61 replies to this topic

[futurebird]

I feel like such an idiot. A klutz. I killed my Dorymyrmex queen while changing the tube to their nest. Sometimes I feel like they do much better when I just don't mess with them at all. Every bad thing that's happened has been because I did something.  I was trying to connect an additional nest since they have been growing so well, and all of them were on the other side of the little box, but the queen spazed out and ran over to the tube and got hurt. 

 

They have a massive pile of brood. A beautiful outworld that I at last got right. And I murdered their queen. I should be sent to jail. She was such a lovely queen. Kept her wings for three years.  I'm going to miss her and I'm devastated that I won't get to see the colony grow. 

 

I'm going to be even MORE careful. But I'm also not going to get paralyzed like I can't do anything with them. Anyone in NYC want a pile of Dorymyrmex bureni brood?

 

At first I didn't even want to say anything here about this, but that's silly. I wish people would post more here about how things go wrong. The lesson here is that changing nests and tubing is always dangerous to your colony. And I KNOW that. But, yeah. It's the worst part of this hobby how fragile they are and how responsible YOU will always be for what happens to them. I feel like such a monster. Like I shouldn't even be near any ants. Why didn't I find a different way to change that tube? Am I too sensitive? IDK. I really love my ants. I try to be good to them in exchange for the strange way they have to live. I try to be grateful for the things I learn from them and the joy I get from watching them. But maybe that queen would have had a much better life in a sidewalk crack in a quiet corner of the park. Poor girl. Poor colony. 

 

Any recommendations for the queenless colony? They will keep going for months, when my Pogonomyrmex queen died it was a whole year until they were all gone. They even laid male eggs. So many male alates. Then I had to figure out what to do with those boys. 

 

I wonder if the Dorymyrmex will do that.

Edited by futurebird, April 3 2024 - 12:22 PM.

[dspdrew]

I can't remember if I've ever killed a queen like that, but I know I've accidentally killed workers before when the colony was struggling and only had like 2 or 3 total.

[antsriondel]

Yup. This happened to me with my first Liometopum colony and I felt horrible. It is so hard to say goodbye to a colony you saw grow from a small founding Queen. It just sucks. 

[Chime]

I'm so sorry for your loss, maybe you can find/buy a new queen of the same species? (Or maybe similar, in rare cases)
I'm sure she had a great, comfortable life with her colony, and there's ALWAYS hope for it to still continue ^^

[Manitobant]

I'm sure most people have done something like this before. I remember a few years ago the glass came off of my tar heel ants casita by magnetizing to my tweezers and then immediately snapped back on, crushing the queen of my first polyergus Mexicanus colony


I still miss her…

Attached Images

• 

Edited by Manitobant, February 13 2024 - 7:11 AM.

[FormiCanada]

I feel like such an idiot. A klutz. I killed my Dorymyrmex queen while changing the tube to their nest. Sometimes I feel like they do much better when I just don't mess with them at all. Every bad thing that's happened has been because I did something.  I was trying to connect an additional nest since they have been growing so well, and all of them were on the other side of the little box, but the queen spazed out and ran over to the tube and got hurt. 

 

They have a massive pile of brood. A beautiful outworld that I at last got right. And I murdered their queen. I should be sent to jail. She was such a lovely queen. Kept her wings for three years.  I'm going to miss her and I'm devastated that I won't get to see the colony grow. 

 

I'm going to be even MORE careful. But I'm also not going to get paralyzed like I can't do anything with them. Anyone in NYC want a pile of Dorymyrmex bureni brood?

 

At first I didn't even want to say anything here about this, but that's silly. I wish people would post more here about how things go wrong. The lesson here is that changing nests and tubing is always dangerous to your colony. And I KNOW that. But, yeah. It's the worst part of this hobby how fragile they are and how responsible YOU will always be for what happens to them. I feel like such a monster. Like I shouldn't even be near any ants. Why didn't I find a different way to change that tube? Am I too sensitive? IDK. I really love my ants. I try to be good to them in exchange for the strange way they have to live. I try to be grateful for the things I learn from them and the joy I get from watching them. But maybe that queen would have had a much better life in a sidewalk crack in a quiet corner of the park. Poor girl. Poor colony. 

 

Any recommendations for the queenless colony? They will keep going for months, when my Pogonomyrmex queen died it was a whole year until they were all gone. They even laid male eggs. So many male alates. Then I had to figure out what to do with those boys. 

 

I wonder if the Dorymyrmex will do that.

 

 

 

I'm sorry to hear that! I would recommend putting your queen in the fridge for approx 15-30 minutes if your queen / colony is not heat-sensitive like Atta. This will slow them down and make things much easier if you're looking to manually move your ants.

[BleepingBleepers]

Yikes, sorry to hear that and same thing with me!! (well not the Queen, just workers)

 

You were in my other post too

 

https://www.formicul...die-so-easil-y/

 

I killed two of them because I got impatient, could've done better to clear them out, but they got killed during maintenance. But yours was the Queen, yikes man, that is harsh     

I notice my Ecto Queen, as soon as there's a moderate amount of disturbance in the main nest, she'd run into the travel tube, kinda almost hilarious watching her vacate and bulldoze her way past all the workers.

 

And yeah, that's why I tell people, the video is real cute on youtube until sht happens and then I bet it's all silent.

 

That's why I also try to keep it real in my journal, record deaths and fails (like me mistaking a median for a major etc), it's all a learning experience and sht does happen....

