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mzfckr: (14. Jun 2008 21:22)

some colonies only make males, and some queens?

marc.tulley: (14. Jun 2008 23:10)

apparently

JimmyVe: (15. Jun 2008 12:34)

how do colonies get multiple queens? just by chance a mated queen from the same parent colony pops in to stay?

ok so when its mating flight time, let em fly around the house then chuck them together ? ;)

Colonies get more queens if they come together after mating flights or when a queen fly's out and comes back to the old colony. Sometimes (in rare cases) they also accept other new queens to the colony.

I don't think you want to let them out in your house, you probably never find them again and the change of them mating is very very small.

ashhad1: (15. Jun 2008 14:49)

well since rubra a poly then that means the life span of a rubra queen is less then a niger queen overal? is this true?

And how long would a rubra queen live for when taken good care of?

I read somewere that a guy started out with one rubra queen and the next year he added another rubra queen form the mating flights to existing colony and it worked.

marc.tulley: (16. Jun 2008 10:33)

cool (about a foriegn queen working)
i just want more than 1 queen for reliability mostly
im not sure if poly queens dont live a long....
Mitzt? Jimmy? :P

SteveUK28: (16. Jun 2008 11:44)

I dont think it makes a differnence being poly.. not from what i read in Journey to the Ant anyways.. but of course i may have missed something.. I believe regardless as long as a queen is fed well and looked after she should live 10+ years.

Ant mad: (16. Jun 2008 12:06)

from what i've read the avarge life span of any queen it approx 10-15 years.
correct me if i am wrong

Phasmid: (16. Jun 2008 14:22)

It realy depends on the species. I think M. rubra live for about 6+ years but a Lasius niger queen in Germany apparently lived over 30.

JimmyVe: (16. Jun 2008 19:15)

In deed, this depends on the species, some queens live about 30 years, some only 3 years. Its has nothing to do with them being poly or not.

Myrmica rubra queens live about 10 years.

Yes you can add new queens to your colony. It is best to do this during hibernation. If you catch some queens in summer, keep them in a tube until hibernation and than add them to your colony. Its not a 100% sure it works but i give it a 80%. ;)

ashhad1: (16. Jun 2008 20:22)

ya only works with ant species that are poly


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