5 replies to this topic

[CozmoDog]

Hey everyone so something terrible happened... well all was going good and the colony started producing eggs again about 10 new ones and they have about 5-7 huge larvae ready to pupate i assume and about 15 smaller larvae so that's doing good but something happened. So my dog who is sadly aggressive towards other dogs heard a dog barking outside and went into a rampage inside the house and banged her head on the table in which i house my ants. sadly two of the workers foraging at the time prob had a panic attack from the impact and unfortunately went into a small puddle of honey which to my mistake i forgot to clean up..... so I'm here worried and asking will the colony survive with 2 few workers ? they currently have 5 workers and the queen even tho one of the workers who went into the puddle of honey is still alive-ish his antennae are stuck together and i don't think he will live so I really don't know what to do will a camponotus species with the brood i mentioned survive with 5 workers ? 

[Subverted]

If you can gently corral the ants with honey on them into a small watertight container you should be able to gently try to get them in the water which will dissolve it away.

 

that's a lot of work and you might end up killing the workers anyway...but the colony should be fine as long as getting disturbed does not become a routine thing.

[CozmoDog]

i don't think i can do anything especially me as a first time ant keeper. I tried to atleast get the workers outside the test tub with the honey and one of them seem all messed up while the other was able to move and clean the gaster but from what i saw the worker still had honey on the antennae and mouth. i really hope they recover *sigh

Edit: one of the workers seems ok she is inside the nest cleaning herself so we are up to 6 workers now the other worker still does not seem dead but i don't think she will make it, she did tho move from a messed up sticky position she was in but she is laying on her back not sure what that means legs are straight up pointing upwards.

Edited by CozmoDog, May 18 2016 - 1:45 PM.

[Mdrogun]

They will be fine. Just make sure you provide them ample food. In the wild queens lose some of their nanitic workers all the time.

[NightsWebs]

Unfortunately it happens. I had this happen with sugar water from a feeder that evaporated too much water out and the sugar/water turned to a gooey sap.  I noticed the poor creature slowly dying so I took warm water in a dish, not hot water didn't want to cook my nanitic,  dropped him and swirled him about in the water use tweezers fished him out and immediately placed the ant on tissue paper not a paper towel to absorb the water away quickly.  I did this several times over about an hour to give the ant recovery time between dunkings and I always use a fresh tissue for maximum absorption.  As a side note I never feed honey to my ants unless its in a liquid feeder.  I understand the limitations of test tube set ups but you might consider the small box method with a test tube.  The boxes are slightly larger and longer than a test tube which allow you to place small feeders in the box and all you have to do is use some sand to raise the back of the test tube and place an access hole in the front of the test tube cap or just leave the tube open.  I prefer to use a cap with an access hole as the ants seem to like it better.  Just my two cents.

[NightsWebs]

Oh if you have questions about small feeders I use THA small feeders.  you can also talk to Drew or Terry for feeder solutions.