11 replies to this topic

[kmoore79]

So for the last 4 years I have been taking care of my Formica Subsericea colony that I purchased from THA. They have been growing steadily and been in good health, however over the last few weeks they have had a massive die-off. I had them in a nest I made from ultra-cal 30 with 2 water reservoirs and kept the nest relatively clean without too much disturbance as these gals don't like to be disturbed. I've been feeding meal worms, sugar water, scrambled eggs and watermelon. Three weeks ago, I looked into the outworld and there were about 20 dead ants varying in size. I thought maybe it was time to build a new nest, so I did and that didn't change anything. Still major die-offs from anywhere to 10-30 dead ants per week. So I ordered a 3d printed nest and moved them to that and nothing has changed. More dead by the day. This morning I have found at least 50 dead. They move real slow, A LOT of twitching, A LOT of falling over, some curled up, but when I move them, they uncurl and move a bit, but then just lay there. There are 4 water test tubes, 2 3d printed water towers, and 2 3d printed sugar water towers. I just fed them scramby eggs last night and they ate it, but still dying off. I have picked up several and examined for mites, but I don't see any or the ones I check didn't have mites. 

[M_Ants]

Kinda sounds like poisoning. Make sure you're feeding pesticide free food. Fruit is often the culprit. In addition make sure you personally aren't in contact with anything poisonous and make sure to wash your hands before anything ant related. 

[kmoore79]

Ok thank you for the reply. I'll stay away from fruit and just stick to honey and sugar water. 

[M_Ants]

Fruit can be safe if it's organic and washed. Some people even take off any skin. 

[aznphenom]

Ok thank you for the reply. I'll stay away from fruit and just stick to honey and sugar water. 

So you did feed them fruit?

[ANTdrew]

Honey can carry trace pesticides, too. Sugar water or sunburst are the safest ways to go. 

[Full_Frontal_Yeti]

The description of the ants has to be something posionous to them in their environment.

 

While any fresh fruits or bee product has some potential to introduce pesticides.

Sticking with organic fruit and sunburst/sugarwater is the safest path to minimize introcudtion of harmful substances to their enclosure.

 

 

I've had no issues with organic apples, peaches, blueberries and such. But only ever organic fruits to be sure. And i make sure to wash and dry them well first.
 

[kmoore79]

I feed them organically grown watermelon with no pesticides used as was told by the farmer. I also use ByFormica sunburst sugar water. The only thing I can think of is I did build them a nest using "firebrick" from Amazon. Other than that, I wash my hands before messing with them. I feed only organic foods and scrambled eggs and sometimes meal worms from the pet store. At first I thought maybe the meal worms were "off ?", but I have fed them to my pavement ants and they're just fine. Only other thing was I seen these teeny tiny little brown bugs crawling around inside the nest and outworld, but they strayed away from the ants and I picked up a dead ant and took a macro shot of the ant and didn't see any of those bugs attached to the dead ant, because I thought they were mites. 

Edited by kmoore79, August 23 2023 - 7:15 AM.

[aznphenom]

Did you gassed your ants with alcohol/talc?

[kmoore79]

Heck no!! I am very leery about any kind of chemical going anywhere near my ant colonies. I use fluon on the top, but that is the extent of chems used.

[Locness]

Any mold issues? What's your heating arrangement like/temps?

[BleepingBleepers]

I feed them organically grown watermelon with no pesticides used as was told by the farmer. I also use ByFormica sunburst sugar water. The only thing I can think of is I did build them a nest using "firebrick" from Amazon. Other than that, I wash my hands before messing with them. I feed only organic foods and scrambled eggs and sometimes meal worms from the pet store. At first I thought maybe the meal worms were "off ?", but I have fed them to my pavement ants and they're just fine. Only other thing was I seen these teeny tiny little brown bugs crawling around inside the nest and outworld, but they strayed away from the ants and I picked up a dead ant and took a macro shot of the ant and didn't see any of those bugs attached to the dead ant, because I thought they were mites. 

1. The honey that you're feeding them, are they the same honey you've been feeding for the last few years? Mentioned in my journal about honey that might have pesticides etc. If it's a different batch of honey, I'd suspect it.

 

2. The firebricks seem to be nontoxic but if that's the only thing you've added, probably remove to undo that mistake, but you did mention moving them into other nests since and it still persists. If that's so, that would mean it's not the problem. Could even be a bad batch of firebricks that were somehow contaminated.

 

3. The little brown bugs like mites that scavenge / clean up crew? They look like beetles.

On the side note, I had a discussion with a fellow ant keeper about what appears to be tiny booklice, he said he actually had some colonies that he's had for quite awhile, a year or more, just up and failed and he had suspicion that they were because of them because many of his colonies that weren't infested did just fine. They look like springtails except they're often found along walls of houses and they're often seen somewhat by themself, foraging off of scraps or whatnot. He said some snuck their way into his colony and reproduced. That's why he urged not to leave any spacing in the formicarium to prevent anything from coming in, which is harder said than done. Some species of springtails like tropical pink springtails (Coecobrya sp. / Sinella curviseta) have been known to attack soft tissue or injured animals, even weakening and causing their death, they're not all as harmless as most think.

I think even if they are those mites, I would be wary of letting them go unchecked.

 

4. Could be a crash caused by insufficient diet. I don't keep your species of ants but camponotus ant keepers seem to run into that issue after a few years down the line. Also mentioned on my first post in my journal. May or may not apply.