10 replies to this topic

[Temno]

5-28-2025

 

Today i recieved 2 myrmecocystus testaceus queens from antlantis.com. props to nami for throwing in a free queen! Queen A has around 8-9 workers but no brood. Queen B arrived with a broken test tube and 2 workers. I do not see any brood. I think the queens may have eaten the brood during shipping. I have moved queen B to a bamboo test tube and queen A into a mini hearth. So far they have had some nectar and are sitting around at 80F. I will add pictures on my phone later. Please give me any tips to get these guys going. 

 

 

 

[Temno]

5-29-2025
Hey y’all the ants look to be doing great and colony A has some mealworm today.

Also does anyone know what colony A is doing??? Appears to be a dead worker and they are licking her? I am very confused.

[Temno]

https://imgur.com/aKQEo0Z

Edited by Temno, May 29 2025 - 5:45 PM.

[DudiGamer]

I will be watching this journal with great interest.

[Temno]

5-30-25

 

 

Still no eggs in sight. I added a cotton ball instead of a plug into the mini hearth and also added the nestmate on the right side. they have seemed to move to the water area. Ill keep you posted if anything else happens.

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

Just a quick tip. checking up on your ants too often can cause them lots of stress. And Myrmecocystus genus especially. So I would refrain from looking at them every day. Cheers

[Temno]

Just a quick tip. checking up on your ants too often can cause them lots of stress. And Myrmecocystus genus especially. So I would refrain from looking at them every day. Cheers

Yes i only check on colony A as they have a tiny bit of lighting and you can kinda make out their bodies in the mini hearth. I have not yet checked on colony B. Also Colony B is sitting in a homemade incubator at 78F with a lid 

[Temno]

Just checked on them. We lost a worker and are now down to around 11 workers. I still don't see any eggs and have fed them twice since i got them. I don't know if I'm doing anything wrong but ill have to wait and see.

[kiedeerk]

One big red flag is the absence of any brood when you got them. The only time a colony will not have any brood is during foundation and for some species during diapause. Healthy colonies should have brood of all stages. You likely bought neglected colonies from last year thus they even included a free colony. Both likely failing colonies from last year and not fresh colonies from this year.

I keep saying the same thing but too many people on here getting scammed by these sellers. These experiences give the sense that honeypots are difficult species or prone to death but in reality people have been just buying bad colonies and failing.

[Temno]

One big red flag is the absence of any brood when you got them. The only time a colony will not have any brood is during foundation and for some species during diapause. Healthy colonies should have brood of all stages. You likely bought neglected colonies from last year thus they even included a free colony. Both likely failing colonies from last year and not fresh colonies from this year.

I keep saying the same thing but too many people on here getting scammed by these sellers. These experiences give the sense that honeypots are difficult species or prone to death but in reality people have been just buying bad colonies and failing.

What do you think i should do then??

[kiedeerk]

 

One big red flag is the absence of any brood when you got them. The only time a colony will not have any brood is during foundation and for some species during diapause. Healthy colonies should have brood of all stages. You likely bought neglected colonies from last year thus they even included a free colony. Both likely failing colonies from last year and not fresh colonies from this year.

I keep saying the same thing but too many people on here getting scammed by these sellers. These experiences give the sense that honeypots are difficult species or prone to death but in reality people have been just buying bad colonies and failing.

What do you think i should do then??

 

 

only thing you can do is optimize their environment and provide ample source of proteins/sugars... and pray... But even in optimum condition one egg to worker cycle is like 1-1.5 month.