 

I think I recall your videos, you had a nice a** outworld didn't you unless I'm mistaken? Real big, museum showcase almost. Dang...

I make youtube videos too, check my stuff out as well. Good luck to us both in the future, I'm a major F up too

[Mushu]

I'm sure most people have done something like this before. I remember a few years ago the glass came off of my tar heel ants casita by magnetizing to my tweezers and then immediately snapped back on, crushing the queen of my first polyergus Mexicanus colony


I still miss her…

 

Ouch feels like perhaps plastic tweezers would be better. I had similar happen when the tweezer got magnetized but I didn't pull the glass off the mini hearth.

[Mushu]

I feel like such an idiot. A klutz. I killed my Dorymyrmex queen while changing the tube to their nest. Sometimes I feel like they do much better when I just don't mess with them at all. Every bad thing that's happened has been because I did something.  I was trying to connect an additional nest since they have been growing so well, and all of them were on the other side of the little box, but the queen spazed out and ran over to the tube and got hurt. 

 

They have a massive pile of brood. A beautiful outworld that I at last got right. And I murdered their queen. I should be sent to jail. She was such a lovely queen. Kept her wings for three years.  I'm going to miss her and I'm devastated that I won't get to see the colony grow. 

 

I'm going to be even MORE careful. But I'm also not going to get paralyzed like I can't do anything with them. Anyone in NYC want a pile of Dorymyrmex bureni brood?

 

At first I didn't even want to say anything here about this, but that's silly. I wish people would post more here about how things go wrong. The lesson here is that changing nests and tubing is always dangerous to your colony. And I KNOW that. But, yeah. It's the worst part of this hobby how fragile they are and how responsible YOU will always be for what happens to them. I feel like such a monster. Like I shouldn't even be near any ants. Why didn't I find a different way to change that tube? Am I too sensitive? IDK. I really love my ants. I try to be good to them in exchange for the strange way they have to live. I try to be grateful for the things I learn from them and the joy I get from watching them. But maybe that queen would have had a much better life in a sidewalk crack in a quiet corner of the park. Poor girl. Poor colony. 

 

Any recommendations for the queenless colony? They will keep going for months, when my Pogonomyrmex queen died it was a whole year until they were all gone. They even laid male eggs. So many male alates. Then I had to figure out what to do with those boys. 

 

I wonder if the Dorymyrmex will do that.

This is definitely a fear of mine everytime I plug in a tube. I squished a worker trying to run out of the test tube when trying to plug back in the cotton quickly, they are indeed fragile. The best we can do is try to be careful but poop happens. I think I would probably just be a bit more patient and let them freak out or not freak out and do it slowly. 

Edited by Mushu, February 14 2024 - 2:36 AM.

[Locness]

Smashed my queen between the glass and nest once trying to clean it. I don't bother cleaning that much anymore.

[JesseTheAntKid]

Accidentally killed my Monomorium minimum queen. She was so tiny and I didn't pay attention to what I had done to her abdomen, just that it was an alate on the floor. Dead in her test tube. RIP

[The_Gaming-gate]

Keep that brood, if you manage to find a related queen you can boost her and keep the legacy alive!

[futurebird]

Two weeks ago I accidentally killed the queen of my cone ant colony (Dorymyrmex bureni) The guilt has tortured me. But they keep going the industrious little things. And all the eggs the queen left are now nearly adults. But what is this? New eggs?

I can’t find any information on if this species can lay eggs when the queen is gone. If they grow up to be males that will confirm it. The boys will need to wait for winter to break to fly—

 

Whatever happens I get to keep watching them for many months to come. I really love Dorymyrmex. How are they always so active and lively while being so small?

 

[JesseTheAntKid]

Maybe (I have no idea if this will work or not but it does with some species of ant and honeybees) you could try requeening, futurebird?

[futurebird]

Yeah that can work with bees, but not with any ants that I know of. They would attack a queen not from their colony. There are some notions about "washing" the queen and introducing her to callows then older ants slowly, but it makes more sense to use the brood from this colony to boost a new one if I could find one. But the window for that will close when the brood piles ecloses. 

[ZATrippit]

They're possibly trophic eggs.

[Idontexist]

Is there any way you can replace the queen? as a last resort of course

[futurebird]

It looks like my queenless colony has fattened up some of this generation enough to produce alates. If there are male and female alates maybe there is a chance to found a new colony? (unlikely, simulated nuptial flights are complex) I’m still so amazed and proud of these relentless girls! These ants have been just amazing. 

 

 

I think these could be queens mostly, not males. Well we will see. NY is a little too far north to just let them fly in good conscious. If you are from points south and want them and will pick them up... Lemme know. 

[futurebird]

Every time I see their dark little eyes all I can think is how I've failed them!

[Artisan_Ants]

I feel your pain… I remember many years ago when I was just so into ant keeping and caught my very first queen with no wings(I believe it was an P. imparis queen in a dark morph since I caught her sometime in April or May). The thing is that I only found one of queen and three days later, she died. I was so sad that day but I didn’t give up since. Anyways, those larvae look HUGE. I believe that male and female (queen) larvae are the same size but I believe that (correct me If I’m wrong on this) get fed just a little more than males in order to become a queen. I mean, the ants development system is similar compared to that of bees, in which; bees have a set caste as a worker but it can change on what is being fed to them. I just don’t have the right words to explain the determination of castes in ants…