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First Queen, Some Advice?

test tube setup

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#1 Offline JillionsMillions - Posted June 18 2018 - 8:15 AM

JillionsMillions

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Hello!

 

Very excited to join this community! Yesterday I caught my very first queen and moved her into a test tube setup. She had some damage to her right legs but when I found her she was trying to dig her founding chamber. 

 

Now in the test tube she is getting stuck to everything and not able to get around very well... I am worried about her. When I put the cotton ball against the water, I made sure to wipe out the inside of where she was going to be, but her wings keep getting stuck to the sides. This morning I had to pull her suctioned wing away from the glass, I also put a bit of clean sand in her test tube to help her get around but it doesn't seem to help. 

 

Noob question... Will her legs repair or grow back?

 

Do you think she has a chance? Any advice? I think she is a formica species, but going to wait a week to see if she lives before trying to get her identified. 

 

 

Thanks!!! 



#2 Offline Shifty189 - Posted June 18 2018 - 9:18 AM

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I would try to get her identified ASAP. You might find some useful information when researching the species.

 

Furthermore, it sounds like something is.... Off with her. while having wings doesn't mean she hasn't mated it definitely doesn't mean she has, and missing two legs really isn't good either.

 

My only real advice aside from encouraging you to have her identified, would be to leave her alone. If she is gong to die, there isn't much you can do anyways. If she is going to make it, leaving her isolated is what she needs anyways. Leave her for 3+ weeks before checking up on her again, and wish her luck.

 

I leave all my queens in an "outside" room. Its attached to my porch, and doesn't have any kind of air conditioning at all. Since i live in south Florida, it means my queens are always 85+ degrees. Something along these lines would be preferable (in my humble opinion). Also, i would stay away from heating cables or mats at this stage (despite what most will tell you). To me heating test tubes presents an unneeded risk, since i have come to understand that this practice could lead to the water working its way past the cotton and flooding the tube. If you choose to heat the tube, consider putting the cable on the "dry" end of the tube to minimize this risk.

 

Anything more than this, a more experienced member of the forum will have to provide, since this is my first year of ant keeping myself.


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