4 replies to this topic

[SDinLA]

I have a Camponotus colony that started out as a queen and 10 ants about 1 year ago and is not like about 50-60 workers. They have been thriving with lots of eggs and brood. Just recently I've being finding 2-4 ants dead in the out world almost everyday for a week now. They have been getting thee same variety of food and water with nothing new introduced. I have noticed that some of the workers are fighting with each other and attacking each other in the outworld which seems really odd. I have also noticed that there are a lot more workers in the out world running around and they are climbing up the walls a lot more than before. It looks like they're trying to escape. Is it possible that they want a new home so they have more room and they're killing each other and themselves looking for a place to expand to? I have them in a mini hearth, connected to a mini hearth XL, a medium sized tar heel ants outworld, and I also have a few other areas connected for them to explore. Any suggestions as to what might be going on would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

[SleepyAsianAnter]

Worker lifespans are about a year, and workers dying of old age tend to run as far away from the colony as possible, which might explain your predicament. I wouldn't worry unless the amount of new workers being eclosed is lower than the number of workers dying.

[ANTdrew]

Worker lifespans are about a year, and workers dying of old age tend to run as far away from the colony as possible, which might explain your predicament. I wouldn't worry unless the amount of new workers being eclosed is lower than the number of workers dying.

I agree. Healthy workers can also sense when an older worker is on their last legs, and they force them out of the nest. Older workers will also transition to foraging outside of the nest more and more.

[SDinLA]

Thanks for the response. They finally just expanded into the new extended area I attached to their current home. Attached are some pictures of all the eggs they moved in.

Attached Images

• 
• 
• 

[TestSubjectOne]

It is natural for workers to die off, but losing a good portion of your colony that quickly should not happen - 2 ants dying every day for a week would be 14, far too many to die from age. The only time I have seen ants attack their own colony members was when I was transporting a Liometopum occidentale colony by car, and over the two hour trip the constant jostling of the car caused their poorly-ventilated enclosure to accumulate enough warning pheromones to make them fight, and kill about half of the 50 worker colony. I don't think that is a likely cause unless they are being disturbed a lot, but if there have been any changes in their environment recently, I would suggest reducing it or moving their setup. Adding another nest expansion could also solve their problems if limited space is the cause, and if nothing else it looks like their brood is large and healthy.