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Posted August 24 2025 - 5:24 AM
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I caught a Formica Subsericea queen about 2 years ago, and founded her all the way past 6 workers. She then started to stop laying eggs, and hasn't laid more than three at a time since then, and those vanish within the day. I found a massive colony in my backyard and kidnapped some pupae as a booster, but they have been helping her for about 3 months, and still no brood. Any ideas why?
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Posted August 24 2025 - 8:20 AM
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Well if the eggs are vanishing, that indicates that they are probably being eaten, which further suggests stress. What kind of set-up is your colony in? Is there too much space? Another thing you might want to check is temperature. If it's too cold the queen might not lay as many eggs. Is she exposed to light very often? That could also be a problem.
Manica invidia (1 queen, ~200 workers)
Manica invidia (1 colonies, 1 queens plus 3 workers)
Lasius niger (single queen, ~200 workers - naturalistic, predatory set-up)
Lasius americanus (1 colony, ~10 workers)
Tetramorium immigrans (3 colonies, 3 queens, ~ five workers each | 1 colony, 1 queen, ~1200 workers)
Formica aserva (aserva queen, ~15 Formica neorufibarbis workers)
"And God made...everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind.
And God saw that it was good." - Genesis 1:25
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Posted August 24 2025 - 10:44 AM
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Posted August 24 2025 - 5:51 PM
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yeah, i have them in a test tube connected to a plastic sauce cup, so i don't think it is environment shock. she has a heating cable so not too cold. i think antdrew is right, can queens just stop being fertile?
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Posted August 24 2025 - 5:59 PM
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She could also just be a dud queen.
Haha true. Occam's razor strikes again.
I think antdrew is right, can queens just stop being fertile?
I guess so? I mean it could happen, genetically or otherwise. Never experienced a queen successfully founding a colony and then just stopping, but maybe it's a rarer occurrence. Bad luck, I guess.
I also read from the link you gave us, and it does clearly state: "queens may stop laying eggs if the food supply is insufficient." So I guess it could be something like that, a food issue.
Manica invidia (1 queen, ~200 workers)
Manica invidia (1 colonies, 1 queens plus 3 workers)
Lasius niger (single queen, ~200 workers - naturalistic, predatory set-up)
Lasius americanus (1 colony, ~10 workers)
Tetramorium immigrans (3 colonies, 3 queens, ~ five workers each | 1 colony, 1 queen, ~1200 workers)
Formica aserva (aserva queen, ~15 Formica neorufibarbis workers)
"And God made...everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind.
And God saw that it was good." - Genesis 1:25
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Posted August 24 2025 - 6:01 PM
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yeah, i have them in a test tube connected to a plastic sauce cup, so i don't think it is environment shock. she has a heating cable so not too cold. i think antdrew is right, can queens just stop being fertile?
Around 99.9% of queens in the wild die. The vast majority are eaten, and a large percentage of the rest have bad genetics. Only the very few that have superb genetics will successfully found a colony in the wild. In captivity, the survival rate is higher, but dud queens are still very common.
"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds (including ants). And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version
Keeping:
Tetramorium immigrans Camponotus vicinus, modoc, novaeboracensis, herculeanus
Formica pallidefulva, argentea Solenopsis molesta
Formica cf. aserva Lasius brevicornis, neoniger
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Posted August 25 2025 - 7:05 AM
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okay. thank you for all your feedback. I did find another one of these queens yesterday while i was moving, so hopefully better luck this time!
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