She is such a good mother. I’m still in shock that she was going to try and live under my keyboard.
When I found her she was “hiding” but like most queens she wasn’t aware of how big she is and her gaster was visible giving her away.
She is now in a luxury NYC ant condo. #antqueen
Quick update on my new queen carpenter ant: she seems to be doing well living in her glass test tube inside of my pen drawer. I checked on her today and gave her a drop of water which she accepted and drank. Her eggs are slowly developing.
(How to keep people from taking your fancy pens.) #antqueen
Queen update! Her eggs have hatched and are now larvae. She will feed them “trophic eggs” which are special eggs that cannot hatch. This is an ant food storage hack. Young ants need protein but she cannot leave the nest to raise this first generation.
While I was bugging her with a photo today I also gave her a drink of water which she seemed to like. #antqueen
In the coming weeks the larvae will grow and in about 3 weeks they will spin silk cocoons. Then after maybe 3 more weeks they will emerge and be ready to forage outside the tube.
As the queen she will not leave until they outgrow this test tube and that could take over a year since dozens and dozens of ants will live in there (with an area connected for them to explore)
So maybe next year if she's doing well she will make a run for a larger nest protected by daughters.
myrmepropagandist
Claire, The Ultimate Worrier