Queen ant won't dig or lay eggs...

[jreidsma]

Hi everyone

A month or so ago I went to a auction with my family, and an ant with wings flies onto my mom and so I took it :sarcasm: I moved it over into a set up like I did with my last queen and put her in it. She took off her wings a couple days later but has not done anything else yet. She won't dig, won't lay eggs (that I see), or anything.

There was not a male with her when I found her. I am assuming it is a queen because my last one looked exactly like this one. It has been a few years sense then but my last one dug its own tunnel and I had little workers running around after a while.

I may move her over into a different soil. I started her in potting soil mixed with coconut coir, then moved it over to coconutcoir/potting soil/and sand. I am thinking that maybe the soil is too heavy or something.

Maybe I will just make a fake tunnel with chambers and everything and see if she will start a colony if she is in the dark for a while.

I put it in my closet in the dark, if someone thinks it would be a good idea to do something different I will do it, until then I will leave her alone.

 

[inle]

Maybe she is a wood ant?

 

[jreidsma]

I do think it is a carpenter ant, but they should be able to have a nest in the ground.

Usually a queen ant flying has a male with her, but this one didn't. I am thinking that maybe it didn't mate, or it needs a cold period before it will nest. But my last queen just dug a hole the first day and the colony started.

 

[xhexdx]

If she's still got wings, she probably hasn't mated.

Most queens will land dealate after mating. Yours is probably a dud.

 

[jreidsma]

She shed her wings a couple days after I got her.

I may just put her outside, maybe she would be able to find a lone male or something.

 

[nepenthes]

You should see what you can do about putting her in a test tube set up till she gets 20+ workers. I would just leave her be. Don't disturb the setup for a while. You should really find out the species. Some queens will actually need to forage for food before the raise workers. If you can get a photo I might be able to help you ID her.

For future queens here's a trick I learned. Hold a winged queen on your hand and point to the sky. I've found if they climb down they are more likely to be fertile. My reasoning is they want to go down to the ground to start diggin. Or drillin into a nice soft peice of wood.

 

[The Snark]

If she's still got wings, she probably hasn't mated.

Most queens will land dealate after mating. Yours is probably a dud.

I'm only going by termite swarming which appears identical. They have a limited time they will be airborn. With termites, one night. Afterwards they will drop to the ground. If they haven't mated they usually won't dig. Even if they have mated they sometimes won't dig. Again, with termites, even if everything has been done, there must also be a chemical, not sure if it's a hormone, that must be present in the queen for her to undertake phase 2. It is not unusual for that chemical to be missing. It was explained to me by a naturalist in Darwin that natural selection takes a firm stand during the mating phase and that a critical balance of a number of physiological, biological and physical factors must all be in order for a new colony to be started.

According to the bug people at Chiang Mai U, during the heavy termite mating year, one year out of five, our surrounding area has approximately 1 billion matings per acre per night during swarming. The actual effective matings that produce a colony each of those nightly cycles are normally below 50,000.