Myrmica rubra

[formica]

My Myrmica rubra colony have all escaped! I am ordering another one as I know how to put them in now ta ta.

[formica]

I put them in the ant farm correctly and I do not know but they all died

[Kyle]

by the way did you tip the ants in (I'm guessing they were in a test tube) cause if so you could have stressed them a bit to much? just a thought.
what about food?
may I ask where did you order them from?
but I am sorry for your loss

[formica]

I ordered the colony from ebay in a container and there were no eggs or brood!! I didn't tip them in. Is what I did was I placed them in the magnifying glass and they moved up the tube. I fed them a fly. the next day I couldn't see any workers and I could only see the queens. Then they both disappeared. It was a large colony about 60-80 workers so if they escaped I would have seen them. also I completely escape proofed it. ;D

[Kyle]

I never like to buy off of ebay if I can as some people sell unmated queens just with the wings cut off (not saying everyone does, as I did buy my leaf cutter off ebay, but I knew the guy) but other than that were there dead ants?
other than that I really can't think of anything that would kill off a nest that quickly.

[formica]

There are no workers around the area. Ebay are good for buying ants but first check feedback and if theres a picture. If it says mated queen ant don't buy it. Only buy ants of ebay if it says queen ant eggs/brood Or Queen ant workers and all stages of brood. If it says queen ant and workers don't buy it as there is a possibility that the colony has been dug up as it could die quickly. They're my rules for ebay. Anyway I noticed in the fallen ant hills chamber there were a lot of threads involving M.Rubra. In one woody says they don't like ant farms/worlds, so I guess that was a problem. I find their relatives M. ruginodis much easier. ;D