4 replies to this topic

[Formiga]

Today I've checked on my five Formica fusca queens that did not have produced their first ants yet.

 

Two of them were dead and another one was very week and immobile, having eaten all her brood, with her gaster very flat. I think she was giving up on life.

 

One pattern I've noticed: All of them were on the wet cotton inside their test tubes.

 

Is this a normal behavior, do they go there for their last moments and to die?

 

Have you also observed yourselves this behavior?

Thanks for sharing, guys!

[dspdrew]

They will die anywhere in the tube.

[Formiga]

Weird...

I'm having a dying Formica fusca queen (that might be already dead in this precise moment) that I've tried to introduce to another colony whose queen died and the 1st chance she has, she goes straight into the moist cotton and stays there.

 

Meanwhile she was rejected by the colony (or has rejected it, just don't know, but since she was very weak I assume the former) and went into the water syringe, very lethargic, going again for the wet cotton.

 

This has been a multi-subject issue for me as a noob and I'm still a bit confused in my observational and learning process.

 

Someone mentioned hibernation on another topic.

On one side I don't think so because the temperature here it's constant 25º (77F for you guys). Unless the instinctual mindset would be something like "It's the end of the summer, I haven't managed to breed any ants, I'm exhausted, I don't have enough strength to lay any more eggs and there's not enough time for them to hatch until the cold time arrives, so I'm just going into hibernation (or giving up on life)".

Does this makes any sense??

[Kaelwizard]

Well it would be more humid and moist by the wet cotton and they can drink from it, so they probably hang out there for that reason and happen to die there. Queens often keep the brood by the wet cotton as well, as the conditions are better there for many species.

[Formiga]

Well it would be more humid and moist by the wet cotton and they can drink from it, so they probably hang out there for that reason and happen to die there. Queens often keep the brood by the wet cotton as well, as the conditions are better there for many species.

 

I guess you're right. Summers here are a bit dry, so it makes sense.

 

And regarding keeping the brood near the wet cotton, I've also observed this.

 

 

Thanks!