6 weeks and no brood

[jude]

hi I have finally got a colony of m. rubra from edu sci. It has been 6 weeks and the queen has no laid any eggs, she just sits there at the bottom of the tunnel with her 15 workers and does nothing. I have tried everything sliced cricket from edu sci, flies from gardan (Goes down a treat) and protein jelly not to mention the honey and straberrys. occasionally a worker comes out gets some food and water and goes back in. There are only two explanations that I can think of, 1 is when I first got the ants many escaped so I put all back in the antworld and put blue tack on the escape exits and this morning I found traces of blue tack in the magnifing box, have they poisoned themselves or are the just hybernating? But then again they are in my warm room.
Please please help me thank you

[Jenny]

There are several possibilities. The weather has changed and it is colder, some of our ants have gone into dormancy also. The fact that you think there is no brood, they may well have hidden them, as the eggs are very small. It does take the queen in some cases a long time to settle, they get stressed very easily after being moved, so it is better to give them as little disturbance as possible.
The fact that they are taking in food and eating is a good sign, you will just have to play the waiting game.
Read honeydewmans post on Shawn's journal, this is very informative on rubras, and could give you some ideas for the future.

[jude]

thanks for the advice but can I ask one more question how long does it take for the eggs to hatch

[Jenny]

Questions are what forums are about Jude Have a scroll down on this link to Wood's site and you will see "Brood Development"
www.anthillwood.co.uk/antdatalinks.htm

[jude]

thanks for the help this forum is great ;D

[toudzard]

Well this looks like another happy breeder saved by: ANT HILL WORLD FORUM ;D