7 replies to this topic

[DivineComedian]

(Bear with me, this is my first time using a forum like this, sorry for any mistakes in advance)

 

Around June 3 i had a massive T. Immigrans flight on my porch (had my porch light on), I ended up with around 70-80 queens in total, all of which had ripped their wings off. Around June 10-13 the queens began to lay their first eggs, now, fast forward to today and their egg piles have grown considerably.. however their eggs haven't developed at all. I should mention that during the first two weeks of having them, they were kept in a rather cold room, usually below 70F but i decided to move them somewhere warmer as the aforementioned lack of development was bothering me.

 

Any ideas on what's going on? I caught a few more queens like 2 weeks ago but i decided to keep them in a cold spot to test if it was really the cold affecting their development, and while it was much slower, one of the queens has gotten her first few larva (only 1 for now)
I really don't want to consider infertility as a possibility, and frankly they seem so promising given how much they care for their egg piles.

[Artisan_Ants]

(Bear with me, this is my first time using a forum like this, sorry for any mistakes in advance)

 

Around June 3 i had a massive T. Immigrans flight on my porch (had my porch light on), I ended up with around 70-80 queens in total, all of which had ripped their wings off. Around June 10-13 the queens began to lay their first eggs, now, fast forward to today and their egg piles have grown considerably.. however their eggs haven't developed at all. I should mention that during the first two weeks of having them, they were kept in a rather cold room, usually below 70F but i decided to move them somewhere warmer as the aforementioned lack of development was bothering me.

 

Any ideas on what's going on? I caught a few more queens like 2 weeks ago but i decided to keep them in a cold spot to test if it was really the cold affecting their development, and while it was much slower, one of the queens has gotten her first few larva (only 1 for now)
I really don't want to consider infertility as a possibility, and frankly they seem so promising given how much they care for their egg piles.

Same thing is happening to me unfortunately. Caught lots of queen queens 3-4 weeks ago when Tetra nuptial flights peaked in my area. Most of my other queens have larvae (even my most recent queen has larvae) but this one triple queen colony has no larvae yet even though they are the first few queens I caught and introduced to a proper setup. I also tried heating them (I used a lamp, but obviously made a cover for the tube, resulting in the test tube temperature to be around 77-79 degrees Fahrenheit, fairly close to the recommended temperature for this species. Surprisingly, even this showed no development. Queens were heated for 1 1/2 weeks) but still saw no larvae. Even I refuse to admit infertility because the day after introducing the trio to a proper setup, two alates completely shed their wings and there was already a batch of eggs (of course, this still doesn't rule out the fact that infertility is possible). 

 

I think the best thing to do is to keep them heated like you already mentioned. Make sure their tubes are going to at least 80 degrees if possible as you did mention your room is lower than 70 degrees Fahrenheit which below optimal temperature for most species to grow. I mean my other queens that have larvae are not being heated and are developing fine in 74-76 degrees Fahrenheit, so I don't know what it is, but I feel like it's just something natural with this species.

[DivineComedian]

 

(Bear with me, this is my first time using a forum like this, sorry for any mistakes in advance)

 

Around June 3 i had a massive T. Immigrans flight on my porch (had my porch light on), I ended up with around 70-80 queens in total, all of which had ripped their wings off. Around June 10-13 the queens began to lay their first eggs, now, fast forward to today and their egg piles have grown considerably.. however their eggs haven't developed at all. I should mention that during the first two weeks of having them, they were kept in a rather cold room, usually below 70F but i decided to move them somewhere warmer as the aforementioned lack of development was bothering me.

 

Any ideas on what's going on? I caught a few more queens like 2 weeks ago but i decided to keep them in a cold spot to test if it was really the cold affecting their development, and while it was much slower, one of the queens has gotten her first few larva (only 1 for now)
I really don't want to consider infertility as a possibility, and frankly they seem so promising given how much they care for their egg piles.

Same thing is happening to me unfortunately. Caught lots of queen queens 3-4 weeks ago when Tetra nuptial flights peaked in my area. Most of my other queens have larvae (even my most recent queen has larvae) but this one triple queen colony has no larvae yet even though they are the first few queens I caught and introduced to a proper setup. I also tried heating them (I used a lamp, but obviously made a cover for the tube, resulting in the test tube temperature to be around 77-79 degrees Fahrenheit, fairly close to the recommended temperature for this species. Surprisingly, even this showed no development. Queens were heated for 1 1/2 weeks) but still saw no larvae. Even I refuse to admit infertility because the day after introducing the trio to a proper setup, two alates completely shed their wings and there was already a batch of eggs (of course, this still doesn't rule out the fact that infertility is possible). 

 

I think the best thing to do is to keep them heated like you already mentioned. Make sure their tubes are going to at least 80 degrees if possible as you did mention your room is lower than 70 degrees Fahrenheit which below optimal temperature for most species to grow. I mean my other queens that have larvae are not being heated and are developing fine in 74-76 degrees Fahrenheit, so I don't know what it is, but I feel like it's just something natural with this species.

 

It is somewhat reassuring to hear other people having similar problems as me. I'll believe its infertility if by the end of this season they haven't developed at all.. really don't want that but it's whatever. Hopefully someone can chime in with some answers as this is really odd behavior.

[ANTdrew]

How warm is the warmer spot? I find it highly unlikely that all 70-80 queens are unfertilized, unless you were catching them all as soon as they came out of a nest by your porch? Temperature is usually the issue with situations like this.

[DivineComedian]

How warm is the warmer spot? I find it highly unlikely that all 70-80 queens are unfertilized, unless you were catching them all as soon as they came out of a nest by your porch? Temperature is usually the issue with situations like this.

 

Like.. above 77F? I don't have the exact temp atm but it def is around that and above it on real hot days. 
And no i wasn't catching them as soon as they came out of their nest, though i believe a colony was residing inside my porch as my door was covered with only queens that were trying to take off.... into my porch light, regardless, i mostly caught ones that had already broken their wings off, the ones i caught that still had wings never produced eggs.
 

Also, could humidity play a role? 

[ANTdrew]

Are they in a test tube setup? If so, humidity should be fine.

[DivineComedian]

Are they in a test tube setup? If so, humidity should be fine.

 

yes though currently all of the test tubes are stored together with each other in a tub/container, i wasn't sure if that would affect them, in any case i plan on trying to make something that can properly hold all of them and would allow for heating.

[RushmoreAnts]

Fascinating. I currently have 12 founding queens, and they have a 100% success rate. Was the parent colony nearby? If so, they could be unmated. Eggs not developing is a telltale sign of not being fertilized.