5 replies to this topic

[IronSmack]

Hi,

 

It's really hard to find any information on this species and I'm starting to worry if everything is ok with my new colony. On september 6 first nanitics enclosed. Queen already had some new eggs laid at that point. It's been over a month now and I still don't see any larvae. Only egg pile increasing. They've been kept at quite hot 25-26 degree Celsius.

 

Queen and Her 4 workers behave quite normal. They accept protein and do normal ant stuff. But with only eggs. There isn't much to do so they are idle 90% of time.

 

Question is: Does they really develop that slowly? Or is there some sort of problem? Maybe they want to hibernate very early? 

 

I also have Lasius Niger colony founded last year. Which is also my first attempt at ant keeping. And there seems to be night and day difference between those two types of ants.

 

Forgive for my phone, terrible macro photos

[ANTdrew]

It sounds like they are ready for diapause. Captive colonies don’t follow all the signs or normal timelines for diapause.

[IronSmack]

Thanks for confirming my suspicions. Standard 2-3 months will work for them and 5-10 Celcius temperature? Or they are also different from L. Niger in that regard also?

[ANTdrew]

Go for at least three months, perhaps longer if they come from a northern climate.

[IronSmack]

Central Europe, Poland to be precise. I'll try to aim for late January. Which would be close to 4 months.

[IronSmack]

I started to cool them down. But noticed queen laying on her side! It looks like she fell over. Legs aren't touching test tube but I saw her moving so she is alive. Workers seems to be indifferent. One tenting to eggs rest sitting around as usual.

 

I'm seriously scared that they won't make it. But what are the chances that this is just her hibernation position? I know that dude to her size. She has really hard time sticking to/climbing this test tube. Not the first time she "lost her footing". Just not sure why she isn't trying to recover?