Help in Keeping Queen Ants

[LunaticFringe]

So I had Caught a queen of Pachycondyla Senaarensis ( I Suppose), a week ago and I have put one in a terrarium with an outworld that I made and she broke off her wings as soon as I had caught her in one of the chambers. She has taken some of the sand and clumped it together around her with a small opening on top where I can see her through and she sits there, and rarely moves much.
I caught one more queen the day before yesterday and put her in a separate container with empty tic tac containers to act as test tubes with water and cotton plugged.She settled down in one of the orange tic tac container, And Another winged one I caught and placed with it, but she kept running around for a day in panic until she settled the next day too, in the same tic tac container with the other queen and broke off her wings too.
I Caught all the 3 queens in my own house as it may be their nuptial flight season and there are These Pachycondyla ants everywhere, and they do pack a sting, especially the Queens ! I Want to know whether I should leave them to be like that with cotton and water, or provide them with something to eat ? Are The Most likely to be gravid ? if So, how could they have mated with another male from a different colony when they're all possibly from the same colony in the house ? How Long should I wait for ?
There is a mesh on top so there is enough oxygen and to decrease the chance of fungal growth which has killed most of my other queens in the past and I have never been able to successfully raise a colony, no matter what despite following all your videos. This is one reason that I had quit the hobby of looking for queens to start a colony as None of the attempts have been successful in my almost 2 years of trying. Either there is fungal growth that kills them, either they just die out even despite laying eggs. the species I have ried to raise brood with are, Pheidoe, Solenopsis, A Small queen of a very small species, Camponotous and Pachycondyla. Any Advice or insight into this would be appreciated

 

[LunaticFringe]

Update: I Was watering the cotton that i had put in one of the chambers of the first queen and it flooded into where she was nesting. She freaked out and started escaping. I Have put her with the other queens and they all seem to be digging into the cotton back to where the water is in the tic-tac container, and one of them has gone to the back as the water has dried behind the cotton.

 

[CreepTumorXD]

Hi Lunatic! Ive been attempting for about 4 years I had a small colony last yeah but I was not prepared to move them from a test tube so I couldnt continue. keep in mind it is hard to do but the more you try the more you learn. I have mostly only dealt with Formica and harvester ants, the thing is it depends on the sp. behavior some queens Like the harvester I believe have to hunt while nesting while others do not. I don't recommend starting them in anything other than a test tube like setup because there are so many things that can go wrong otherwise, and its harder to make sure the queen has good access to water. 1. No need to feed until the first workers hatch in my opinion. 2. Lets just say I've never had a queen that wasn't gravid. 3. they could be from the same colony, they could be from different ones, but a queens main instinct is survival and they will team together to start a colony, of course when the colony starts to mature the colony will kill off the weaker queens, the only issue with this (though its rare) is that sometimes the colony accidentally kills off all the queens. 4. Keep them supplied with water (test tube set up) and make sure its ventilated by cotton to help prevent mold, place them in a quiet dark place and don't look at them for about a month the more you check on them the more you could cause stress and they might eat their eggs. I say check after a month for mold and health not for workers, workers come at around 3 months sometimes sooner sometimes later. at that point get just a tiny bit of honey or sugar (you don't want them getting stuck to it) and put it in there to feed them. IF and when I say IF i mean probably will happen no matter what.. IF you get mold and there are eggs or larva.. the best thing to try to do is connect another home to the entrance of your "test tube" and make the new one dark maybe with some black paper, and shine light on the moldy side, the queen should move her eggs to the dark "test tube" and stay there. its just to difficult to try and move those eggs yourself. I hope this is helpful to you!

 

[LunaticFringe]

Hi Lunatic! Ive been attempting for about 4 years I had a small colony last yeah but I was not prepared to move them from a test tube so I couldnt continue. keep in mind it is hard to do but the more you try the more you learn. I have mostly only dealt with Formica and harvester ants, the thing is it depends on the sp. behavior some queens Like the harvester I believe have to hunt while nesting while others do not. I don't recommend starting them in anything other than a test tube like setup because there are so many things that can go wrong otherwise, and its harder to make sure the queen has good access to water. 1. No need to feed until the first workers hatch in my opinion. 2. Lets just say I've never had a queen that wasn't gravid. 3. they could be from the same colony, they could be from different ones, but a queens main instinct is survival and they will team together to start a colony, of course when the colony starts to mature the colony will kill off the weaker queens, the only issue with this (though its rare) is that sometimes the colony accidentally kills off all the queens. 4. Keep them supplied with water (test tube set up) and make sure its ventilated by cotton to help prevent mold, place them in a quiet dark place and don't look at them for about a month the more you check on them the more you could cause stress and they might eat their eggs. I say check after a month for mold and health not for workers, workers come at around 3 months sometimes sooner sometimes later. at that point get just a tiny bit of honey or sugar (you don't want them getting stuck to it) and put it in there to feed them. IF and when I say IF i mean probably will happen no matter what.. IF you get mold and there are eggs or larva.. the best thing to try to do is connect another home to the entrance of your "test tube" and make the new one dark maybe with some black paper, and shine light on the moldy side, the queen should move her eggs to the dark "test tube" and stay there. its just to difficult to try and move those eggs yourself. I hope this is helpful to you!

Thanks for The reply ! Most of those reasons were the cases of almost all of my die offs, due to the spread of mould. Sometimes I'd leave a tiny drop of honey, or put dead insect in the tube which caused the mould to grow. Currently they're in one small container which is inside another larger transparent container. I have poured light sand to give it a natural feel, and put a dead moth in the large container so incase if they wanna feed on it, they will, even though they rarely come out, unless I open the container. The Only Questions that I Have right now, Are They likely to be Gravid ? And if so, how ? How could a male from another colony fertilize the queens within My own Apartment ? I Just feel terrible flooding the entire area with water and possibly ruining the chances of her laying eggs (If she's gravid) and stressing her out. Should I transfer them to a test tube somehow or let them just be in there ?

 

[CreepTumorXD]

test tube for sure, its the safest, and males from other colonies can mate with them as long as the are the same species. they mate while flying in the air, its a short process and it is unlikely that they are not gravid in my experience.

 

[LunaticFringe]

Aren't there 3 types of Queens, 'Claustral', 'Semi-Claustral' and 'Social Parasites' ? And From what I know, Ants from the tribe Ponerinae (Which Pachycondyla comes under) are Semi Claustral. Which means that queens need to forage and require food. I Have noticed one queen out foraging at night and returning back to the small container. I have found another queen btw. And Have seen many dead ones without wings in my kitchen and some crushed by mistake. They all sit close together in the small container and rarely move a lot, except one queen which had clambered it's way to the back of the cotton and has been sitting there since. I can't see back here very well to know if she's laying eggs or not.

 

[CreepTumorXD]

well one thing you can do is put the test tube in the substrate so they are protected but able to forage.

 

[LunaticFringe]

well one thing you can do is put the test tube in the substrate so they are protected but able to forage.

Sure Will

 

[LunaticFringe]

well one thing you can do is put the test tube in the substrate so they are protected but able to forage.

Update: One of the Queen has laid some eggs in the orange container a few days ago and have they have all been guarding over them. I have caught three more queens and have put them in a test tube and connected it to a container so they can forage if they want to.