My Camponotus Pennsylvanics Queen Won't Lay Eggs!

[SalticusScenicusStar]

I have a camponotus pennsylvanicus queen ant with one worker. I bought it from Buckeye Myrmecology. It has been 4 weeks and it still doesn't have any brood. It however has only one worker for some strange reason. Why is this the cause?

 

[WhiteMoss]

What do you have her in?
Is she kept in the dark or covered up?
Posting a pic of your setup would be helpful.

Have you tried offering some honey or a cricket leg/ piece of mealworm or something for protein?

Also do you know what year she was caught? I've never dealt with Buckeye. Are they a reputable seller?

 

[WhiteMoss]

What do you have her in?
Is she kept in the dark or covered up?
Posting a pic of your setup would be helpful.

Have you tried offering some honey or a cricket leg/ piece of mealworm or something for protein?

Also do you know what year she was caught? I've never dealt with Buckeye. Are they a reputable seller?

 

[SalticusScenicusStar]

She is kept in a dark closet. I gave her honey and crickets 2 weeks ago. I kept putting in more but they won't accept any more. I don't know when she was bred. I believe these ants are captive bred.

 

[SalticusScenicusStar]

Link to buckeye myrmecology if you need to see website: https://buckeyemyrmecology.com/ants-for-sale/
It guarantees healthy shipping and ants in fine condition. I don't know though... My queen ant is in fine condition, but she seems stressed. I check on her once a day. Is this okay for her? I don't shine light on her or anything. Sometimes when I clean the enclosure, I accidentally shake it, stressing my queen. Is this one reason she isn't laying eggs? It's also October here, so are they preparing for hibernation?

 

[WhiteMoss]

Can you post a pic of her set up. Is she in a test tube set up with water? Check out antscanada youtube channel for how to make a test set up. It could be the set up she's in.

If she only has 1 worker they don't require a lot of food. Keep an eye on the workers gaster. If it's bloated she may not eat. When you see the worker pulling at the cotton entrance (provided its a test tube setup) that means she's trying to get put to forage for food.

Checking on her once a day is far too frequent. Once a week AT MOST. If you get red transparent film to cover the enclosure you'll be able to see her through the film and she won't be disturbed by the light.

 

[SalticusScenicusStar]

I already have her in a test tube and I just put food in for them to eat when they feel like it. It's connect to a test tube portal as the worker kept attacking the cotton, so I thought it needed bigger exploration space.

 

[SalticusScenicusStar]

I have some orange film, will that work?

 

[WhiteMoss]

As far as I know it's only red that they can't see. If you don't have film you can cover her with anything or just keep her in the dark. Just check on her less often. If you've recently fed them, I'd say leave her alone for about a 10 days and if there's still no eggs, then either something (other than frequent check ups) is stressing her she may just be unfertilized.

Was the worker already eclosed when you recieved her? Also what did you buy her as? Single queen? Queen + brood? Queen + certain amount of workers?

 

[SalticusScenicusStar]

I bought her as queen with 1-4 workers. It as in the same test tube as the queen. Is it a different worker? Is the queen actually infertile?

 

[SalticusScenicusStar]

I have fed the worker and queen protein a lot and the temperature is like 55-63 degrees. It has been 4 weeks and still no brood. I'm keep wondering, is the queen infertile, and her worker isn't actually her worker? She spontaneously fidgets around in her test tube.

 

[SpookySpooder]

My queen ant is in fine condition, but she seems stressed. I check on her once a day. Is this okay for her? I don't shine light on her or anything. Sometimes when I clean the enclosure, I accidentally shake it, stressing my queen. Is this one reason she isn't laying eggs?

For something that digs a deep hole to stay away from everything you sure bother it a lot.

Is this your first colony? Plenty of them don't make it past the first brood of workers. Reasons unknown, but about a fourth of all queens captured die off randomly in captivity. Probably a husbandry thing.

