29 replies to this topic

[NPLT]

Hi, so, I've had my Myrmica sp. queen which I named Gift for about a month now, and she had eggs for about 3 weeks + a couple days, and I am incredibly concerned none of them have developed into larvae yet. The lowest temperature she ever experienced was ~22,5 Celcius ( but usually staying around 23 to 24 Celcius ), she has her outworld with substrate ( she also brought quite a bit of it into her test tube ), she is overfeed with a cricket ( which is cut up in various ways to give her easier access to the meat ) and honey diluted with water, her test tube is also cushioned against vibrations with a lot of cotton, and shielded from light with a tube made from foil. What should I do?

[Antkeeper01]

i hope this isn't true but she could maybe be infertile

[NPLT]

i hope this isn't true but she could maybe be infertile

Her brood pile is large and when I look into her tube she is nearly always tending to it, she doesn't have wings, and lastly, I collected her very much outside Myrmica sp. flight season, which means that she flew in 2020 and hibernated, and I collected her while she was foraging. The thing is, none of her eggs become larvae.

[Broncos]

It could either be bad eggs, or she could sadly be infertile

[NPLT]

It could either be bad eggs, or she could sadly be infertile

Hmm, I see, I doubt a 2020 queen would survive this long though, since as I said, she most likely hibernated and I caught her foraging ( also, she's dealate ).

[Broncos]

It could either be bad eggs, or she could sadly be infertile

Hmm, I see, I doubt a 2020 queen would survive this long though, since as I said, she most likely hibernated and I caught her foraging ( also, she's dealate ).

I had a camponotus queen that laid eggs that never hatched for 2 years. She ended up dying.


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[NPLT]

 

 

It could either be bad eggs, or she could sadly be infertile

Hmm, I see, I doubt a 2020 queen would survive this long though, since as I said, she most likely hibernated and I caught her foraging ( also, she's dealate ).

I had a camponotus queen that laid eggs that never hatched for 2 years. She ended up dying.


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I see, so, what do you recommend I do? Especially since the same seems to be happening to my C. fallax ( though, she had eggs only for 2 weeks ).

[Antkeeper01]

 

 

 

It could either be bad eggs, or she could sadly be infertile

Hmm, I see, I doubt a 2020 queen would survive this long though, since as I said, she most likely hibernated and I caught her foraging ( also, she's dealate ).

I had a camponotus queen that laid eggs that never hatched for 2 years. She ended up dying.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I see, so, what do you recommend I do? Especially since the same seems to be happening to my C. fallax ( though, she had eggs only for 2 weeks ).

 

the camponotus is probably fine but i would hate to say this but you might have to euthanize gift

[Broncos]

It could either be bad eggs, or she could sadly be infertile

Hmm, I see, I doubt a 2020 queen would survive this long though, since as I said, she most likely hibernated and I caught her foraging ( also, she's dealate ).

I had a camponotus queen that laid eggs that never hatched for 2 years. She ended up dying.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I see, so, what do you recommend I do? Especially since the same seems to be happening to my C. fallax ( though, she had eggs only for 2 weeks ).

Wait and not check on her is really all you can do.


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[NPLT]

 

 

 

 

It could either be bad eggs, or she could sadly be infertile

Hmm, I see, I doubt a 2020 queen would survive this long though, since as I said, she most likely hibernated and I caught her foraging ( also, she's dealate ).

I had a camponotus queen that laid eggs that never hatched for 2 years. She ended up dying.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I see, so, what do you recommend I do? Especially since the same seems to be happening to my C. fallax ( though, she had eggs only for 2 weeks ).

Wait and not check on her is really all you can do.


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Alright, I currently check on her only once a week.

[ANTdrew]

If she is warm and undisturbed, all you can do really is wait. Don’t worry yet about your Camponotus; they take at least two months to get from eggs to workers. Ant season is just starting, so I’m sure you’ll find plenty of other queens.

[NPLT]

If she is warm and undisturbed, all you can do really is wait. Don’t worry yet about your Camponotus; they take at least two months to get from eggs to workers. Ant season is just starting, so I’m sure you’ll find plenty of other queens.

The only thing I'm really looking for is a Formica rufibarbis queen. But anyway, it's unusual for eggs to show no development after this much time right? Everytime I'm reading other people's journal they have larvae at 2 weeks at the latest.

[ANTdrew]

Yeah, that’s kind of unusual. My advice would be try to find some small, vigorous species like your L. emarginatus to learn with. I think they should fly a bit later in the summer.

[NPLT]

Yeah, that’s kind of unusual. My advice would be try to find some small, vigorous species like your L. emarginatus to learn with. I think they should fly a bit later in the summer.

( that's why I'm hunting for F. rufibarbis, except for the small part, I like big ants more ), aren't Myrmica also fairly easy?

Edited by NPLT, June 5 2021 - 2:36 PM.

