5 replies to this topic

[GhostMouse]

I hope I spelled that right, I didn't look it up and my spellcheck doesn't think it's a word regardless. I can never remember. Anyway!

 

Hi everyone! I'm a brand new ant keeper. In September, I found a Formica subsericea queen completely by accident, caught her on impulse, intending at first to look up what she was and then either let her go or pass her on to a local ant enthusiast, but got so fascinated with the stuff I was looking up about her that woops now I ants. Her little cigar box is right next to my tarantulas on the shelf lol. 

 

She swanned around for a bit while I waited in hot suspense for her to start egg laying, then slept for about three months. Finally she woke up and laid I guess a whole two eggs because there are two little pupae. Shortly thereafter, I went to check on the water and food situation (I check her once per week) in the tube and saw that she was motionless in a corner and there was a lone baby ant curled up next to the water cotton, dead. It looked kind of premature if that's even a thing in ants- it was very curled up and small and kind of... looked not done yet. I figured she must be dead also. She did not respond to being touched. I'm kind of gutted, I was so looking forward to watching the colony grow. And how special to have a colony from the first ever queen ant you saw that you actually knew was one.

 

I posted about it in a Facebook group I belong to for fans of the AntsCanada youtube channel. A couple people suggested that she is hibernating/diopause-ing and not dead. But... she already did that. 

 

However, she did wake up following me putting a heat lamp on the "buggos shelf" (mostly for the benefit of the Ts, the rest don't care) and when I got a space heater for the room instead, I turned that heat lamp off since I wanted them warm rather than crispy fried. And recently here in Michigan USA it's been colder than previous with a bunch of snow so it's possible the shelf feels a bit colder than when the lamp was on it (though warmer than pre-space heater). 

 

Is it possible she went back to sleep? Should I wait and see if she's not actually dead? I mean, I stared at her with the usb microscope and moved her legs around with toothpicks and all that and she didn't move through the whole process. I'd be ecstatic if she's just a deep sleeper but I'm not sure if an ant queen will un-hibernate and then decide she wasn't done and go back in. 

 

Any thoughts or advice would be great. 

 

photos from the usb microscope "postmortem" shoot included

 

 

Attached Images

• 
• 

[TennesseeAnts]

Unfortunately, she is dead. Formica won't curl up in hibernation like Camponotus anyway, so it wouldn't be that. I can't give you a cause of death, but it could just be genetic.

[ANTdrew]

Formica queens are talented at kicking the bucket, unfortunately. Don’t give up; you’ll be able to find plenty of easier species in a few months.

[NickAnter]

I wonder if neogagates group are as bad as fusca group. More people should try looking for those, even if simply because they look pretty cool.

[GhostMouse]

Thank you for letting me know! It'd suck even harder to get my hopes up. I'm a little bit heartbroken- first ant I ever saw that was a newly mated queen, that I actually knew was one! It would have been very special to have her colony. I was kind of attached to her, she had a name and everything (Leizu, the mother of sericulture, because she was a silky field ant). Also, I never realized how pretty ants could be! Her abdomen had a shiny band, she looked a bit like a black colored cats-eye stone. When I first found her I made this little comic about her:

 

https://www.devianta...-Ants-851125995 

 

Maybe in the spring I can find another queen. I imagine I'll catch a bunch of poor little confused workers unless I happen to see a one-winged wonder again lol. Expect a lot of questions from me lol. I want to see the super cool formicarium and outworld I made get some use! 

 

I wish I knew what it was I did wrong so I could do... not that, next time. I tried to balance making sure she had food and water with not checking on her much, since I heard this species can be touchy about being looked at and I didn't want to stress her. I was even really careful when I picked up her box to keep it level and do it smoothly so she didn't get jostled. 

 

RIP Leizu, I'm sorry little queenie.

[Manitobant]

Its not your fault she died. Some queens just die for unknown reasons, and it seems like this was simply a random death. Next time, however, i wouldn’t feed your queen until her workers arrive, as subsericea are fully claustral. This was not the reason she died though.