lighting.

Edited by AntsDakota, May 2 2022 - 7:28 PM.