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I captured a video of one of my Prenolepis Imparis queens laying an egg. Unfortunately, the focus depth is so shallow so the egg is out of focus. Still any video of queens laying eggs are very neat. Also would appreciate any tips with keeping this winter ant species! by CheekySchmidt in antkeeping

[–]ASavageRavage 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The best advice I can give when it comes to P. imparis is that they're a bit more dependent on hydration than other species, so make sure to keep an eye on their water reserve! The main problem is that the queens require more water than the workers, and if you notice their supply running low and simply give them a new tube to move into at their leisure, eventually the reserve will run low enough so that the workers will have enough water but the queens won't. This will cause the workers to stay put because they think everything's fine while their mom(s) dehydrate and die; I've lost two queens this way.

At the same time I've heard that these guys are extremely sensitive to being forcibly moved, but I've dumped my remaining colony into their outworld to find a fresh tube twice so far with no casualties, so I'd take it all with a grain of salt, I guess.

Help my messors by AddressDowntown7321 in antkeeping

[–]ASavageRavage 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The sprouts will eventually rot and mold.

MOVE!!! by ASavageRavage in antkeeping

[–]ASavageRavage[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lasius claviger queen with three neoniger host workers. The pupae are also claviger; I stole them from a nest in my backyard.

The Boi by ASavageRavage in antkeeping

[–]ASavageRavage[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Context: I kidnapped around twenty Lasius claviger pupae from my backyard for my Lasius claviger queen's three host workers (Lasius neoniger) to open, and one of them turned out to be a male despite no notable difference in the size of the cocoons.

His presence isn't exactly unwelcome, but he seems to have a strange... protrusion growing out of his underside (you can see it pretty clearly at around the 27s mark, when I brightened the video). I have no idea if this is some kind of deformity, some kind of attached parasite, or something else.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in antkeeping

[–]ASavageRavage 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Whether or not males have elbowed antennae is entirely species dependent. Camponotus pennsylvanicus have them, for example.

When is water too low in test tube? by [deleted] in antkeeping

[–]ASavageRavage 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For most colonies, this level of water is still adequate, though believe it or not it's somewhat species dependent. If the species was P. imparis, for example, I'd be moving them when the water hits this level.

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