11 replies to this topic

[Jadeninja9]

Earlier today I combined three Lasius aliens colonies. They got along perfectly except for one rogue worker who started to spray formic acid on another worker. I noticed that these large drops of brown/orange liquid would randomly start to form where the merged colony was congregated. Does anyone know what that could be?

[CoolColJ]

maybe poop

[Jadeninja9]

I don’t believe so as they were very large drops and were being made very frequently. It’s like once I cleaned it up they would just make more.

[CoolColJ]

Maybe excess shared food being spilled from their social stomachs

[venator]

I noticed the same thing when I brood boosted one of my Oecophylla colonies (there was a few workers with the brood). Oecophylla is also a formic acid spraying species. There were brown spots all over the tank lol.

[EthanNgo678]

Hope it works out. One of the queens in me and my sister colony died, but the other queen didn't do it. 

[Jadeninja9]

Hope it works out. One of the queens in me and my sister colony died, but the other queen didn't do it.

Wait are you serious? Sorry that the queen died. I really hope this doesn’t happen to the queens I combined lol.

Edited by Jadeninja9, July 31 2018 - 10:02 AM.

[Jadeninja9]

I noticed the same thing when I brood boosted one of my Oecophylla colonies (there was a few workers with the brood). Oecophylla is also a formic acid spraying species. There were brown spots all over the tank lol.

Do you think maybe they could be trying to cover the brood in their pheromones and that’s what the brown spots are?

[Major]

I noticed the same thing when I brood boosted one of my Oecophylla colonies (there was a few workers with the brood). Oecophylla is also a formic acid spraying species. There were brown spots all over the tank lol.

Do you think maybe they could be trying to cover the brood in their pheromones and that’s what the brown spots are?

I do believe that you cannot see pheromones. Are they dragging excess food into the nest? Could this be related to them spraying formic acid? Watch them closely and see how these "mystery drops" are formed. This is quite interesting as I have never seen or experienced this before, even with formic acid spraying species. Hmm...

[Jadeninja9]

I’m not home right now. All of their gasters were already full, so they weren’t accepting any food I had been giving them recently. I believe that these drops were being formed by the queens since they were so large. The workers and queens weren’t aggressive at all, and were actually pretty calm, yet somehow these large, singular brown droplets were forming in the test tube randomly.

[Jadeninja9]

Hope it works out. One of the queens in me and my sister colony died, but the other queen didn't do it.

Did this happen for you too?

[Jadeninja9]

Well whatever that liquid was it didn’t seem to harm the ants as the colony is perfect right now, and even discovered another single queen colony I attached to their test tube portal and merged with them, forming a 4 queen colony.

Edited by Jadeninja9, August 6 2018 - 12:25 AM.