ford-ute: (9. Mär 2008 00:09)

i guess that makes me luck that they are native to my area but from what i read they do some times have a queen or at first so if you can get one at the naptial flight is that the best way to start a colony of these ants or is it as simple as collecting a few workers wait to see if any lay egg if not just collect a few more untill you get the right combination of male and female workers that do start laying eggs (but not to take too many that you kill off the wild colony)

they are also quite an atractive looking and with thier metalic green

miszt: (9. Mär 2008 02:13)

Its very difficult to raise many of these colonies from what i have read, workers are not always capable of producing viable eggs. Generaly the strongest ants stay in the nest, and the weaker ones forage for food (depending on the colony size), as these species fight between themselves for dominance, i wuld assume that it is the stronger workers only that can produce viable eggs, so the ones you see foraging wil b less\un able to raise colonies...this is just my theory however, not sure what research has been done into it, mayb give it a go :-)

ford-ute: (9. Mär 2008 03:22)

i will give it a go if i dont have any eggs from my queen in the next 2 weeks

unfortunately there is no really good info on these ants regarding how to keep them (all i can find is that people have ) so the set up for this and is just tryal and error ( humidaty level, temperature and whether they hybernate )

i have found out that they produce less male brood in winter

JimmyVe: (10. Mär 2008 18:35)

If i'm not mistaken they live in you area (nature) so keep them at the temperature and humidity like it is outside in your place. If they can survive there they would also survive inside you farm. About hibernation, how cold are the winters over there ? And do you see ants in nature in wintertime ?

ford-ute: (10. Mär 2008 23:50)

Im not sure if i see these particular ants in winter it autum now so i guess ill see soon but in this area it can get to about 8 or 9 C or 46 F on really cold days and maybe as cold a 1 C or 34 F on realy cold nights.

it never snows here and we dont get frosts

so guess they dont hibernate

I have not seen these ants in my area but i will go hunting if my queen has not laid any eggs soon i dont want to have to many colonies i should just start small untill i learn the ropes

JimmyVe: (10. Mär 2008 23:58)

With that temperature it could be they don't hibernate, but i can't say for sure.

Yes, it is always better to start small and learn a bit about keeping ants. And than you can keep more colonies. ;)

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