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Post by Ant on Apr 20, 2006 1:06:33 GMT
Hi, I have a Lasius neoniger queen in a test tube set up. This is my first try with a queen and she has laid 4 eggs. Do you have any tips for keeping her happy? Thanks in advance.  |
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Post by Jenny on Apr 20, 2006 5:37:53 GMT
Hi Ant, Welcome to Ant Hill World  and thankyou for joining our anting community. The first thing to keep her happy, is don't disturb a Queen to much until her first workers appear. She has found a safe place to lay her eggs, and that is where she feels secure. She will not require food, having already stored sufficient to see her eggs through to worker ants.  |
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Post by Ant on Apr 20, 2006 13:24:04 GMT
When I find a large colony can I take 1 or 2 cocoons to give her a boost? Thanks.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Apr 20, 2006 14:35:28 GMT
Find a big colony of Lasius neoniger and you can safely take some pupae, as I added about 10 last year to boost my L. niger queens. This gives you an instant supply of well fed workers, which will be a bit bigger than her own first minima workers; and therefore you'll have a nice strong work force to do the nest chores such as digging |
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Post by Ant on Apr 20, 2006 15:25:48 GMT
Thanks I am not sure but, my queen doesn't seem to mind me looking at her. First time I looked there were 3 eggs. I went to grab a water bottle and when I came back she had 4 eggs. I had her cover off and every thing. Is these normal? My egg count is 5 right now. |
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Post by Jenny on Apr 20, 2006 15:34:53 GMT
A quote done from a web site........
She is ready to lay eggs in 4 to 7 days and her first lot of eggs, about 10 to 20 in number hatch into very small workers called 'nanitics'. These nanitics take over the job of raising the queens young and they will soon be helped by the next lot of full sized workers. The queen now settles down to a life of eating and laying eggs.
I hope this helps |
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Post by Ant on Apr 20, 2006 15:55:38 GMT
Well that didn't answer the question. It seems my queen is not scared by light anymore. Is this common in captivity?
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Post by Wood~Ant on Apr 20, 2006 17:43:50 GMT
Well that didn't answer the question. It seems my queen is not scared by light anymore. Is this common in captivity? It can be; but it also depends on the individual queen or even the species. Some queens will not tolerate light for very long, while others don't seem to mind. Was that the question?  |
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Post by Ant on Apr 20, 2006 18:02:02 GMT
Yes, and Myrm, how did you now it was me? |
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Post by Jenny on Apr 20, 2006 18:48:07 GMT
Ant ? Staff have their eyes and ways of knowing everything  |
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penlid
Nurse Ant 
Hello
Posts: 77
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Post by penlid on Apr 21, 2006 11:27:16 GMT
Yes the light thing is true, I had a formica fusca queen who couldn't stand light. She just used to hide in the green section of my antworld. I thought she had died but then I saw little workers starting to appear which was great. It does depend entirely on the species as my Lasius niger colony was fine in the light.
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Post by smithy on Aug 1, 2007 18:18:03 GMT
I have my first queen. I got her about 3 weeks ago after a mating flight. Just saw her wandering around my garden after weeks and weeks of looking. I have one of the green standard ant farm things but my queen has buried herself directly between both bits of glass with sand either side of her and she blocked off the entrance to her hole with sand so I can't see her at all, even when I remove the bits of card I have either side of the glass to keep the sun out. I have no reason to believe that my queen might be dead right? It's just I haven't seen her in weeks now!
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Post by Wood~Ant on Aug 1, 2007 18:32:18 GMT
Hi Smithy and welcome to Ant Hill World  It is highly unlikely that your queen has died, and she is probably sitting on a clutch of eggs. It is difficult to see what is happening with her if she's blocked off your view, but new queens with eggs tend not to move around much to conserve energy, and will wait quietly until they have their first workers, so try not to worry at the moment |
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Post by smithy on Aug 1, 2007 19:04:14 GMT
Hi Smithy and welcome to Ant Hill World It is highly unlikely that your queen has died, and she is probably sitting on a clutch of eggs. It is difficult to see what is happening with her if she's blocked off your view, but new queens with eggs tend not to move around much to conserve energy, and will wait quietly until they have their first workers, so try not to worry at the moment Thanks for the help buddy. I'm just worried. I have wanted this to get going for ages! I thought I had it a while ago because I had a potential queen (big with wings), I wondered why she wasn't doing much then I read up properly and realised she hadn't been fertilised! After letting those ants go I spent weeks looking for a queen then the day I found 1 queen I saw about 200 more! |
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Post by Jenny on Aug 1, 2007 19:35:00 GMT
Yes, when looking for queens after a flight, always make sure they have unhooked their wings Keep your eyes open from now on on your queen, as you may soon see a clutch of small white dots (eggs)! By the way Smithy, welcome to this nest |
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