[steelplant]

Maybe she's eating them then laying more. My Myrmica was doing this last year. I boosted her three worker pupae from a wild nest and finally she got larvae to take into hibernation. The biggest has since eclosed ... and it's a drone. So it looks like she's infertile.

The Myrmica queens i caught months later, during nuptial flight season, started laying after hibernation and all have workers already.

If you can catch another Myrmica queen, maybe they could found together, and the infertile queen could do all the running and fetching.

[NPLT]

Maybe she's eating them then laying more. My Myrmica was doing this last year. I boosted her three worker pupae from a wild nest and finally she got larvae to take into hibernation. The biggest has since eclosed ... and it's a drone. So it looks like she's infertile.

The Myrmica queens i caught months later, during nuptial flight season, started laying after hibernation and all have workers already.

If you can catch another Myrmica queen, maybe they could found together, and the infertile queen could do all the running and fetching.

Hmm, I see, I don't think I could boost her, 1. I don't have the guts to disrupt a nest for brood, and 2. The Myrmica in my yard I'm fairly certain are not the same Myrmica sp. as my queen, thanks to their queen rushing in to greet me ( and try stinging ) when I first stumbled onto them, and I managed to spot small propedal spines on the queen, while my queen has very pronounced propedal spines. Same reason why I can't catch another queen, because it's impossible to ID her without microscope, I don't know if any queen I'd catch would be of the same species.

 

I hope she is not eating them and laying more, that is my biggest worry, but I try to shield her from any and all stressors, I even hold my breath while looking into her setup.

[steelplant]

Tough one. It sounds like you're doing everything right though, so i guess it's in the hands (feet?) of the ant gods now. I found a Myrmica drone (just one species round here) and introduced them after a few months of no larvae, but i guess it didn't work. Might try that again though.

[NPLT]

Tough one. It sounds like you're doing everything right though, so i guess it's in the hands (feet?) of the ant gods now. I found a Myrmica drone (just one species round here) and introduced them after a few months of no larvae, but i guess it didn't work. Might try that again though.

I think mandibles would be best since it's the mandibles the ants use to modify their enviroment. And thanks, I hope she'll finally get larvae.

[Kaelwizard]

 

Maybe she's eating them then laying more. My Myrmica was doing this last year. I boosted her three worker pupae from a wild nest and finally she got larvae to take into hibernation. The biggest has since eclosed ... and it's a drone. So it looks like she's infertile.

The Myrmica queens i caught months later, during nuptial flight season, started laying after hibernation and all have workers already.

If you can catch another Myrmica queen, maybe they could found together, and the infertile queen could do all the running and fetching.

Hmm, I see, I don't think I could boost her, 1. I don't have the guts to disrupt a nest for brood, and 2. The Myrmica in my yard I'm fairly certain are not the same Myrmica sp. as my queen, thanks to their queen rushing in to greet me ( and try stinging ) when I first stumbled onto them, and I managed to spot small propedal spines on the queen, while my queen has very pronounced propedal spines. Same reason why I can't catch another queen, because it's impossible to ID her without microscope, I don't know if any queen I'd catch would be of the same species.

 

I hope she is not eating them and laying more, that is my biggest worry, but I try to shield her from any and all stressors, I even hold my breath while looking into her setup.

 

Reason #2 probably doesn't matter. I see people use brood from other species in the same genera all the time, and I thought I heard about someone using brood from a different genus before as well.

Edited by Kaelwizard, June 7 2021 - 5:03 AM.

[NPLT]

 

 

Maybe she's eating them then laying more. My Myrmica was doing this last year. I boosted her three worker pupae from a wild nest and finally she got larvae to take into hibernation. The biggest has since eclosed ... and it's a drone. So it looks like she's infertile.

The Myrmica queens i caught months later, during nuptial flight season, started laying after hibernation and all have workers already.

If you can catch another Myrmica queen, maybe they could found together, and the infertile queen could do all the running and fetching.

Hmm, I see, I don't think I could boost her, 1. I don't have the guts to disrupt a nest for brood, and 2. The Myrmica in my yard I'm fairly certain are not the same Myrmica sp. as my queen, thanks to their queen rushing in to greet me ( and try stinging ) when I first stumbled onto them, and I managed to spot small propedal spines on the queen, while my queen has very pronounced propedal spines. Same reason why I can't catch another queen, because it's impossible to ID her without microscope, I don't know if any queen I'd catch would be of the same species.

 

I hope she is not eating them and laying more, that is my biggest worry, but I try to shield her from any and all stressors, I even hold my breath while looking into her setup.

 

Reason #2 probably doesn't matter. I see people use brood from other species in the same genera all the time, and I thought I heard about someone using brood from a different genus before as well.

 

I see, still, I'm not about to disturb a nest.

 

 

 

 

Anyway, so, this sunday, uh, while feeding I quickly peeped and maybe it's just the light playing tricks on me, but the brood seemed... yellower, should I, and how much, should I be concerned, does it mean the brood is dead?

Edited by NPLT, June 7 2021 - 8:24 AM.