ANTSTORE World of Ants

[mzfckr]

some colonies only make males, and some queens?

[marc.tulley]

apparently

[JimmyVe]

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]

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]

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?

[SteveUK28]

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]

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

[Phasmid]

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]

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]

ya only works with ant species that are poly

[marc.tulley]

cool tip thanks jimmy! wouldnt of thought of that

[marc.tulley]

QUESTION
my log ligniperda have finally got 2 more workers (i got them as 1 queena and a worker) the original worker seems to spend ages sitting outside the nest in sheltered bits of the log not moving for ages. shell then reappear in the nest later.

Is she 'on her way out' or what?? doesnt like the nest maybe?

The new 2 workers havnt left the queens side yet

[miszt]

She may be dieing yes, however I think its more likly she's foraging, Camp 1st gen workers are very nervous, and will freeze or hide at the slightest disturbance, 3rd and 4th generation Camponotus however, are a little diffrent lol (your in for a treat once you get your first large majors, they are beasts! lol)

[tail__]

It is possible this working is a surveyor and tries to determine if that bit of log wouldn't be a better nest. It's probably not wise to put large wood pieces on the arena, because they are natural nesting places for Camponotus.

[marc.tulley]

ok thanks guys, cant wait for them to get a few generations in :D