|
|
Post by tazdevil on Oct 28, 2012 20:15:30 GMT
It's been quite some time now since I caught and housed my queen (21/08/2012). She laid around 5/09/2012 but nothing has happened. I now believe that she was an un-mated queen as the ova she has is infertile and will not hatch.
How long can a queen survive without any other ants to feed her??
|
|
|
|
Post by Wood~Ant on Oct 29, 2012 7:49:07 GMT
Normally queens live in a colony for a minimum of 10 years, and depending on the species, can live to be 20+. Single queens can survive for about a year if they forage and feed, though if they use up their body reserves quickly and have no food or workers to forage, then the chance of them living beyond 6 months is unlikely. If a queen hasn't been mated and lays infertile eggs, then her life has no meaning as the founding mother of a colony; and with ants all being social insects, then unlike solitary species of bees or wasps, a single ant does not have a good rate of survival expectancy.  You will probably find your queen will just die one day during the coming winter, as I seriously doubt she will live for much longer if she is unmated and has failed to found her dynasty by producing worker daughters. |
|
|
|
Post by tazdevil on Jan 7, 2013 17:18:12 GMT
Just a quick update. Queeny is still alive and kicking. I honestly don't know how she is manageing it. But she's still hanging in there. Only thing is she's made a little more room in the ant farm.  |
|
|
|
Post by Wood~Ant on Jan 7, 2013 18:17:54 GMT
As it is winter, she may be dormant enough to survive and hopefully lay more eggs in spring. Perhaps she might be able to raise them into adult workers by early summer.  |
|
|
|
Post by tazdevil on Apr 2, 2013 13:52:47 GMT
Well a finally update. Checked Queenie this Sunday and she has died. Hopefully we are going to try again this year and catch a wingless queen after the flights are over.
|
|
|
|
Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 2, 2013 15:59:18 GMT
One of the worst aspects of ant keeping can be watching a failed queen slowly waste away.  Hope you have better success next time. |
|
|
|
Post by tazdevil on Apr 3, 2013 8:08:43 GMT
She exceeded all my expectations and lived a lot longer than I would have expected. But fingers crossed we might be able to get to a wingless female in the wild this time. This queen was caught along with umpteen others and quite a few males. We left them to their own devices in container and took out this queen as she had lost both her wings.
If the worse comes to the worse we'll just buy a queen and small brood and start out colony that way. Would rather catch one first though.
|
|
