I think one of my Fire ant queens is dying

[Vendayn]

I caught a fire ant queen about 2-3 weeks ago and its on one of the side tunnels, she is moving a little but curled up and looks like she even might be stuck...but she can turn around and go back since the tunnel is big enough. I can't really dig her out because she is very close to the bottom.

Could she be dying? I don't see many workers around her either, only one or two sometimes. She is fertile, I found her on the trail surrounded by a bunch of ants and no wings. Her abdomen looks bigger than when I caught her...but I think she might die.

I hope she is going to live

[B-Rabbit]

Could be any number of things, she could be just cold. Or maybe not enough water. I remember having a Manica queen (in a test tube) who got like that, curled up and not moving much. I put 2 drops of water on her, then dried her off and the next day she was fine. This worked several times. Problem is since you have a dirt nest it will be hard to reach her to try it. But since she is near the bottom (if its the jar) its pretty dry down there and I would find a way to get water down there, thats what I would recommend.

[Vendayn]

I used a syringe to get the dirt more wet. I hope this works, just have to wait for the water to get down to the queen.

It definitely isn't the cold, its 74-80 degrees inside the house where they are kept. I fed them enough food, a lot of sugar a few days ago and insects yesterday. So if it isn't water (although nest was really dry) then what else could it be?

(new)

She uncurled herself. This looks like a good sign. The water got close to her and all the ants were more lively. I am going to get a tube hooked up to circulate air because it gets condensed in their and mold grows on uneaten food, but its not bad...I just clean it out and it isn't everywhere.

[Vendayn]

oh, also. Why aren't the other ants with her? I only see 1-2 ants at a time with her and all the others are in far off tunnels.

[B-Rabbit]

I've seen ant's abandon their queen in the manner described. Mostly in panic they will run and hide and forget the queen. It could be a lot of things, pin pointing something like that is hard.
1. Old age
2. Parasite/disease
3. Water
4. A worker accidentally thought she was an enemy ant and stung her in excitement. (I've seen things like this)
5. Injury of some sort

There are still other things that could be going on, but I really would have no idea what exactly it could be.

[Vendayn]

I think it is water, if it is will the ants come back to the queen? The nest was completly dry, so that is probably why.

[Doutchy]

Ahh I think she'll be ok lets hope anyway

[tom]

yeah just give her some water