I personally have never heard of Buckeye myrmecology but I know some sellers transfer brood from existing queens to newly founded queens to help them get started. This does not always work, and often the queen will perish due to other complications without producing a meaningful brood. Again, if you look at the hobbyists who collect hundreds of queens, you'll find a lot of random deaths as well.

That's why any actual hobbyist would wait until their colony has produced at least 5-10 workers before selling it off to someone else. That at least guarantees the queens are out of that early establishment death period. Basically, they wait until the weak ones die off naturally.

 

[SalticusScenicusStar]

So, my queen has a 50% or less of surviving. And there is a chance she might actually not be fertilized. NOOOO! I hope I wasn't scammed.

 

[SpookySpooder]

Just took a look at the company. You're fine. Luke has been in the hobby for a while and has been a major presence on the forums.

He joined back in 2020 I think, and he's been obsessed. Didn't realize he started a company doing this. Good on him.

He's a great guy and does his research, there's no way he would have knowingly sold you a bad queen or thrown in just one brood worker to get started. Usually they throw in a couple eggs or pupae from another queen and let them hatch.

I think most likely you've been stressing it too much. A case of "over loving your new pet" when they first get established they need absolute peace and quiet, it takes a lot of energy to produce eggs and they won't do it if they're stressed about their environment.

Keep it dark, warm, moist, and leave it alone.

That is your best chance.

You keep checking on it, it probably won't produce until it finally starves to death.

You leave it alone, it will either produce in peace or die off.

Either way, you don't really have a choice.

Also you don't need to feed it so frequently. They will self regulate cleaning. By overfeeding you're just asking for mold in the long run. Just dial feedings back to when you notice the ants are starting to wander and forage. Also visual inspections of their gaster size helps determine their food requirements.

 

[WhiteMoss]

If she was bought with 1-4 workers then she's likely fertile.

I'm assuming 55f? Which is pretty cold. You want to keep her at least around 77 degrees (Fahrenheit) for her to be productive.

Thanks to @SpookySpooder for bringing up the cleaning.
Ants clean their nest themselves and keep things sanitary on their own. There's no need to clean their nest. Just take out uneaten food from the portal when you put more food in. If you already have them attatched to a test tube portal then attaching a sugar water test tube is also helpful to avoid using messy honey.

The darting around you see is the same thing you see when you lift a rock covering an ants nest. It's her freaking out.

 

[SpookySpooder]

Did Luke not give you one of these?


If he didn't, you should ask him why he's dropping the ball. Can't afford to 3D print them? Or does he simply not want to pay the creator?

 

[WhiteMoss]

If you want to keep the colony somewhere you can still watch the workers feed and you don't have red film, what I used to do was;
-wrap the testtube in paper towel
-wrap tinfoil over top

This gives you a cover for her nest so you can keep it somewhere you don't have to move it and you can feed the worker without disturbing the queen.
If you want to check on the queen you can slide to cover off and the paper towel provides a soft barrier so the tinfoil doesn't scrape the tube (causing her freak out). The tinfoil hold the form of the tube.
But again, only check on the queen every 2 weeks or so. Less is better, which is why red film is nice because you can see through it. You may be able to find it on Amazon.

 

[WhiteMoss]

One more note. At this stage, they don't need a lot of protein, a cricket leg like once a week would suffice (increase amount as the colony grows then increase frequency).
Just make sure she (the worker) has access to a sugar source ie. Honey or sugar water.

Good luck! Don't let it discourage you if she doesn't make it. I doubt there's a keeper out there that hasn't lost at least 1 queen. Best thing you can do is learn when the nuptial flights occur in you area, then you can get queens for free

 

[SalticusScenicusStar]

Thanks. Your help and information has helped me guide this colony and make the right decisions. All this gave me hope. Thank you.

 

[SalticusScenicusStar]

OH NO! My queen ant strangely moved out of her test tube into the test tube portal area. I'm very confused why.