hey all, im biggest ant noob ever.. so dont hurt me :P
i heard some ant species kidnap eggs and hatch them so that they can use them as slaves for their colony
what happens if you lay eggs from a whoooole different species in the nest of another ant species? will they just eat the eggs or will the eggs hatch?
just beeing curious ^^
Hi Pbreak,
You have to start somewhere ;)
It depends from species to species, some of them eat them, some of them hatch them as there one and some of them use them as slaves.
Greets
If you lay them to a realy WHOOOOOOOLE ;) different species, like Camponotus vagus to Myrmica rubra they just eat the eggs. Not more.
But if you lay eggs from any camponotus species, to another camponotus species, they will adopt them.
indeed, normally if you lay eggs from the same species to the colonie they take it, but not always. I have seen them bin eaten. But they have a bigger chance to be adopted then from another species.
Ha ha! I saw this post and thought I would give stealing eggs a go. Lifted the paving stones where my Garden ants live and couldnt find any eggs pupe or larve.
How did you guys find them? all I found were hundreds of slightly annoyed ants! Who are probably right now plotting revenge!
You have to look for it, on warm days.
The best thing is, if you look under stones.
Il bear that in mind the next time!