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Post by TenebrousNova on Nov 2, 2010 21:09:56 GMT
I have a pair of L.Niger Queens. While the first of them has 3 Workers, a few cocoons and some brood, the second ones larvae are still tiny. Bear in mind that I caught both during the mating flights this summer.
The second Queens larvae are very small and young looking, and it has been a very long time since they supposedly hatched. I removed the soil around the Queens chamber in order to feed her, she eagerly took a bit of jam and ate it all- but she doesn't seem to have gave any to the larvae as they are still tiny. Since winter is upon us, I'm having my doubts of her surviving through the next few months without Workers, but I'm wondering why her larvae could be developing so slowly. I thought maybe she could have been eating them and laying more to sustain herself, it looks like it as they probably couldn't go without food for that long. In the event that this Queen dies I intend to try and give her brood to the more successful one in the hopes that they will take them in- But what I would like to know is, what is happening to her brood? And what do you think will become of the Queen? I have had them since June, and I'm a bit worried about them now.
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Post by odesssus on Nov 2, 2010 23:02:05 GMT
My L.Niger queen went down a hole 2/3 months ago and I haven't seen her since. Do any of you think I should look by digging her up?
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Post by Wood~Ant on Nov 3, 2010 8:37:36 GMT
Adult ants eat sweet food, but young larvae are fed with protein from a mostly meat diet. When founding her colony, a queen who does not actively forage and remains within a claustral chamber feeds her larvae on a rich soup which she regurgitates from her crop (first or upper stomach). Depending on how well a queen fed in the nest before leaving on the nuptial flight, will have some bearing on how much body fat reserves she stored up, as these reserves plus the degeneration of her wing muscles are what keeps her alive and supplies the first food for her first clutch of brood. Only when she has her first workers will foraging occur and food brought into the nest. Queens which produce workers faster have a much better success rate than those which are slower, as the latter often fail to survive the winter in the wild. This is why each nest sends out hundreds of new queens, as the mortality rate is very high and very few make it over the first crucial 7 months. Therefore a Lasius niger queen which has no workers by now may not, unless she is lucky, survive until next Spring; but the queen with workers has a much greater chance of survival as she has already founded a colony Having said that, the queen with the small larvae may still do fine if she is kept cool and hibernates, as larvae (unlike eggs or pupae) are often over-wintered in wild nests; and my own L. niger colony which has about 30 workers also has around 200 larvae in various stages of development, so don't give up hope yet Should the queen die before next Spring, her larvae will be accepted by your other colony as their scent in neutral, as only adult ants take their colony scent from the queen.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Nov 3, 2010 18:56:31 GMT
I see, I shall keep a close eye on her. From the start she seemed different, as the successful queen settled down within a few days, this one took about 5 days to decide to start digging. Good to know that in the worse case scenario, her offspring have a chance with the other colony. Do you think she could be eating them and then replacing them?
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Post by TenebrousNova on Nov 3, 2010 19:30:01 GMT
Oh yeah, its been a few weeks since I put soil back into the first queens container and they moved in, the workers seem to be expanding the chamber and making a passage to a naturally formed one in the soil. The queen now has lots of space.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Nov 3, 2010 19:46:42 GMT
Do you think she could be eating them and then replacing them? I doubt that she's eaten that many if there are several larvae present, but queens do feed a few of their eggs to larvae, or larger better developed larvae actualy bite open any eggs that may be too close to their heads and suck out the insides.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Nov 3, 2010 20:27:55 GMT
Big larvae can bite? I thought they could only suck at their food. This is new info to me.
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Post by Zarbi on Nov 3, 2010 21:29:03 GMT
Big larvae can bite? I thought they could only suck at their food. This is new info to me. This is why they are given bits of insect prey by workers, as they can chew even though they don't have the same kind of mandibles as the adult ants.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Nov 3, 2010 22:09:42 GMT
I see, I always thought the larvae were not capable of that kind of thing- to look at them, you would think its beyond them. That's interesting to know.
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Post by odesssus on Nov 3, 2010 23:05:21 GMT
Well, I have now dug her up and she is still alive. Unfortunately she has no brood or eggs so I have put her in a test tube for the time being. I will leave her until she has laid more eggs and has a worker or two.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Nov 6, 2010 21:39:14 GMT
Hmm, are Lasius species meant to lay eggs at this time of year? Because my 'successful' L.Niger queen just had a new egg underneath her in her corner of the chamber, which was soon whisked away by a worker.
And I think the bit of jam I gave to the 'unsuccessful' L.Niger queen was a energy boost to her, as her brood seem slightly bigger...and more numerous? I think both queens could still be laying a few eggs.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Nov 7, 2010 9:50:13 GMT
Hmm, are Lasius species meant to lay eggs at this time of year? Because my 'successful' L.Niger queen just had a new egg underneath her in her corner of the chamber, which was soon whisked away by a worker. And I think the bit of jam I gave to the 'unsuccessful' L.Niger queen was a energy boost to her, as her brood seem slightly bigger...and more numerous? I think both queens could still be laying a few eggs. Egg laying at this time of year is not normal for our wild native ants, but as we have had a mild start to November here in Britain; and as you are keeping them indoors where it is warmer anyway, it is not unusual for queen ants to lay the odd egg still. Unless the eggs can develop into the larval stage (assuming the temperature remains high enough that is) they will probably be eaten by existing larvae, or even adult ants if food is in short supply. It is extremely rare for any ant species which hibernate during winter to have eggs or pupae kept in the nest; but larvae on the other hand are able to shut themselves down like adult ants do, and many British ants do over-winter larvae in fairly large numbers. Once spring comes around, these hibernated larvae continue to develop in the normal way, and of course food is back in good supply as workers forage to bring it back to the nest.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Nov 7, 2010 10:02:17 GMT
I see. Thanks for the answer.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Nov 15, 2010 14:56:00 GMT
Looks like the queen did need that bit of jam, two of her larvae are fatter than the others now, around medium size. If they are lucky, they will reach the cocoon stage. By the way, the first queens 4th worker hatched a few days ago. She has one more cocoon, with another larva almost at the cocoon stage. But her workers still will not forage, is there any reason why? They haven't left the queens side since they hatched.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Nov 17, 2010 18:41:21 GMT
The 5th L.Niger worker hatched a few days ago, and two Larvae are almost at cocoon stage. Technically there should be 8 workers by now, but 3 cocoons were eaten in the first months. They are still not foraging, so I don't know how they will survive the Winter.
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