ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Uncletommy]

Yeah yeah, use the search function you say.....well i have and i didn't get any love so i ask here.
Some might know, i bought a lasius niger colony last week and the queen poped it in the night and left her children to fend for themselves. I ordered a new colony. A fat little queen came yesterday with some workers and brood. My question is can i put all the eggs and larva in with the new queen / what do i do with the old colony workers?

Muchos thanks

Tom

[SteveUK28]

Well you can try puttin them all in with the new colony, Either they will except them.. or Kill them, and they are gonna die anyway.. so what the hell its worth a try.

[tail__]

Young workers are sometimes accepted by other colony, if you cool both colonies in refrigerator for a few hours. There is only a chance, however, no guarantee of success.

[JimmyVe]

Don't think it is going to work. This species is very aggressive. You could try it with cooling them down but i think it is much work for nothing (probably). It is sad but the workers of your old colony will die.

[Uncletommy]

but what about the brood?

[JimmyVe]

The cocoons will be accepted. Maybe the larvae and eggs to but i doubt it.

[miszt]

keeping feeding your old colony as normal, then when the larvae become Cocoons you can add them to your new colony

It is possible they will not feed, and will die within the next week or so, but its worth a try, dont add eggs/workers/larvae, unless you want them to be killed

[marc.tulley]

I reckon add the eggs/lavae/pupae
This week my m8 mowed the lawn and REALLY uncovered a rubra nest so he put the clump of nest in a tub and they made a huge pile of lavae eggs etc so i nabbed a teaspoon full and poured them into my rubra coloony and from what i can tell , they accepted each and every 1! should be an excellent colony booster
but obviously that doesnt mean its garenteed
maybe i was just lucky

[Uncletommy]

i'm gunna give it a go but anyone got any ideas about how to get them out of the test tube? tweezers? cotton bud?

[Kale^^]

Maybe tweezers, be careful not to burst them, tho.

[Uncletommy]

good news! After painstakingly removing a cocoon from the old colony and implanting it into the new.....it was accepted. So i tried some of the larvae and they to were accepted. Lovely stuff. Boosted by colony by 20.

[JimmyVe]

Nice to hear it worked out. I'm surprised the larvae where accepted to, probably because your colony is still small.